How To Make Rich Fiji Richer

Emphasis on Roads and on a Sound Native Policy

From an article written in 1941 (before the Pacific war) by THEO D. RIAZ, Nadarivatu, Colo North, Fiji.

IN March, 1941, the Hon. Member for the North-western Division (Fiji Legislative Council) issued a pam phlet in which he urged that certain public works and services be undertaken.

I am using that as a basis for some observations which I hope may be of assistance in planning Fiji’s post-war Government.

Need For Good Roads

mHE tar-sealing of the circuminsular X road, whilst making for speed and comfort when motoring round the island of Viti Levu, would not contribute much, if anything, to the development of Fiji as a whole and very little towards that of the island which it encircles.

What is needed in order to develop to the utmost the Colony’s resources are:— CD More and better internal roads and (2) A vigorous and comprehensive land settlement policy.

There are routes on this island of Viti Levu which, if formed into good roads, would give access to large areas of agri cultural and grazing land in the Rewa River Valley, the highlands of Viti Levu, and down the Sigatoka Valley to Vuna salu. These roads would run from Nau sori up to Vunidawa, thence over the island to Tavua via Nadarivatu. Another would run from Naval to Navunasalu, via Natutualoko, with branches to Ba and Nadi.

There doubtless are others which could be formed with profit to the Col ony. I have confined myself to Viti Levu because I do not know sufficient about the requirements of Vanua Levu to voice an opinion, though I suppose the prob lems to be solved on that island are the same as those which obtain on Viti Levu.

There is no lack of men on Vanua Levu capable of stating a case for its develop ment.

Native Health

rpHE establishment of a sanatorium for X consumptive Fijians is advocated.

One could write volumes on the ravages of consumption amongst the Fijians, and how mortality among child ren is decimating the race.

The establishment of a sanatorium is a sound policy. But prevention is much better than cure, and this largely is a matter of diet and hygiene. The im provement of these will go a long way towards freeing the Fijians from the ravages of disease. The problem of im proving diet and hygiene are closely linked up with that of more and better internal roads.

Fallacy Of Collectivism

fITHE Hon. Member gives attention to X the Native Department and its administration. He believes that the Fijians of to-day are at the “junction of two roads” —one of which he thinks leads to individualism and the other back to their old system of communal life.

In order—presumably—to make it easier for the Fijian to decide which road he should take, the Hon. Member offers him a third—and this one leads to col lectivism.

I do not wish to pose as an authoritv on the Fijian, but I can say with truth that the Fijian of to-day is a much be wildered man and I firmly believe that he will become more bewildered, and quite possibly rebellious, if any attempt

is made to coerce him into accepting a system such as that outlined by the Hon.

Member.

When he advocates that the Fijian be forced to live in villages of from 200 to 500 houses, the Hon. Member seems to ignore the fact that the Fijian is pas sionately attached to his traditional planting-grounds and that where his vil lages are situated there also are enshrined his Manes and his Lares. He forgets that people of differing “yavusa” never live in amity together.

There are cases in Fiji where, for con venience of administration and other reasons, two and in some cases three different tribes have been brought to gether to form one Buli-ship. In each case, the tribes so brought together have separated, and each tribe has set up and maintained villages distinct from those of the other tribes forming the Buli-ship.

In the province of Colo North there are Buli-ships formed of different tribes —one is that of Bobuco and the other is Nasau, to quote two. Nasoqo is a village in the Buli-ship of Bobuco, yet people belonging to that village dislike being called Kai-Bobuco. Likewise a man from Nabumakita, which is in Nasau Buli ship, will deny with considerable heat that he is a Kai-Nasau.

The people of these Buli-ships inter marry, but the woman always becomes a member of her husband’s tribe, and almost invariably goes to live in his vil

lage. If by any chance a man should wish to take up his residence in a vil lage other than his own, he has to be formally admitted. Then, if he has not been allotted a piece of land by that vil lage, he will go to his tribal lands to carry out his planting, and even if he has been allotted land by his new vil lage he will still do the bulk of his plant ing on his Mataqali land, be it ever so far removed from his new place of abode.

Nasoqo people and those of the District of Nailuva, which is in the province of Ra, intermarry freely and are very friendly; yet neither would agree to their villages being amalgamated in order to form one large town, nor would they agree to being joined with those of other tribes for the purpose of forming one large town of from 200 to 500 houses.

Any attempt to force them into such an amalgamation would most certainly lead to trouble.

I will quote another instance, by tak ing the Nadrau people, who also live in the province of Colo North. They are of one tribe, and have one supreme chief, known as the “Tui Nadrau.” There are four villages in this district, all inhabited by members of the same yavusa, yet they would resent any attempt to transfer them from their individual villages and

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set them up in one large town; further more, any attempt to amalgamate them with members of other tribes for the pur pose of forming one super-town of 300 or 500 houses would, I firmly believe, meet with active resistance.

What I have said of the province of Colo North would apply with equal if not greater force to the province of Ra, and I believe this to be applicable, also, to the whole of Fiji.

MANY attempts have been made at different times by Governments throughout the world to transplant agricultural peoples from their ancestral lands and villages and establish them in places where they could build better vil lages and where there was better land for cultivation; yet, all of these benevo lent moves have failed. It is worth remembering that some of those abortive attempts have been made by Govern ments and individuals in various parts of the British Empire. Nothing is surer than that any attempt to transplant the Fijian people'will also meet with failure, and this in spite of the fact that they are one of the most good-natured and docile people on earth.

But all this does not get away from the fact that it is the Government's bounden duty to do everything possible to help the Fijian to live a more con tented, happier and fuller life than he is living.

As I said before, the Fijian is at present (1941) living in a state of bewil derment, which I think is mainly attri butable to his having been brought into too violent contact with industrial life and its concomitant individualism, the ideals governing both of which are com pletely beyond his comprehension. They are at absolute variance from those which governed his traditional mode of life, and from those taught him by his vari ous Missions and by the old type of Gov ernment administrative officer. The Fijians are suffering great ethical loss through the breakdown of their ancient standards of life.

Disruption Of Village Life

fTIHE Hon. Member made reference to J. the departure some years ago from the custom, then in vogue, of pay ing taxes in kind, and permitting the natives to tender money in lieu of pro duce. This was a grave mistake. But for some years after the new system was instituted the native was protected to the extent that he could not leave his village without having first received the permission of the headman of his village, that of the Buli of his district and, fin ally, that of the DC or Roko of his province.

In 1922, or 1923, during Sir Cecil Hunter-Rodwell’s term as Governor, it was enacted that at certain times of the year a Fijian could leave his village without let or hindrance, for the purpose of earning sufficient money to pay his taxes, and for Christmas. The Fijian has lost rather than benefited by the change, and it is very doubtful whether the Col ony has reaped any benefit either— though the change was made in order to make him more readily available as a labourer. The Fijian most certainly is not the happy, carefree individual he was before being freed from the obliga tions of paying his taxes in kind.

I will not venture an opinion as to whether the Fijians can be induced to return to his traditional mode of life, but I do agree with the Hon. Member when he says that an attempt should be made to persuade him to do so. He does not appear to be in any way suited to take up an individualistic way of life.

But I am positive that any attempt to induce him to live in large villages com

posed of numerous heterogeneous tribes —lf one can use such a term when referring to Fijian tribes—and adopt a systern of collective cultivation far removed from his traditional planting grounds and the haunts of his ancestral gods, is foredoomed to absolute and dismal fallure, and, what is far worse, will bring about the complete collapse of his social life and breakdown of his moral fibre.

I do not prescribe a panacea for all the ills from which the Fijian is suffering, but I feel that a return to the old system of native administration—with modifications to suit modern trends—will go a long way towards ensuring his social moral calvatlon and moral salvation.

Oversight Of Villages

fjIHE Hon. Member says—and I think JL rightly—that DMO’S should visit all

the villages in their respective dis tricts at least once in every three months. It is not very long since it was the obligatory duty of all DC’s and DMO’s to visit each village in their dis tricts every three months. Why was this duty allowed to lapse?

There is a fine body of Native Medical Practitioners now available and the Gov ernment should make the fullest possible use these men’s services for both the c )3 re 1 ? 1 prevention of sickness. They should travel continuously from village to village, giving lectures on the benefits to be . d ® ri X? d fr o m hygiene in living, and varied diet. But the use of these men s services should not be allowed in any way to relieve the D MO’s from the duty of visiting every village in their districts every three months, or even oftener.

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Care Of The Roads

IT will, in order to make such regular visits possible, be necessary to put all the provincial roads in good order once again. There was a time—not so very long gone—when one could ride over all the roads in Colo North and the province of Ra by night or day, confident that one would not meet with an acci dent. But now it is quite in the nature of an adventure to undertake to ride over them in daylight and, from what I can gather by inquiries, this condition of affairs obtains over the greater part of Fiji.

I would not revert to the old custom of compelling the natives to form and keep in repair all provincial roads with out being paid for the work. On the contrary, I believe that they should be paid for all such work, but I also believe that all Bulis should—as they were in the past—be made responsible for form ing and keeping in regular good order all roads in their districts, with the ex ception of roads like those from Rewa to Tavua, and down the Sigatoka River Valley. Such roads as those would come under the control of the Director of Public Works.

I may appear to have laid great stress on the importance of reading the interior, but I submit that it would not be pos sible to over-stress the value of roads in

promoting the health and prosperity of the people of this Colony.

Rice-Growing

THE, Hon. Member says that he depre cates the spending of money on the Rewa fisheries and on rice-growing experiments—though he does not say what those experiments are. He contends that the agricultural department should not spend money on experimenting on the growing of rice. He gives several reasons for his opposition, the chief among them being the “well-known fact that the Indians are expert rice-growers.”

As a matter of fact, Indians are any thing but expert at rice-growing. Their methods are haphazard in the extreme.

They plant two or maybe three plots of ground with rice, and then, in the majority of cases, leave the rest to nature. If the good God sends rain they, later on, may reap a harvest; but, speak ing generally, the Indians’ philosophy in this country, when summed up, seems to be. “No rain, no grain.” In California and in Australia, some of the world’s best rice is produced on land which is rarely moistened by rain, and the yields per acre, in those countries, are as much as 100 per cent, higher than the best the Indian gets off an acre in Fiji. The crop in those countries is produced by scienti fic cultivation and irrigation, and is har vested with machinery.

If the Director of Agriculture has in view a scheme whereby a supply of locally-grown rice adequate to the Col ony’s requirements can be produced, then all hands should shout: “Let him go to it.” There are many areas of land on the Rewa, Sigatoka, and Dreketi Rivers and other places admirably suited for growing rice by irrigation.

More Gold-Mines Can Be Found

rpHE Hon. Member says that gold-min- JL ing has grown considerably in this Colony, but beyond suggesting that

the present Director of Lands be made Minister for Mines, and giving a lot of figures which proved beyond doubt that the Tavua group had prospered, he did not make one constructive suggestion— he said nothing on the matter of encour aging prospectors to go in search of the precious metal.

The Tavua group of mines are in the very nature of things a diminishing quantity. Therefore, every encourage ment and assistance should be given to prospectors in search for more gold— that is, if there is any desire that another group of mines like those at Tavua should -be discovered. If such another group is lying hidden in Fiji, the men to unearth it are the prospectors—not a swarm of geologists, such as the White hall group were. The prospector in searching for gold, suffers unbelievable hardship and in many cases actual pri vation; he follows the elusive speck until it becomes a prospect in the pan, and suffers bitter disappointment maybe a score of times. Yet, undaunted, on he goes until he lands on a deposit which makes a Tavua mining industry possible.

The prospector is the man who should receive every encouragement from the Government to go out and search for more and still more gold.

Plea For The Euronesian

MANY people, from time to time, have expressed concern, both real and assumed, over the disabilities and restrictions under which the native Fijian lives, and I grant that they are manifold. But it must not be forgotten that the Fijians occupy an extremely strong position, because they have their own villages in which they can live, and they own their own land, on which they can grow all the food they require, so they will never starve.

But there is a people, also native of Fiji, and for whose existence the Euro

pean is solely responsible, living in a state of hopeless uncertainty, beside whose case that of the Fijian fades into insignificance. The people to whom I refer are those of mixed European and Fijian descent.

These people have not had eloquent politicians pleading their cause in the Legislative Council —though most of the latter owe their seats in the Legislative Council to the votes of these people. Yet, God knows, theirs is a cause which needs pleading!

This unfortunate people (and I use the word “unfortunate” in its best sense) has in the main been taught to believe that their sole destiny is to fill the positions of poorly-paid industrial workers and shop-assistants: and, as a result of this belief, they are the people who suffer most hardship during periods of depres sion.

They, for the most part, are taught— or teach themselves—the barest rudi ments of carpentering and engineering: and, as a consequence, the majority of them cannot command high pay for their work, nor obtain permanent employment.

It is my belief that this people should be induced to settle on the land so that they may become useful and self-reliant citizens. I further believe it to be the duty of the Government to give them every encouragement to settle on the land, and to afford them every possible assistance to become good farmers. To this end I would advocate that they be settled in co-operative groups, with effi cient instructors or supervisors, and at the same time encouraging them to man age the affairs of their settlements them selves.

Agricultural colleges, or schools, should be established, in conjunction with demonstration farms, on which they could receive instruction in the theo retical and practical sides of farming There should also be established nical schools, where those who wished to do so could learn trades and professions The young men of this people have taken their place in the defence forces of the Colony, and overseas, and have ren dered a good account of themselves. I feel sure that, if the Government affords them a chance to settle on the land that they will seize the opportunitv to do so and become industrious, self-reliant, self respecting and independent citizens.

In common justice, this people should be granted the right which is theirs by birth—to live happy and useful lives.

Give them a stake in this, their native land, and they will respond, and the Col ony will reap a rich reward from their intelligence and loyalty.