 MFAT had no relation to an earlier Department of External Affairs, which was responsible for administrating New Zealand's South Pacific island dependencies of Niue, the Cook Islands, Tokelau, and Samoa between 1919 and 1943.In 1943, that aforementioned Department was renamed the Department of Island Territories.In 1975, the Island Territories Department was dissolved and its functions were absorbed back into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.