Fiji Sugar

Growers Get No Increase: Industry in Bad State

rpHE Commission which was set up in A Fiji to examine the cane-growing side of the sugar industry, and re port on the Indian cane-growers’ demand for increased rates (over and above the increases already granted by the CSR Co.), submitted its report in November.

It was signed by Mr, E. E. Jenkins (Attorney-General) and Mr. H. W. Jack (Director of Agriculture).

The Commission took, as concrete examples, the condition of a grower pro ducing 123 tons in 1939 and in 1943, and that of a 12-acres farm, in 1939 and 1943.

Setting total receipts against total costs in each year, it was found that the posi tion of the individuals concerned was substantially the same “Bearing in mind that bonuses are not necessarily designed to cover the whole of any increases in costs which have taken place during the war, we are of opinion that no further increase in the price of sugar-cane is justified,” concluded the Commission.

The sugar season is virtually over in Fiji; and, as a result of the strikes of operatives in the sugar mills, and the refusal of a large section of the Indian growers to cut their cane, it is likely that Fiji’s sugar export figures this year will show a heavy decline.

Meanwhile, the attitude of the Indians towards the sugar industry, towards the Government, and towards the United Nations generally has caused much con cern in Fiji, No surprise would be caused if this troublesome community were dealt with by the authorities in a drastic way.

If action is taken, it will be done with a view to the protection of the Fiji natives, whose attitude throughout the critical war years has been admirable.