NEW ZEALAND SURVEYORS IN TONGA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 72, 28 March 1910, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND SURVEYORS IN TONGA.

RESIGNATION' OF A STAFF. Piivate letters from Nukualofa, Tonga, state that the survey staff, from the chief (Mr. \ J. Davis) downward, have lesigned in a body, owing to tho (as they affirm) unfair treatment meted out to them by the Totiguii Government, and to the want of support accorded to them by the Britihh Consul. Tonga is a miniature kingdom, with a full complement of and a Pailiament which meets every three years. Tho King and Ministers are natives, but the As-sistant-Premier and the Chief (and only) Justice are Britons, and arc members of the Government, and tho survey staff feel very sore- at not receiving support from them. Tonga being a British protectorate, the Consul has extensive powei»— in fact, he is practically supreme, as representing the High Commissioners—and the survey staff consider that he lias failed- to cecure justice for them, and thereby practically allowed the Britis>h flag to be flouted The matter is of interest to New Zealand, as all the survey staff are New /ealanders, und well known here as capable and reliable- men. We are informed by Mr. J. W. Davis, who recently retired from the Survey Department, Wellington, that he spent live weeks lately in Tonga, with his son, the chief of tho survey s tnff, aud while the.-o unofficially inspected the Survey Department. He found that the system of the wdrk was excellent, and the staff fully as competent as the staff* of New Zealand local smvey offices. 'Ihey were, however, greatly hampered by having native Ministers to deal with, and looked forward hopefully for the new Consul to put things on a more businesslike fooliiiß. Apparently ho has not done so. Iv the present state of affairs Mr. J. W. Davis strongly advises New Zealand surveyors to keep aw»y from Tonga. |) r pp»!<onaJJy sclectcd some of the longa Miiveyo:*.