How Tonga Aids New Zealand
Introduction
Introduction
Emigration from Tonga is not something new. The learning of new skills, the acquisit-
ion of new tools, as well as the adoption of certain ‘evil’ habits were as much a charact-
eristic of 18th century emigration as they are of today's migratory movement. In 19th
century the Polynesian labour trade which operated from the Australian Queensland
coast was regarded with a similar ambivalence and likewise involved “mixed blessings”.
The present trends towards emigration to New Zealand might have occurred earlier
in this century but for the introduction of passports and selective immigration policies,
which in the case of New Zealand have tended to exclude Polynesians and other non-
white immigrants in order to boost the European population and create a little England in
the South Seas.
The sudden upsurge in emigration from Tonga in the past few years could well have the effect of creating similar divisions in Tongan society to those experienced in the period of Civil War. The introduction of new values, good and bad, could result in new leaders, a new cohesive ideology and a new cohesive social structure.
On the other hand, if such a pattern did not emerge, Tonga could just as easily lose
the one cherished quality that has made it unique in the Pacific – its traditional independence. The imported values of two centuries ago may well have their counterparts
in New Zealand's increasing economic dominance in Tonga, which, if not corrected,
will turn Tonga into little more than a new Ireland, a source of cheap agricultural
produce and labour completely at the mercy of the ups and downs of the New Zealand
economy without sharing any of the benefits that New Zealand citizens enjoy.