Urged
p. 55 · Read in the full issue
Isolated Rotuma
Need For Medical Attention Urged
TT is expected that, this month, the Governor of Fiji (Sir Arthur Rich ards) will visit the island of Rotuma (a dependency of Fiji, lying over 200 miles to the north), and that, as a re sult of what he will learn, some atten t on will be given to health conditions on the island.
There are 14 Europeans, about 2,800 natives, and many half-castes on the is.and. It is a peculiar community made more so by its isolation. The nat ives are not Fijians. They have been described as a “Polynesian offshoot'’; but their language is said to be somewhat s milar to Chinese, and they have marked Mongolian characteristics. The island, from about 1820, was a refuge for run away European sailors and convicts, and there is a strong admixture of European blood. Most of the natives understand English.
There is reported to be a good deal of filaria and tuberculosis on the island; but the thing that really is causing con cern is the amount of leprosy. Dr. C. J.
Austin, superintendent of the Makogai Station, in September, 1986, examined 38 natives suspected of leprosy, and certified eight of them to be lepers; yet, up to
June iiist, those lepers still were walking about on the island, without apparent restriction.
There is a native medical practitioner on the island: but it is held that the conditions require the services, for a year or two, of a European doctor, as well.
The natives are lazy, and do not pro duce fresh food as they should. They ;i.l are landowners: but they live mostly on green coconuts and canned meat, which they obtain by producing copra (about 2,500 tons per annum).
The native women, to a remarkable extent, dress as Europeans. It is said that they wear more clothes than any other women in the tropical islands.
These two conditions—diet and cloth ing may account for the amount of disease.
The Europeans trading on the island have difficulty in obtaining labour. The Rotumans will not work and Fijian lab ourers have been taken in. The latter have been able gradually to lever up the wages rate, until now they receive 4/0 per day, as compared with 2/6 per day, the ruling rate for native labour in Fiji.
The Goverilment representative is Mr.
A. E. Cornish. He has been there; for 1 / years. It is urged that the Resident Agent or Commissioner should be a medi cal man. But the peculiar Rotuma lan guage is the difficulty. Mr. Cornish is one of the very few Europeans who know the language.