Nz Reports On Her Island Territories
pp. 67-69 · Read in the full issue
Drift of Native People to Dominion Cities
THE New Zealand Department of Island Territories recently issued annual reports in handy booklet form for Western Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue and the Tokelau Group.
An extra book was issued for the Cook Islands. It is printed in two colours and has numerous drawings and photographs and although its exact purpose is not clear, it is easier reading for the layman in search of information about the Cooks, than the official report.
Whence Came The Oranges?
From this coloured booklet we learn the possible source of the now famous Cook Islands oranges, the Group’s main ex port crop. According to a native legend, the first men to see Rarotonga were the Bounty Mutineers who lay off the island shortly after the mutiny of 1789. The story goes that “There came a large white ship but the people did not land. One of the Chiefs went aboard and reported that they had taro swamps and young breadfruit trees (on board). It was thence we obtained the first oranges ...”
Discovery of the Group is credited to Captain Cook who on his second voyage (1773) found Manuae. On his third voy age he again visited the Group, Mangaia being his first landfall after leaving Queen Charlotte Sound, NZ. But although he cruised around among the islands he had difficulty in finding suitable anchorages and most of his contact with the Island ers was with those who ventured out in canoes to his ship. The Group did not become well known until the pioneer missionary John Williams, of the LMS, visited there in 1823. For the next 60 years it was rigidly ruled by the missions who introduced their famous Blue Laws, some of which survive until today.
Cook Islands became a British Protec torate in 1888 and came under the con trol of New Zealand in 1901.
Although the Cook Islands are New Zealand’s chief source of oranges and other tropical fruits, this Group, like the rest of the Dominion’s Island territories, can be classed as a responsibility rather than as an economic asset. Straight-out grants to the Cooks have fluctuated from year to year and range from £ll,OOO in 1938 to £lOO,OOO in 1949.
The Tokelaus Pay Their Way.
The Tokelau Islands which came into NZ’s territorial boundaries as recently as 1949 (although they became a British Protectorate in 1877) are shown to be just about self-supporting—revenue last year, copra, handicrafts and postage stamps, being £4,550 and expenditure £4,471 —of which the amazing sum of £52 was spent on education.
Population is about 1,400 and at the last count there were 43 more females than males.
Drawn To The Bright Lights.
ONE of the most interesting things con tained in the reports is that section dealing with the welfare of Islanders now living temporarily or permanently in New Zealand—2,ooo of them, which shows the strength of the drift of these people to what they evidently consider to be some sort of Mecca. The drift would likely become a flood if more sea and air trans port were available.
These Islanders always have been attracted to the Dominion, but the num bers going there up until the war were small in comparison with the influx that has taken place since 1945. It all stems from post-war prosperity in the Islands and m the Dominion, plus the fact that
jobs are now easy to get in New Zealand Most of these folk are clustered together In Auckland city. Natives of Niue and Cook Islands, being New Zealand citizens are admitted freely. Samoans have slightly more trouble in being accepted as permanent residents.
The NZ Department of Islands Terri tories set up a branch office in Auckland in 1945. The officer appointed to control the office has had long experience in Cook Islands and Samoa, is familiar with their languages and has been able to iron out many of their problems. The Gov ernment has also given financial support to the London Missionary Society which has appointed a full-time officer with missionary experience in the Islands, to
do welfare work among these people now living in the Dominion. He is assisted by a Cook Islands native pastor.
THESE reports show conclusively that although possibly unimaginative, New Zealand’s administration of her Island Territories has for many years been undertaken in a spirit of duty and not for material gain—if that ever was the purpose.
The casual reader of the reports is left wondering why New Zealand should bother, except for that intangible, now discounted thing called prestige. It is hard to see that the Dominion would be one whit worse off if divorced from her Island territories tomorrow. Can the same be said of the Island Territories?