Anglican Synod Meets In

Suva

Suva, Jan. 22.

A CONFERENCE of Anglican Bishops from the whole Pacific area wil], meet in Honolulu in November this year. They will discuss the possibilities of forming an Oceanic Province of the Anglican Communion. This was an nounced by the Bishop of Polynesia, the Rt. Rev. L. S. Kempthorne, at the sixth triennial synod of the Polynesian diocese, which was in session in Suva at the end of January.

There was a full attendance of dele gates from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and other islands in the Central Pacific at the Suva Synod. One of their first decisions was approval of the utilisation of a copra estate on Vanua Levu for the establishment of a settlement of Solomon Islanders. They will live there com munally and on a profit-sharing basis.

These Islanders were brought to the

Colony as indentured labourers for the sugar plantations, in the early days of this century. They elected to remain on and have now severed all ties with their homeland. The establishment of this estate on Vanua Levu will give them an independence which they have not previously enjoyed in Fiji. * === Two Samoans who had stowed away on an American ship and travelled to Vancouver, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court in Suva, Fiji, on December 6. They were convicted of having committed breaches of the Merchant Shipping Act.

They had been in custody in Vancouver and placed on board the “Sunnyside Park” which was Suva-bound. Off Hono lulu they had attempted to escape in a liferaft which they threw overboard but they were recovered after a few hours. They will be returned to Apia as soon as possible.