October 19. 2003
by Michael Field
   Imperialists used to go to war expecting laurels at the end of a brawl and this weekend New Zealand marks the centenary of one such prize -- a remote South Seas island.
   Niue, a nation of fewer than 2,000 Polynesians, was New Zealand ’s prize for joining Mother England in her unsuccessful attempt to suppress South Africa ’s Boers.
   The Niueans were not impressed.
   When King Togia appealed to Queen Victoria “to stretch out towards us your might hand that Niue might hide herself in it and be safe” he was thinking of protection from New Zealand and the imperial ambitions of its lordly and mightily fat Premier Richard John Seddon.
   This weekend New Zealand ’s Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright, is in Niue, where she is also governor-general, marking the century of Wellington ’s annexation of the island, known as the “Rock of the Pacific”.
   The nickname comes from its unusual geology: at 259 square kilometres (104 square miles) the single island is the world’s “largest emerged atoll” . Its bleak, mostly. The coastline rises 20 to 30 metres straight out of the deep Pacific. There are no beaches. It lacks soil and its land is pure limestone creating huge caverns. When there is an earthquake in Niue its akin to living atop a kettle drum for the booming noise it all makes.
   Niue has one of the highest natural rates of natural radiation in the world, suggesting there is a lot of uranium there.
   Pretty well in the middle of no where, 2,200 kilometres north of here, Niue (“Niu” means coconut, “e” means here) has been settled for over a thousand years. Tongans settled the south side of the island, Cook Islanders in the West and Samoans in the north.
     The first white man to pass by was Englishman Captain James Cook in 1774. As his landing party tried to come ashore the locals tossed spears at them and they fled back; Cook responded by naming the place “Savage Island”.
   Even today Niue has no safe landing place for ships, and thus no shipping service regularly calls by, but in 1868 a notorious “blackbirder”, Bully Hayes, did stop over. His was the custom to kidnap islanders and take them to Peru , and later Queensland , to work in mines and on sugar cane. He carried off 150 Niueans.
   In the late 19th Century Germany was actively seeking its place in the sun, competing with Britain particularly in the Pacific. It climaxed with the Berlin Agreement in 1899 when Germany got Western Samoa (New Zealand later seized it in 1914) and extra territorial rights in Zanzibar while Britain got Tonga , Niue and the Solomons.

New Zealand ’s Seddon was always keen to build a southern empire, pushing for Fiji , the Cooks and even New Caledonia to come under Wellington ’s rule. He was able to prevail on London to give him the Cook Islands, and almost unexpectedly King Edward V decided to give Niue as a gift for the Boer War contribution.
   Seddon waxed lycical on his brief visit to Niue: “The name appears on our map as Savage Island or Niue . It should be changed to ‘The Island of Love’. When I return home I will recommend that a change be made.”
   The then Governor of New Zealand, Lord Ranfurly, was despatched aboard HMS Mildura  to annex the various scattered islands of the Cooks and Niue, complete with Royal Marine guards, gun salutes and fifes and drums.
   The Niueans were not happy with rule from Wellington and it all climaxed tragically in 1953 with New Zealand ’s only political assassination.
   Three escaped Niuean prisoners one night, armed with machetes, stood around the bed of the resident commissioner, Hector Larsen,  counted to three and hacked him to death.
   He had arrived 10 years earlier and jailed hundreds of Niueans for drinking alcohol, gambling, for adultery and even if a single couple held hands in public.
   Finally three prisoners,  Tamaeli,  Latoatama and Folitolu, had enough and broke out and went and murdered Larsen.
   In 1974 Niue won a form of independence -- it is legal description is “independent in free association with New Zealand ”. Although the United States and France use a similar term in respect of their Pacific ex-colonies, few nations recognise it as meaning real independence.
   For Niue the problem is much worse than the legality; these days its population sometimes falls as low as 1,600 and 18,000 Niueans live in New Zealand .
   Its small population creates some perverse problems; with a 20 seat Legislative Assembly it has the world’s highest concentrations of politicians, one MP for each 40 to 50 votes.
   Niue has a very poor economic outlook. Revenue comes these days from renting out its phone line to sex line operators. Many Niueans have experienced phone calls from Japanese men, expecting something different. Lately it has made money from using its Internet suffix -- dot nu. And controversially it has become an international tax haven, having sold its entire banking system to a Panamanian law firm.
   The popular prediction on Niue’s future is that it will return into New Zealand ’s fold and confirm itself as a dreamy South Seas backwater.

Copyright: Michael Field