COOK ISLAND GROUP

Hokitika Guardian, 8 November 1932, Page 6

COOK ISLAND GROUP

ADMINISTRATION COST. DIFFICULTY OF POSITION. WELLINGTON, November 7. An -effort to- ea. s e the harden oh the 'Consolidated Fund for the cost of administering th e Go'o'k Islands has been made for som© time past, says 'Sir Apiraria Ngath, in We annual report, oh the Cook Islands Department, present-

ed in the 'House. •It is recalled by 'the Minister that the-National Expenditure Commission recommended that the department ,should to© amalgamated with Wat of External Affairs, under ‘one permAtifent ii'ead, arid that the grants 'frCuriC th|' 'New Zealand Treasury to the C<fok Islands arid iffid'e ridiftinitstVatitohs be reduced to Lid,ooo, special mention being mad? of a reduction., in the expenditure on education.

The Minister says the savings eeti- i mated in the current yearts dppropria- 1 tions an© 3311,000, and such further . economies ag- may result from the pro- ] posed amalgamation. He adds that it • may b© inferred from the commission’© finding that it considers the-time ripe j for casting more responsibility for administrative and humanitarian services . on the local treasuries, arid that it asSuirieg a capacity -in 'th‘© lattey t 0 carry these effectively. , “Th© policy of New Zealand in the administration of the islands of the Cook 'group wasWrom the inception j modelled ori that of Native Affairs here,’ ’ says th© 'Minister. “From -1919 onward there was a great expansion, mj th© public services, especially ih regard J to edu .ition and health, the develop-ment-of the Island fruit trade, and the postal and wireless facilities. The groat 'distances Of these island,s New Zealand, has necessitated transplanting to them a larger maafeuVe ’of tservictes than Would fee Required ih, say-, a county or district on the mamland of New -Zealand itself. | “'The cost to the New Zealand Tr-eac- j

nry in 1931-32, apart from the motor vessel Maui Pomaro, was £23,852 for services I'endered to 15,200 of it© population-, 'or £1 11s 4d a head, Which compares more than favourably with many administrative areas in New Zealand. ’