A—3

B. Labour and Employment The only substantial employer of labour is the Administration, which employs Niueans in the Police, Public Works, Transport, and other Departments, and to load or discharge vessels making calls. Apart from this, labour is from time to time engaged by local firms to prepare copra for shipment. During the last two years the Administration has employed a large number of unskilled labourers on public works. The basic wage-rates are 7s. per day for unskilled labour, 9s. per day for waterside work, and a varying scale for higher classes of labour, with provision for overtime and Sunday work when required. The Cook Islands Industrial Union Regulations 1947 provide for the registration of an industrial workers' union and an employers' union, and for the machinery for settling labour disputes. In August, 1948, representatives of the New Zealand Federation of Labour visited Niue and discussed with the Administration and the Niuean wageearners the desirability of forming an industrial y.nion ; to date no such organization has been formed. There have been no labour disputes over the last five years. The bulk of the population is engaged in the cultivation of Native lands and the harvesting of crops for consumption and export. The price of produce purchased by the trading firms for export is regulated by the Administration to ensure that the growers receive full value at current prices. There are no migratory labourers working on the island. Some fourteen Niueans are employed by the New Zealand Government on an annual contract basis at Raoul Island. A gang of forty Niueans is at present working on a two-year contract for the New Zealand Reparations Estates in Western Samoa. Such labour is employed under generous terms, and all contracting arrangements are made through the Niuean Administration. A number of Niueans proceed to New Zealand each.year to seek employment in a wider field and to learn trades. The volume of departures is not great, and presents no problem to the Administration. C. Public Health and Sanitation Although situated in the tropics, Niue is largely free from diseases prevalent in tropical countries. However, certain other infections, notably tuberculosis, have become established which, together with recent severe epidemics, have provided, the main health problems. The health of the people during the past twelve months has not been good. The endemic diseases of filariasis and yaws remain prevalent amongst the people, and tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, some cases of leprosy, and epidemics of mumps, measles, and whooping-cough have occurred. Resistance to these diseases was lowered in many cases by the effects of a previous epidemic ; at the end of the year, however, the health of the island was slowly improving. The main difficulty in combating these diseases is to secure the active interest of the Niueans, who have not yet acquired the habits of hygiene developed in more closely populated areas. The administration endeavours, through the Medical, Education, and Police Departments, to create greater enthusiasm for measures concerning the public health. Strict surveillance of villages and enforcement of health regulations are, however, necessary, as £he Niuean does not appreciate the gravity of his problem. The Health Department, administered by a qualified European Medical Officer, provides the medical service for the island. The staff of this Department consisted at 31st March, 1949, of a relieving European Medical Officer, a European Matron, a European Nursing Sister, a Native medical practitioner, and two Native dental officers. During the measles epidemic the services of an additional Nursing Sister on loan from Rarotonga were acquired for two months. The locally engaged staff comprised five Niuean dispenser-orderlies and six Niuean nurses.

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