Tongan Notes

Prom Our Own Correspondent npO help accommodate their growing Vava’u membership, the Seventh Day Adventists have recently opened a new church in the village of ’Utui, Vavau. Pastor Cormac, of Nuku’alofa, officiated at the opening ceremonies which were marked by special church services and a feast.

A successful experiment in prefabri cated building has just been concluded by the Public Works Department in Vava’u. Under the supervision of Director Fred Jennings, a school for the village of ’Utulei was built in the Public Works shop in Neiafu. The building was then dismantled and the component parts were loaded onto a lorry and taken to ’Utulei. A site had already been cleared by bulldozer and it took only three days to erect the school which is a handsome iron-roofed wooden building.

A round of farewell feasts and parties have been held for Miss Catalina Galloway who has been visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Galloway, of Neiafu. She leaves soon for Auckland where she will work for the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Mr. Pym Straatsman, Director of the Agriculture Department, and two of his assistants have just returned from a trip to Tahiti where they have been studying vanilla growing and processing.

Although the plant grows well in Tonga, it has not been cultivated commercially.

It is hoped that it will become a profit able export crop.

Crown Prince Tugi has returned to Tonga after a two weeks’ business trip to Pago Pago where he investigated the American market for Tongan mats, baskets, and other pandanus products. r After a trip to UK, the Continent and USA, Mr. and Mrs. Reg. Egin ton returned to Port Moresby on Shansi on March 13.