Native Land
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
How Fiji Proposes To Solve An Intricate Problem
AS one of the most intricate problems in the administration of Pacific Territories is that of the proper control of the land, readers generally will be interested in new legislation which is now under consideration by the Govern ment of Fiji.
In 1936, the Council of Fijian Chiefs passed an important resolution, asking that the Government should control, in thet best interests of the Fijians, all native land which was not required for their immediate use.
This resolution has been very carefully considered in the subsequent years by all interests in the Colony. The large majority of opinions were definitely in favour of the plan.
The Government of Fiji has now framed a Bill which places the control of all native land in a Board, consisting of the Governor, a Fijian, the Adviser on Native Affairs, and the Director of Lands.
The Board will act as a sort of central control, and the native lands in the various districts will be under the im mediate supervision of local committees responsible to the Board.
Under the original deed of cession, practically all the agricultural land in Fiji belongs to the Fijians. The new Bill proposes that all land, not occupied or immediately required by Fijians, will be classified. Certain lands will go into native reserves; and no land in a native reserve will be alienated except that leases may, with the consent of the Board, be granted by the native owners to Fijian natives. All lands which are not included in a native reserve, but which are placed under the control of the Board, will be available for leasing by the Board to applicants of any race, whether Fijian, Indian or European, and all rents and premiums received there from, less a charge representing manage ment expenses, will be for the benefit of the native owners of the land.
It is hoped that by this system, one of the most acute problems in Fiji will be solved. The Fijian natives own the land: but the Indian peasant farmers, of whom there now are over 85,000, are by far the more active agriculturists. They cannot get sufficient land for their pur poses, and they are in a permanent con dition of land hunger.
It is hoped that the new Native Land Board, after properly providing for all the possible needs of the Fijians them selves, will be able to make adequate land available under a fair leasehold system for the landless and clamorous Indians.