Concerning Polynesian

"Nobility"

Letter to the Editor MAY one encroach on your valuable space to make a pertinent inquiry regarding the abnormally large number of persons of noble and royal Polynesian blood whose names occasion ally appear in the “social” pages of Sydney newspapers. Judging from these reports, Polynesia would appear to be almost denuded of all its chiefly people.

The question is, Would they be the same at home? Are they the real thing, or (to put it in vulgar phrase) are they “having the Australians on”?

There has been too much nonsense written on these matters, and it is high time for a little delving into genealogical tables, or “whakapapa”, as the NZ Moari has it, so as to refute these ridiculous statements of royal descent.

The blame does not rest so much with these so-called nobilities, as with the ig

noramuses of the Sydney press, who pander to “giving the public what it wants”.

I am, etc.,

Nga Matariki.

Polynesian Club of Sydney.

Mrs. Alfred Page, chieftainess of the Pacific Islands Society, Sydney, arranged a welcome at her home in Bronte for Mrs. R. D. Croudace, of Apia, Samoa, and her daughter, Jean, on their arrival in Sydney in January, and as a fare well for Mrs. C. P. Purcell, of Penang, Malaya. Those present included Prince Tuboutoa (of Tonga), Mrs. E. Marie Irvine (who has been engaged on a biography of Queen Salote), Miss Ana Laurenson (Apia) and Mr. Eric Rams den. Mrs. Irvine also arranged a recep tion when several prominent members of the Pacific Islands Society met Mrs. G.

W. Bagnall, of Nukualofa (wife of the former Minister of Finance in Tonga).