Niue has just suffered one of its periodic hurricanes, the last severe hurricane being in 1959. The hurricane has resulted in a severe set back to crops on the island and to the various development schemes the New Zealand Government has established to achieve some degree of economic viability. It has also resulted in some reappraisal of the extent and nature of the aid this country extends to the island.

In Government circles there appears to be two current points of view about how Niue Island, our last inhabited island possession, should and can progress. The first is that the absence of private enterprise on the island is to be deplored and that everything possible should be done to create a private sector in the island's economy. There are of course private traders on the island, the largest of whom is Mr. Robert Rex who is also Leader of Government Business in the Island's Assembly.

Murray Rowlands, author of this article, is at present Advisory Officer, the New Zealand Public Service Association.

Mr. Rex must have inherited his business sense from the Australian side of his ancestry (he is half Niuean and half Australian), for most Niueans are profoundly uninterested in the prospect of owning private businesses. This is not because the social moves of the island community operate against individualism—the Niuean seems to have a more individualistic idea of himself than the Cook Islander or Samoan—but rather that the concept of the accumulation of large private profits is alien to him.

no kings

There never has been any system of kingship in Niuean society and leaders must be prepared to distribute the increased possessions resulting from productivity. Where the theory of the need for private enterprise held by the Resident Commissioner and members of the State Services Commission breaks down is that if any Niuean were to establish himself" in business, his relatives, friends and acquaintances would expect to pay for his goods and services by barter (a barrow load of taro), rather than money. Indeed there is strong evidence to suggest that the money economy may be irrelevant to Niue for everything imported comes from the few local traders and is usually put on account and local goods exchanged.

The other solution is for Niue to be run by as many skilled technicians in agronomy as the New Zealand Government can possibly afford. Large scale incorporations of land should proceed at pace, so that the success of the Samoan Reparalion Estate can he repeated. Every encouragement should be given for Niueans to migrate to New Zealand and the island's standard of living substantially raised.

monster

The State Services Commission maintains that the numbers in the Public Service should not be increased further and see the six hundred odd public servants on the island as an organic monster that threatens to devour the island's economy. Actually the island's public service is a mixture of Niueans and expatriate New Zealand officers, administer the island very effectively and, blessed with a larger expenditure on the development of agriculture and communications, could probably improve the island's economy considerably.

The problem of communications is at the centre of the island's overall economic stagnation. If the Government's passionfruit scheme for instance is to succeed, there will have to be a large improvement in transport services to the island and the Government will have to come to light with the airstrip they have been promising for the past six years. Migration from Niue is restricted by there being only one beat per month and paradoxically it is probably the time-lapse of a month between boats that causes many Niueans to leave in an effort to seek opportunities overseas.

Many of the migrants are leaving Niue still possessing land rights, which makes the task of incorporation for economic utilisation of land extremely difficult. The Island Assembly's decision to place a time limit on the amount of time Niueans could be absent from Niue and still retain rights to land has caused an outcry among the 5000 Niueans living in New Zealand. But the problem of the correct economic utilisation of land must be solved before Niue can begin to make real progress.

Recently the Government have substantially altered the terms of service for public servants employed on the island. Teachers for instance are now not to receive an automatic two step increment for taking up positions on Niue. House rents are to be increased and some allowances disappear. The question therefore arises as to whether Niue will continue to get a good quality of public servants to work on the island considering the overwhelming prospect of isolation which a New Zealand officer must face.

The question also applies to Niuean members of the Niue Public Service. These men and women are paid considerably less than their New Zealand counterparts. A further complication is that younger Niuean public servants are better educated and in many cases more proficient in their jobs, than older Niueans who occupy many of the senior positions in the island's public service. There is a very pronounced clash of generations on Niue. The younger Niueans are not as prepared to follow the dictates of the London Missionary Society as were their parents and cracks in the island's social structure may be developing.

One also detects an impatience with the legislative set upon the island. The Island Assembly consists of one representative from each of the thirteen villages on the island. The framers of the island's constitution, Professor Davidson from A.N.U. and Professor Aikman, formerly of V.U.W., were careful not to repeat the mistakes made in the Cook Islands of allowing public servants to become members of the legislature.

In the Cook Islands there were proven charges of corruption in high places soon after self government. However in Niue, by depriving the senior public servants of the right to continue as public servants and Still be in the Assembly, the constitution has in fact disenfranchisedf some of the Niueans, most able leaders. A further unfortunate side effect has been that the quality of members in the Island Asembly is not as high as it might be. One feels these men can be too easily manipulated by the Leader of Government Business and the Resident Commissioner. Those disenfranchised quietly disbelieve that many of the Resident Commissioner's polices are in the island's interests. They scoff at the Commissioner's claim to understand what the Niuean people want.

realism

The character of Government on Niue too closely resembles the character of its Resident Commissioner. Because the Niueans are still not vocal enough in the Assembly, too much business is merely managed and not adequately discussed by the local Assembly. More will have to be done by the Niueans to promote regional cooperation with Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands. There must be positive incentives offered to bright Niuean school leavers to remain on the island and break the cycle of leaving the island at 18 and returning at 55 and placing an intolerable strain on educational and social services of Niue.

The prospect of Niue ever achieving or even wanting independence from New Zealand does not exist. It therefore follows that a great deal more realistic thinking in government quarters must be done to ensure continued development for the island.

two official points of view