Mine Labour

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 7, 29 September 1977, Page 3

Mine Labour

“TONGANS FOR NIUE?” was the headline of an article that appeared in a Fijian newspaper SUNDAY SUN on 14 August 1977. It was alleged in the article that, “the Premier of Niue is trying to secure an agreement with Tonga to have 900 Tongans to work uranium mines in Niue”. The article went on to say that, “the Niue Government is apparently having trouble exploiting its mineral deposits due to lack of labour. Because of Niue’s relationship with New Zealand, which makes accessibility to New Zealand easy, the population of Niue has decreased drastically in recent years”. To trace the source of the article, TOHI TALA NIUE (Niue’s fortnightly newspaper) carried out an investigation to find out whether this in fact was true . . .Talking to the Secretary to the Niue Government, Mr Chapman, he said, “that he was surprised and flabbergasted at such an untrue piece of news that came out of nowhere, and furthermore, he wrote to the Editor of the SUNDAY SUN, which he said, “The Premier Hon. R. R. Rex and indeed the Government of Niue is most concerned that the SUNDAY SUN published information that is utterly untrue. If they (SUNDAY SUN) have found uranium mines in Niue, we should be delighted to be informed where and how much. “To set the record straight’’, said ; Mr Chapman, “there has

never been a discovery of uranium on Niue that we know of. What is true is that the Government has been encouraging an Australian company to continue with the prospecting work it has been conducting on and off since 1967 to see if in fact there are uranium deposits in Niue or any other minerals. “The latest position is that the Government has agreed that the company concerned my proceed sometime later in the year to undertake a drilling programme of up to 16 holes which it is hoped should provide additional information as to whether there is a presence of uranium mineralisation”, added Mr Chapman. He also said, “where the newspaper got the statement from really astounds the Niue Government as it is groundless and has wide implications which not only mislead Niueans but Tongans as well.” (From ‘TOHI TALA NIUE’)