Overcrowding

In Suva

Almost 32 People to the Acre in the Toorak Slum Area

a-mrA tv/t n H NE 0f the few °P en s P ffi^en " tral Suva > a valuable corner site the Town Hall is , spared, at least temporarily — the section,

wJuld hive mlde a ie?fect little

£u b garden As it fs d it will nrovide much-needed office accimmod^tiom The 1946 census has revealed that Greater Suva now has a population of 25 ' 395 ’ ° f which the tow n area holds 11,398.

Further, the census figures show that 3 > 327 P eo P le a re jammed into the slums of the tiny Toorak area, where the den g* ac f re PoPUlatl ° n W ° rkS ° Ut t 0 3162 *° A few Europeans still own bits and pieces of property in Toorak, but others haye sold out t b i n di ans w h o blithely circumvent the regulations, health and otherwise, charge merciless rents for single rooms and so herd crowds of low paid Fijian and Indian workers and their families into dreadful proximity, There may be Indian landlords who possess consciences, if not generosity, but they are rare. When an Indian starts making money his exploitation of his fellow-Indians, including his relatives, is ruthless, (Note; Where did Suva’s slum area get its name? Is it the result of some early Australian humour? “Toorak” is Mel bourne’s most exclusive suburb.)