THE TOKELAUS.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 March 1926, Page 4

THE TOKELAUS.

ISLES SMALL AND FLAT

THE NATIVES HEALTHY

Recently it was announced that the Tokelau islands (Union Group; were to Ire governed by New Zealand and the New York " Times” in commenting on tho wonderful success of the Dominion in dealing with the Polynesian races said that tow taking over by New Zealand of the administration of the Union Croup boded well for the natives. The description given below of those picturesque and interesting islands .should prove of interest to those who take a pride in the British Empire and its development for its own and t'hc well-being of other raves:—• Picture a little I’aeilic Venice inside a ring of coral reel ; a Venice with ; me rely it tropical architecture (but good of its sort) anil with canoes for gondolas. The islanders, or perhaps rock-dwellers, row daily from their village island to their plantation island. Of necessity they make the most use of scant .and poor soil, bereft ol humus. Vet they have no public debt, their budget balances, and they make capital improvements out of revenue. New Zealanders are beittg asked to govern these islanders. .Should the position he reversed?

What do they know of New Zealand who only New Zealand know ? What does the average New Zealander know of the Cook Islands and Niue, which New Zealand annexed in Mr Seddou’s time? Whitt, again, does the New Zealander know of Western Samoa, which became his responsibility by postwar Mandate? And. last, but not least, what does ‘lie know of the Union (or Tokelau) Islands, which have only recently been transferred from (bo control of the lliglt Commissioner of the Western Paeilie to the control of the Governor-General of New Zealand? Since all government moans responsibility. and t here can be no sense of responsibility with,out knowledge. it

would scent to be tile duty uf every New Zealander •‘to know his l’aeilic," not- only because bis political destiny is wrapped up with it. blit because an increasing proportion of ii is becoming territorially bis, to make or *o mar.

ISLE-STUD OKI) ATOLLS. While the Union (Tokelau) Islands arc. even to-day. in it condition of health and welfare that, does great ired.it to I lie British Government (iiliifli annexed them in 11)1(1), or rather to the High Commission of the Western Pacific, they are yet lacing new problems and needs that make New Zealand's new responsibility no light one.

The islands consist of four atolls. One, Swain’s, is American owned, and ran at once be dismissed from the story. The other three are Afaftl, Nukliliomt and Takaoiii. Each ol them is a composite unit, containing islands, islets, and rocks; the unit being fenced off from the ocean by an outer coral reef. Atalu contains 1!) islets within the reel ; Nnkunonu. 22 islets; ’lakao--I'it, fil. The islets in each of these three atolls vary in length from 100 yards to three miles, but all are fairly uniform as to width approximately 10 yards to 100 yards, and (with one or two exceptions) till are from eight to ten feet high. Each of the three atolls has one village. For instance, in Fakanftt the village is on an island. 1” acres in extent, and the cultivations are scattered through the sixty islands or islets of this atoll. This bit of physical geography provides a key to some of the habits and physical attributes of tin l people. HE BOWS INSTEAD OF WALKS. "Generally speaking (reports Administrator Sir George K ieliardsoii). neither tile men nor the women of tile Token Ins are so good looking or have Midi fine physique as the pure Samoans. Their poorer physique may he accounted for by the fact, that they do not have to exert themselves, and work so hard as the Samoans, who walk miles almost daily to their plantations and carry heavy loads, while the Tokelau Islander walks very little, as lie lives on a small islet and leaves it. only in a canoe to cross the lagoon

to his plantation.” There you have, in a few words, an illuminating sidelight on lhe.se Islanders whose main roads are Die waters of tbo lagoon, and in whose villages there is hardly enough room to swing a eat. But if ill some ways the Tokelau Islander is rated below the Samoan, bis bill of health compares more than favourably with general I’aeilic standards. "The health of the people.” reports Die Administrator, "is apparently excellent: only a few cases of elephantiasis were noticed, ami these were said to

have been contracted in other islands. Only a. lew bad cases of Tokelau ringworm were seen. The children were well nourished and healthy with clean skins, and there was an entire tthsetu e of eye disease. . . . The porous soil, together with, the excellent latrines, conduces to good samtut ion. These islands are now free from disease, and they must lie kept in this condition as far its humanly po.-sible by our Health Department rigidly examining

all passengers proceeding there from Samoa, and so preventing the introduction of sickness and disease from this Territory” tike Mandated Territo.rv of Western Samoa). ' IX SPITE OK CONGESTION.

Another sidelight : "The three villages in the group have been well planned and laid out. ’The roads and paths are kept clean and in good order. The Tokelau house is not so strongly built as is the Samoa tale, ami is of a different design, being made with a gable roof and in many eases with a veranda. The bamboo walls render it less cool than tile Samoan tale, which in some instances the interior is divided into rooms bv bamboo partitions, which, although giving more privacy, prevent the circulation of air. Great credit, is due to the British authorities for the work they have done in the past in getting these people to make good villages and houses suited to the local conditions.” This sense o! the credit duo Lo the British hygienists is emphasised when one realises that: the voting people of the village have practidly no playing area, ‘‘nor does it appear possible to make one, owing to the limited space on the small islands on which the villages are located. . . . During my stay on each island an attempt was made to carry out some sports and games lor the young people, but the only space available was the road through the village. about eight feet wide.” LIM IT OK POPKLATIOX. From tin’s picture ot village congestion one passes to a prospect of gen- ' oral congestion. The total acreage ol the islands is not great (Atafu 55(1. Xukitnonu 1350. Takaoftt 650); the i. productivity is limited (even allowing for the possibility of conveying soil from Samoa, which is under considera- : turn); and it is estimated that "for the present the number of people who can live comfortably on these islands [ should Slot exceed 1250.” And the existing population is estimated at 1021 on October l last, excluding certain persons (more than 50 in number) working or schooling in other groups, and liable to return. These figures do not leave much room for expansion; and the power to carry a large population is liable to be reduced by one of the factors attending on civilisation—that is, the (actor of increasing needs by Xatives who are placing their feet on the cultural ladder. The official way of putting it is that “as the needs of the Xatives increase, the land will support fewer people, than it would do if they remained in a primitive condition.” EMIGRATION' AS SAFETY VALVE.

The question may yet arise whether it is helpful to a native race to give it culture—an education that, inspires the native to higher needs, often without attempting to give hint the economic means of satisfying those needs — if the result is unrealised ambition. But it is not to be taken for granted that such a dilemma will present itself. The Administration has in its power certain measures of relief (for instance, regulated emigration), and. on the other hand, it is not ottering an illbalanced education. “It is intended to make provision for a limited number of selected pupils to be admitted annually to schools in Samoa, and not to establish any second-grade schools in the Tokelau Group owing to the difficulty of supervision.” For nine months of 1925 there were in the Tokelatts 33 births, 11 deaths,

and five marriages, so the birth-rate seems to be Hugh and the death-rato low, as compared with most Polynesian races. Population should double in 30 wears or less. INEQUALITY OF SEXES. There seems to he room, and a welcome, for a limited number of Tokelau Islanders in Samoa. At present the Tokelau population returns indicate an excess of women by at least 57; therefore, emigration must ho strictly controlled, or increased inequality ol sexes will lead to undesirable results. But if the resident population were allowed to increase unduly, land disputes, now few, would be likely to arise.

Now that the Islands have been placed under the Governor-General of New Zealand, geographical and other considerations make it convenient that His Excellency’s authority should be exercised through the Administrator of the Mandated Territory of Samoa, General Sir George Richardson. Faknofu is about 200 miles from Apia. The distanco front Fakaofit to Nnkunonu is -12 miles, from Xukuuono to Atafu 53 miles. There is no European official on the Tokelaus, and it is not intended to appoint one. It is proposed that the Islands he visited from Samoa twice a year—once by the Administrator and once by some other official representing him. INEXPENSIVE LABORATORY

Though the thousand people on these three Tokelau atolls are but a small community, they are a unique one, presenting fascinating problems for economic. cultural and social development. The Tokelau group is a life-size laboratory in which the whole Pacific problem may be studied. New Zealand’s extended boundaries contain Die key to most of the material that is needed I,V a eouiiiy genuinely anxious—as if should 1)0—to ••know its Pacific." By the way. the Tokelau laboratory seems to be a particularly inexpensive one. “tts the revenue will more than balance the nornml expenditure and be sufficient to carry nut necessary improvements.’’

Foremost among these latter. are water tanks and concrete reservoirs, designed to make the most of the tainfaTl oil islands that are mostly treeless and which possess lew dependable wells. If the Tokelau people cold at any time satisfy their thirst with water, instead of (as now) drinking largely from the coconut, their export ol copra would be appreciably increased, flip coconut is so largely used for lootl lor man, pig. and poultry that a given area, of coconut in Die 'lokelaus produces only half the copra that would be obtained from a similar area in Samoa. And in the Tokelaus. as in other groups, "copra is the consols ol the Paeilie.”