CONTENTED TONGA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 830, 26 November 1929, Page 11

CONTENTED TONGA

EDUCATION AND SPORT PROSPERITY IN ISLANDS For the past nine years Mr. R. C. Hyne has been Director of Education to the Government of Tonga. He reached Auckland last evening by the Tofua on his way to the Solomon Islands, where he has been appointed Chief Magistrate. Mr. Hyne is a Queenslander by birth and his life has been divided between education and law. He began his career as a teacher, then he studied law, went back to education again and now he is back in the legal world. There are 120 schools in Tonga, he said, two-thirds of which belong to the Government. The remainder is controlled by the various missions. Education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14. All schools are subject to Government inspection. The native language, as well as English, is taught in the primary schools. but English is the prevailing language in all secondary schools. The Tongan Government, which is i eager to foster education, provides i several scholarships for students, who are sent to Sydney and to a medical school in Fiji. The Tongan children are quick to learn and are most intelligent, said Mr. Hyne. The people themselves are really interested in education, an interest which has increased enormously during the past few years. Good Rugby football is played by the boys, who also make excellent tennis players, and the inter-school sports are popular events of the year. interisland contests are also staged and produce some of the finest athletes in the Islands. Mr. Hyne says that Tonga is very prosperous at present and the people are very contented.