Too Many Illegitimate Children, Too

Much Guinea Grass, King Says

The kingdom of Tonga has too many illegitimate children and too much guinea grass, according to Tonga’s monarch, King Taufa’ahau.

In an address to open the kingdom’s Legislative Assembly in late June, he called on the people to do something about both.

The king said that with a population of 76,000, Tonga had 340 people to the square mile, compared with 370 in India.

“It is obvious, therefore, that we must seriously consider the introduction of family planning,” he said. “We must also reduce to zero the present rate of illegitimate births. Children born of such a union are severely handicapped, their births being against the precepts of Christianity, whilst they are generally brought up without proper parental control, and do not, because of their situation, receive the educational advantages of average children, with the result that in the majority of cases they become a burden on the community. This is one of the major problems facing the kingdom at the present time . .

Referring to agriculture, the king recalled that a few years ago the Tonga Copra Board had chartered a Fiji Airways aircraft to survey the coconut industry from the air.

“It is my wish,” the king continued, “that you, Mr. Speaker, and the members of this House, could fly in one of these aircraft and see for yourselves the situation in Tonga at the present time. You would see that the major forms of growth throughout this island are not coconuts or bananas, but guinea grass.”