Fiji Franchise
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
British Colonial Office is Hesitant in Making Far- Reaching Changes
From Our Own Correspondent.
SUVA, August 1. (NOTE; This article came to hand after the article on page 41, on the Fiji franchise, had been printed in an early section of this issue.) THE Secretary of State for the Colonies has informed the Fiji Government that, on the information at present laid before him, he is unable to reach any fixed conclusion on the question of the change in the constitution of the Fiji Legislative Council, which was advocated in the debate in the Council on May 16.
With the traditional caution of the Colonial Office, he desires that the pro posals should be fully ventilated through out the Colony and that adequate time and opportunity should be given for dis cussion and deliberation.
Some suggestion of urgency was given to the proposal by the fact that the life of the present Council comes to an end this year and elections were to take place for the new Council. Three years is the normal term, so that an election on the verge of a possible change was hardly, desirable. The Letters Patent, which form the legal constitution of the Colony, have therefore been altered so that the life of the present Council can be extended until 1936.
It is difficult to gauge the political opinions of the Colonists, both European and Indian, on the question of the nomi nated v. the elected system of selecting the representatives who are to convey their communal views to the British Government through the Governor of the Colony.
The issue is a simple one and lends itself readily to submission direct to the Colonists themselves. A referendum on the question should be a practicable solu tion and an inexpensive one.
Again, it has been suggested that the present elected members of the Legis lative Council should forthwith resign their seats and face their electors. Both systems would find their advocates in all electorates. Unfortunately, in a small place such as Fiji, personal feelings play an important part in politics, and the eventual decision needs to be discounted accordingly.
Probably the opinion held by the moderate sections of the various com munities is that the change from electing their representatives to having them selected for them is a change more in name than in fact in the system of government, since, all said and done, it is the Government and the Governor who govern in name and in fact.
Mr. F. O. R. McNicoll, son of Brigadier- General W. Ramsay McNicoll, Adminis trator of New Guinea, paid a visit to the Mandated Territory by the Oronsay in August.
Mr. J. Woodville, who has been a resi dent of New Guinea since 1918, arrived in Sydney by the Macdhui on July 17 to spend furlough in Australia before retiring from the N.G. Public Service.
He joined the Administration in 1922 and has recently been stationed at Wewak as chief clerk of the Sepik District Office.