Tonga

Te Ao Hou, June 1968, Page 53

Tonga The kingdom of Tonga is a British protectorate. The main island is Tongatapu and there are a number of other islands, 100 or so in the Vavau group and the Ha'apai group. There are the fairly large islands of Eua and Tin Can Island, or Niuafoo—an island which suffered a severe volcano disturbance in 1940. The total area of the Tongan group is 259 square miles and their trade figures for 1965, which are the latest available, show that exports, in Tongan currency (on a par with Australian at that time) amounted to £1,253,264—their imports £1,700,000. In Tonga all the land belongs to the King but every male over the age of 16 years, provided he has paid his poll tax of $3.20 a year, is entitled to a grant of an allotment of land in one of three forms— 1. Either an area of bush land not exceeding 8 ¼ acres, rent 80c a year plus a rent-free town allotment, or 2. An area of 12 ¾ acres of bush land, rent 40c a year and no town allotment, or 3. A grant of 15 acres of land subject to Cabinet approval granted in special cases by nobles. With the now rapidly increasing population, it is difficult to find these land allotments except in some of the remote islands which are not very attractive to young men. The King of Tonga told the legislative assembly in October that whereas there were now 39,837 males in the kingdom who are, or will be, entitled to tax allotments, there were currently only 13,017 allotments to distribute to them. The King stated that the growing population and shortage of land had created a problem which could not be pushed aside. Two-thirds of the entire male population of this kingdom, he stated, must find work other than on the land. It would be difficult in a short time to increase the number of people working in many of the avenues of employment that already existed for Tongans, but there were other opportunities that could be greatly expanded. The fishing industry was relatively untapped with very few commercial fishermen operating. Housebuilding and engineering were other industries where people could be suitably employed and the King said that those people who had land had to do more to ensure that it was worked to the maximum. He also stated that it was necessary to consider the teaching of technical and vocational subjects in schools and reducing the teaching of subjects to prepare students for office jobs that did not exist. The population of Tonga in 1966 was 77,585 which

had increased by 20,000 in the last ten years. Tonga is a constitutional monarchy. There is a Privy Council and Cabinet. The Cabinet Ministers are all Tongan. The legislative assembly, which meets once a year, is comprised of seven nobles representing the 33 nobles of Tonga, the seven people-elected representatives, the Ministers of the Crown and the Governors of Ha'apai and Vavau. Tonga's principal exports are copra and bananas. At present the country is endeavouring to develop its own fishing industry and it has a shipping business with its own fleet of three ships. But the problem I see with Tonga, which is situated so close to New Zealand, is that there is a greatlv increasing population without any prospect of other than scratching a very meagre existence from the soil in an over-populated country.