Tonga

     Look at your map of the South Pacific and you will see that Tonga is slightly closer to the International Date Line than Chatham Islands, a dependency of New Zealand. The easternmost of this group is tiny Pitt Island, which is known only to God and New Zealander geographers. Michael Bassett raises a point of solar order to rebut me. He says:
     "That was nice of you to spare a thought for the Tongans who are often overlooked. But I think your calculation that Tonga was the first to see the light of the new Millennium was not correct. I sit on the New Zealand Millennium Commission. Our advice was that Mt Hakepa on Pitt Island on the Chatham Islands 600 miles to the east of NZ saw the light before Tonga, and was the first inhabited spot inside the dateline to see the sun. Because of the angle of the sun at this time of the year, it was ahead of Tonga. The international media accepted this and poured into the Chathams for the event. The islands have 700 people, and there are only about 40 on Pitt Island. One small motel and a primitive hotel on the main island were groaning from the pressure. Great place for fishing, however, and some enterprising people were diverting the tourists (and journalists) to financial benefit.
     The general consensus in this part of the world is that New Zealand's greeting of the dawn with Kiri TeKanawa singing on the Gisborne foreshore (close to where she grew up) went well. But Sydney's festivities were more spectacular."


     My response: I consulted King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV if Tonga, and he said scornfully: "Bah! It sounds like a bunch of American newsmen singing 'Oh say, can you see in the dawn's early mist.!' It was misty, so they couldn't see the sun. Anyhow, they were all drunk. Here on Tonga, it was bright sunshine." I refuse to take sides in this argument.

Ronald Hilton - 1/2/00