KEY POINTS:
Classified files that might shed light on one of the great and enduring mysteries of the Pacific were being released today by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Four of the files relate to the Joyita, a 20-metre boat which left Apia, Samoa, on Oct 3, 1955 with 25 crew and passengers aboard.
She was headed for the Tokelau Islands, a passage of two days.
The Joyita was reported missing on October 6 when she did not arrive in Fakaofo.
Five weeks later a waterlogged Joyita was found, adrift and abandoned near Fiji, 600 miles from its scheduled path.
No trace of the people aboard has ever been found and a Commission of Inquiry called the fate of the passengers and crew, some of them New Zealanders, "inexplicable".
Fifteen hundred previously restricted files were being released for public access at New Zealand Archives in Wellington today by the ministry as part of its continuing programme of reviewing and releasing classified material.
The files cover a wide range of topics and date mainly from the 1940s to the 1970s and include a significant collection of files from the old Department of Island Territories, and its successor the Department of Maori and Island Affairs.
The Tokelau Islands files include those on the Joyita.
Other files released include a number returned from the Ministry's overseas posts in Brussels, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manila, New Delhi, Noumea, New York (UN Mission), Seoul and Tokyo.
Files reviewed and cleared during the previous year are released each August.
Rather than releasing files after a fixed period, say 30 years, the ministry reviews and releases closed files as soon as practicable, subject to resource and international document release agreements.
- NZPA
