Soil Erosion In Fiji

LOSS of fertility due to the indiscrimi nate use of fire, and subsequent soil erosion, is causing some concern to agricultural experts in Fiji. As shown by the following English translation of a broadcast in Fijian, efforts are being made to instruct the native population in the causes of fertility loss. Broadcasts and articles are prepared for Indian farmers also: — ‘‘During the past years much damage has been done to your land. In many parts of Fiji, on land which was once good for planting now only poor crops grow. Land which was once good forest land where valuable trees grew is now barren. This land is your land, inherited from your fathers and in years to come will belong to your children. Yet many among you are helping to destroy it, to make it poorer.

This damage is being done by fire. In many districts, the land is being burnt over every year. Sometimes the fires are started through carelessness, when you are clearing a ‘teitei’ and are not careful enough to stop the fire spreading. At other times, the fires are started on purpose, to find wild yams or Just to see

a big blaze. They are being started by people among you. And yet with each fire your land becomes poorer. Most of the goodness of the soil lies in the top few inches and if this is taken away, the soil becomes poor. A fire destroys the grass, reeds and trees which pro tect the soil and hold it together; after a fire, when the rain comes down, the soil which is no longer protected, is washed away. You have all seen how muddy the river are when they are in flood. This is the goodness of your land which is being swept away into the sea and so after each fire, the land becomes poorer.

This damage does not happen in one or two years: it happens so slowly that at first you cannot see it. But after many years you will remember how much better the land was when you were children: and if the damage continues, .it is your children and your grandchildren who will suffer,”

After almost two year’s fight for per mission for some Methodist missionaries to return to their stations in Papua, the general secretary of the Mission was able to announce, on November 5, that the Rev. H. K. Bartlett and the Rev. E. A.

Clarke have returned to the Territory.