Australian To Be
p. 17 · Read in the full issue
Tongan Judge
TONGA will soon have a new Judge of the Supreme Court— Mr. David Hunter, a Sydney barrister, and the first Australian born person to hold the position, although Mr. Raynar Hyne was almost an Australian.
Negotiations have been going on for months. Mr. Hunter was finally appointed on February 9, after some weeks waiting for documents.
The new Justice, with Mrs. Hunter, will leave shortly for Tonga. His term is for three years with an option of renewal.
The new judge is a son of Mr.
Percy Hunter, well-known business man and journalist, now retired.
Usually Tongan legal positions are filled from the legal branch of the Colonial Service. In the case of Mr. Ragnar Hyne, now Chief Justice of Fiji, who was born in Norway but educated in Australia, entry to the Colonial Service was via the teaching profession—after serving with the First AIF he went to Tonga in 1920 as Director of Education. He was called to the bar in Queensland in 1924 and thereafter, in the legal branch of the Service, served in Tonga, BSIP, Sierra Leone and Gold Coast before being appointed to Fiji in late 1952.