Tonga's

man in London

A Tongan noble, the Hon.

Vaea, in September will become the first Tongan Commissioner and Consul in the United Kingdom. He will take with him as Consular secretary the present Acting Crown Solicitor in Tonga, Tevita Tupou. Vaea is pictured.

The appointment of Tonga’s first consular representative abroad follows revision last year of the Treaty of Friendship between Tonga and Britain. For many years Britain has had a representa tive in Tonga, who in the past has had a great deal of power, but the revised treaty removes this power and clears the way for complete independence, which is expected in the next few months.

Appointment of the Hon. Vaea to London is a recognition of this new independence. And Vaea is a first-rate choice for the new post. He’s world-wise, charming and popular, with a colourful career behind him at the age of 48. Born as Alipati Tupou in Nukualofa, second of eight children, he was educated in Tonga and at Wesley College, Auckland. In 1941 in NZ he joined the RNZAF and became a sergeant pilot with No. 6 Flying-boat Squadron, serving in the Pacific area.

Back in Tonga after the war he worked for Tongan Govern ment departments until 1953, when he was appointed aide to Queen Salote, a post he held until 1959, when he was made Gov ernor of Ha’apai.

Since then he has acted as

Minister of Lands and Minister of Police, and spent 16 months in the UK on an administrative course at Oxford University. In the UK he also qualified for a civil pilot’s licence. His wife and four of their children will go with him to London. Their eldest daughter is at school in Australia.

Tevita Tupou, consular sec retary, is also no stranger to the UK. For three years from 1966 he did post-graduate Law in London and at Oxford. He took his Law degree in Auckland in 1964 and was called to the Bar a year later. Now only 27, and married to an attractive school teacher, a former Miss Nukualofa.

Tevita represents the young, quest ing with-it Tongan.

Governor for Ha'apai

Announcement of the London appointments was followed by the appointment of another popular Tongan, the noble Ve’ehala as Governor of Ha’apai, and Acting Minister of Police.

Ve’ehala- 44, born Leilua Vi, and educated in Tonga and at Auckland Grammar School, was installed as a noble at the age of 22. Three years later he became Keeper of the Palace Records. He is still consulted widely on matters of Tongan history and protocol.

He has been Acting Governor of Ha’apai but he is best known as probably the South Pacific’s most popular radio personality— as a disc jockey over Tonga’s radio station while off duty.