Its Rich Soil Is Nines Shrinking

Wealth

ISOLATED Niue Island, apparently the product of some mighty upheaval of pre-history, situated 300 miles from anywhere in the South Pacific ocean, has recently had a soil survey by the New Zealand Soil Bureau.

Soil is important on Niue —all of its in habitants, most of them directly and some of them indirectly, depend upon what grows there for their sustenance — and there is, in all, mighty little of it.

Most of it is volcanic ash, lying in pockets on the rugged surface of the coral lime stone. It is fertile, but precious.

The formation of Niue speaks mutely of some cataclysm, or cataclysms, that took place there in the dim past. The island is of “makatea” formation —what apparently were once circular, coral reefs have been thrust upwards now to form terraces or plateaus. Niue has two ter races—one about 90 feet above sea level; the other about 220 feet above sea level.

There are 12 villages on the island — seven of them on the lower terrace, which is a natural coconut plantation, five on the upper plateau. The upheavals that lifted this two-tiered, 100-square-miles

island out of the ocean also, presumably, provided the vol canic ash which makes the extremely fertile soil in which Niue grows its crops of taro, bananas, yams, tapioca maize and other vegetables.

ABOUT half of the island’s 65,000 acres are suitable for agriculture; the rest grows scrub and some forest.

The Niueans work their land on the well-known system of shifting cultivation—a five to nine year rotation of crops with a spell of three to five years when the land is allowed to revert to native cover.

Without artificial aids the soil, in this way has main tained its fertility in all but about 8,000 acres which are no longer capable of grow ing crops and have re

verted to permanent scrub land.

This, then, seems a good time for a soil survey and for the practical measures advocated as a result of that survey.

Niue population is growing slowly but very definitely—a wise agricultural policy now will prevent any land poverty in the future, as well as giving these Polynesians a better life now.

The NZ official who undertook the sur vey recommended that an agricultural officer be appointed to the island imme

Alofl, Niue’s port of entry and seat of government.

diately: that instruction in good soil management be instituted in Niue schools; 1 that experiments be made m grassland establishment for the possible introduction of dairy and beef cattle (only poultry and pigs are raised at present), and that nitrogen, phosphorus and potash manures be tried with a view to shorten ing the interval between planting staple food crops without impoverishing the soil.

At present the economic life of the island depends on the export of copia, plaited ware (hats, baskets, etc., from coconut and pandanus leaves) and bananas. There seems, however, no reason

why citrus fruit for the New Zealand market could not be grown as well as some other cash crops. Much depends on sea transport, of course, although in recent years Niue has averaged about one New Zealand ship per month.

THERE are no streams on the island taut rainfall is fairly adequate (average 79 inches) and distributed throughout the year. Rain is stored in concrete tanks and reservoirs. Droughts do sometimes occur and apparently, be fore the days of tanks, the natives got supplies from deep caverns. The Govern

ment was recently investigating the feasi bility of deep wells. Water has. been reached at 175 feet —if it proves suitable for drinking purposes deep wells may be sunk in the vicinity of all villages.