Island

Pukapukans Buy An

PUKAPUKA, the spiritual home of the late Robert Dean Frisbie, and the home island of ap proximately 600 Cook Islanders, has recently purchased the neighbour ing island of Nassau.

Over 100 Pukapukans have already left for Nassau carrying food, taro, puraka shoots for planting, drugs and medicines and will set up their permanent homes there.

Pukapuka is the most remote island of the Northern Cook Group and in recent years has become very overpopulated. It is of little economic importance being of atoll formation. Some copra is sold at present; taro is grown and also a few bananas. The island if off the beaten track of ships and the islanders are left entirely to their own resources.

Nassau is 45 miles away and has been owned by private interests who planted up the 300 acres in coconuts.

There is no safe boat anchorage.

Negotiations for the purchase of Nassau for the Pukapukans have been going on since 1944. The NZ Government bought it for £2,000 and have sold it to the islanders for the same sum. The people have paid 12/- per head towards the purchase price and are financing the rest through sale of their copra.

Presumably because of the bad anchorage, Nassau has not until now been permanently occupied.

The books of Robert Dean Frisbie, a wandering American who found some sort of peace on remote Pukapuka; and later, the book of his daughter Johnny (Miss Ulysses of Pukapuka), have told the world just about all it knows of this far away comer of Polynesia.

The NZ frigate, HMNZS Kaniere, is expected to call at Apia on her island cruise on September 16 and win stay in port until September 19.

The warship is also visiting Raro tonga, Suva, Suwarrow, Tonga and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.