War Insurance For

Fiji

Position of Other Territories

AFTER much consideration and delay, the question of effecting some form of war damage insurance for the protection of the British Territories of the Central Pacific, is under considera tion; and it is expected that the Fiji Government soon will lead the way in announcing a set of new laws to cover an insurance plan for Fiji.

There has been no war damage, yet, in Fiji, Tonga, or New Hebrides; but there is war damage in the Solomons and the Gilbert and Ellice Colony, both of which have been partly occupied by the enemy.

Present indications are that each of those five Territories will have a war damage insurance plan of its own; but some people are of opinion that, for war damage insurance purposes, they should be grouped together. In a sense, they already are linked, because the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, who is responsible for the protection or government of Tonga, the Solomons, Gil bert and Ellice, and the British interests in New Hebrides, is also the Governor of Fiji.

It is expected that an insurance or compensation plan will operate soon in regard to both the Solomons and Gilbert and Ellice Colony; and the administra tive staffs of both Territories are filing claims for compensation and holding them for purposes of record.