In Tongan Group

No Let Up on Rhino Beetle In Tongan Group

From Our Vava’u Correspondent THE rhinoceros beetle has not yet gone from Vava’u, Tonga, but it is now well under control and it is expected that the group will be free of this copra-destroy ing pest in the not remote future.

If earlier criticisms concerning the laxity of authorities and the levity and unconcern of the teams of beetle hunters were, in some in stances, justified, they are so no longer. Once the average Tongan came to realise that the beetle could destroy his economic security and all chance of obtaining the European amenities and goods which have become so important to him, he was only too glad to co-operate with control regulations and to take his turn with the hunting teams.

At present, all able bodied males between the ages of 16 and 60 give one day a week to hunting the beetles. Beetle traps have been laid in various places and a rigid inspection is maintained of people and goods moving from one island to another in the Vava’u group as well as of those travelling to the other Tongan groups.

The fact that the beetle has not spread to other parts of Tonga nor to the outer islands of Vava’u speaks well for the present system.

The latest control advance is a fumigation station which will be established at the port of Neiafu and will be in charge of Sione Vaipulu, who has recently returned from NZ where he was sent for special training in fumigation tech nique.

The entire programme is under the direct supervision of Mr. Mickey

Miller, whose skill at winning battles against the rhinoceros beetle was proved some years ago when he completely eradicated it from Niuataputapu, another Tongan island which was far more badly in fested than Vava’u has ever been.

fl Assistant Police Superintendent A. D. Pysten, of Fiji, who is on his way to Britain on leave, was so impressed by one-man police stations he saw in Australian country areas that he hopes to in troduce similar stations in the out lying islands of Fiji on his return there.