From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 2, September 2001.

Tonga’s total land area of 172,525 acres or 269.57 square miles is in fact the property of the Crown, but the guardianship of the land rests with 41 estate owners and the Government.

The 41 estate owners are made up of the Monarch, male members of the Royal Family, and the holders of 33 noble titles and five matapule titles.

A bigger portion of the land, 159,701 acres is Crown Land held by the Government, and the remaining 12,824 acres is shared among the estate owners who have ancestral ties to their estates.

Tonga’s land distribution system is spelled out in the Land Act of 1903.

Clause 7 of the Land Act 1903 states that a male over the age of 16, who was obliged to pay poll tax was entitled to apply to government or to any of the 33 estate owners for a Tax Allotment of not more than eight and a quarter acres, and a Town Allotment of not more than one rood 24 perches.

Up until 1999 the total number of tax allotments that had been registered was 15,892, and the registered town allotments totalled 14,924.

There were also 4,548 leasehold properties in Tonga by 1999, and 679 mortgaged properties.

It has been estimated that 80% of Tonga’s total land area has now been granted to holders (registered and unregistered).