Fiji's Legislative Council At Work

From A Special Correspondent

Suva, Dec. 21.

rE Legislative Council of Fiji—part elected, part nominated, and with an official majority—assembled on December 14 for its Budget session. The Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, KCMG, presided over the 16 official members, all Departmental heads, and the unofficial section of five European, five Fijian, and five Indian members.

The Council was opened with the usual ceremony and dignity, and with presen tation of honours —an MBE to Adi Maraia Vosawale (wife of Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna), an OBE to Major S. G. Cowled, and a CISO to Mr. R. C. Farquhar (Post and Telegraph Department). Then came the Governor’s speech, and the intro duction of the Budget. The main points from the Vice-Regal address were: • Fiji’s post-war development plan, now in London, calls for an expenditure of £4,500,000 over a 10-years period, and the Colony’s grant from the Imperial Government, under its Colonial Develop ment and Welfare Act, over the same period, is £1,000,000. • Increases in income tax (mainly from companies), Estate Duty, and Resi dential Tax. • Increase in the unofficial member ship of Executive Council from two to four, the new appointees being the Hon.

Ratu George Tuisawau and the Hon. K.

B. Singh. This means that in Execu tive Council, where the Colony’s policy is mainly determined, the Governor will preside over five official and four un official members.

The Budget was not a record one.

Estimated expenditure is around £1,650,000, and the hoped-for revenue is approximately £1,550,000, with an esti mated deficit of close to £lOO,OOO.

WHAT did excite taxpayers, however, was the proposal to raise an extra £43,000 by way of increased income tax from individuals, an extra £45,000 from companies, and to raise the annual Resi dential Tax (i.e., Poll Tax) from £l/10/to £2.

The new scale has little effect on in comes under £1,200. Company tax rises from 5/- to 6/3 in the £1; pre-war it was 1/-.

The income taxation changes were described in detail in an article in Jan uary “PIM.”

The Government has officially stated that the increase in taxation is designed “to preserve existing items of revenue and to obtain additional revenue so as to preserve surplus balances, having regard in part to the need for financing the development plan which will be placed before Council in due course,”

What the public fears, however, is tha f much of the extra revenue is required to meet proposed increased administra tion costs, mainly in the form of larger salaries for officials.

Unofficial members exercised their privilege during the Budget debate of rajnging widely over the Colony’s public pffairs. and manv interesting topics were discussed. What brought forth good fruit was the suggestion from several members that taxation generally should be inves

tigated, and the Governor undertook to set up a committee for that purpose.

A Bill to provide for the settlement on Rabi Island of the Banaban natives of Ocean Island, and a Bill to provide for the reinstatement in Civil employment of ex-Servicemen. met with general ap proval and were passed.

TWO unofficial motions provided vigor ous debate. One was sponsored by the Hon. Mr. H. B. Gibson and read: “That this Council is of the opinion that in view of the constantly reiterated prin ciple of policy of the Colonial Office— ‘as much self-government as possible as soon as possible for Colonial Territories’ —and in view of the present and pro posed increases in taxation, that (sic) our Constitution be revised and amended to increase the number of elected re presentation (sic) of the people so that a significant measure of control may be exercised over the raising and the spend ing: of these comparatively huge sums of money which the people of this Colony will be called upon to provide.”

Not only was the motion badly worded, but the tactics of mover and seconder (Hon. A. A. Ragg) were weak, as they put forward proposals in debate which, had they been made part of the motion, would have led to a really constructive debate. As it was, it could only be abortive. It revealed divided opinion amongst both European and Indian un official members, but it did nroduce some very desirable plain-speaking, directed principally at the Indian members.

The Governor later commented on the hiph standard of debate.

The motion was lost.

The other unofficial motion came from the Hon. Vishnu Deo. and it proposed that the Colony’s sugar industry should

be nationalised, the CSR Co., Ltd., taken over, and the whole enterprise run by a Government Commission!

While both mover and seconder (Hon.

K. B. between them addressed a weary Council for close on three hours, they failed to produce a single argument to justify the proposal. No evidence was offered of how the grower or the Colony would benefit, no proof was given of how the growing, the processing, or the marketing of sugar cane and its pro ducts could be done more efficiently, if the motion were carried.

This was a further example of poli

tical theorising, with a view to catching votes from an almost illiterate Indian electorate. The only members to support the motion were the Indians, and it was lost by 22 votes to 5.

This debate concluded the session and the Council was adjourned sine die at 10.40 p.m. on December 21.

THE Council preserved its dignity throughout the session, in which it was no doubt assisted by its impres sive surroundings. There was straight talking but no mud-slinging.

The Governor’s sprightly entries, his courteous “Good morning, gentlemen,” at the commencement of each day’s work, and the firmness of his rulings, left no doubt as to who was in command, and that that authority was firm and con siderate.

It was fascinating to see Indian mem bers feverishly writing out their speeches, as others delivered theirs—which pos sibly accounted for the irrelevancy and unimnortance of many of their remarks No Indian member seemed capable of sneaking to the point and doing it briefly—verbosity seemed more desirable than relevancy.

Whether the ability of Fijian members to doze as easily in the mornings as after lunch, while Indian memers were sneak ing. was iust contempt or native casual ness, is debatable—it was certainly profit able to the sleepers.

The public showed little interest in the debates and -after the opening the gal leries were almost deserted.

Among passengers who returned to Samoa by the “Maui Pomare” in early December were Mr. A. G. Smyth, MLC, and Mrs. Smyth. They are much im proved in health after their holiday in Australia and New Zealand.

In a manslaughter case heard before Chief Judge J. R. Herd and four assessors in Apia High Court on December 10 and 11, a part-Samoan, George Schwenke, was charged with killing, on November 16, a Samoan named Tino in the bakery of Emil Fabricius. The evidence showed that Tino had threatened a woman, Mrs.

Laurenson, and the accused, in an aggres sive manner, and that Schwenke, in order to protect the woman had hit Tino with a piece of firewood, accidentally striking him in a vital spot, so that he later died of the injury. The case was dismissed for lack of evidence.