LIFE AT RAROTONGA

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 31, 29 April 1927, Page 9

LIFE AT RAROTONGA

NATIVES CONTENTED GOOD FOOTBALLERS Though it is only 21 miles in circumference —a mere pocket handkerchief of land in a limitless expanse of ocean—there are over 100 motor-vehicles of various kinds on Rarotonga, the principal islet of the Cook Group, New Zealand’s remote dependency. Life in the Cook Islands, for the 300 civil servants and planters who live there, is altogether a pleasant sort of business, according to Mr. K. Sleight, late secretary to the Commissioner. After four years in the Islands Mr. Sleight is now in Auckland enjoying three months’ leave, and though he may not return to Rarotonga, he treasures memories of many happy occasions at the Islands. NEW ZEALAND OFFICIALS All the civil servants for the Cook Islands are recruited from official ranks in New Zealand, and they run the affairs of the natives on model lines. The mistakes which led to friction between pakeha and Maori in the early days of New Zealand settlement have not been repeated. The freehold of native land cannot be acquired, so on that score there is no heartburning. Leases entering up to 60 years in tenure can be obtained by planters, but the natives never actually relinquish their hereditary ownership. The result is that The natives, who are closely allied to the Maoris and speak the same tongue, are on the whole a happy and contented people, accepting in concord and amity the presence of white people in their midst. In the coconut planting and fruitgrowing business, in which whites and natives are occupied throughout the scattered group, the chief handicap is the absence of regular and adequate shipping facilities. The monthly ’Frisco mail boats are the only regular callers, and among the outer islets, some of which are hundreds of miles from Rarotonga, a trading schooner does the rounds. NATIVE FOOTBALLERS

With the routine of everyday work, plus any amount of sport and social life, the white population does not lack interests to keep it engaged. At cricket, tennis and Rugby football, however, the whites have to acknowledge the superiority of the natives, who show a remarkable aptitude for ball games of any kind. Rugby football has become their ruling passion, • and Mr. Sleight believes that a Rarotonga representative team could hold its own with the best senior club teams of New Zealand.