In Your Bath!

We Want to Play In Your Bath!

Breakers Ahead in the

Suva Sea Baths

From Our Own Correspondent SUVA, January 19.

THERE is a storm brewing in the Suva Sea Baths.

Plans for the baths were drawn up nearly 25 years ago, when Suva’s ratepayers were mostly Europeans.

The main swimming bath was built by the former Muncipal Council with Government aid, and it was built for European use. Later, there was an Indian rumpus and a second bath was built for non-Europeans next to the main bath. The Indians refused to swim or bathe in the second bath and for years it has been more or less derelict. Now, mainly because the wartime boom enabled Indians to acquire a large part of Suva’s free hold properties, an Indian coun cillor has formally demanded the opening of the European bath to ‘all ratepayers.”

Now that the whole business is jut in the open a number of Euro cean swimmers say that the baths Dught to be open to Fijians, if only because Fijians are natural swim ners and because their unquestioned standards of personal cleanliness jive no cause for doubt in any luarter. But most Europeans say ;hey will not use the baths if they ire open to all and sundry Indians.

It is pointed out that Indians as i people are not water-lovers and rery few of them could ever be de icribed as natural swimmers in the lense applied to Pacific Islanders.

Another queer angle is the fact hat although Fijians, as well as hdians, have been excluded from he Suva Baths, Chinese have been idmitted for many years. No one leems to know why, though the momaly was cited during an agita ion to admit Fijians in 1950.

A European suggestion that the ►aths might be allocated to each if the three large groups (the Chinese seem to have got mislaid ,t this point) for two days a week ach, has been knocked on the head y the second thought that Indian len and women would never bathe imultaneously and that Hindus and luslims would have to be separated.

In short, the only point at issue » whether the baths are to be landed over to the Indians lock, tock and barrel. If this happens ; is virtually certain that people f other races will retire en masse, nd thus discriminatory non-dis rimination will have another field ay. Further, it is also certain that nly a handful of Indians would be repared to pay for admission to le baths, which, deprived of this mrce of revenue, would ultimately e closed.

Research Ships Call at

Papeete

The Scripps Oceanographic In stitute’s hydrographic research vessels Horizon and Spencer S.

Baird, which were in Suva in De cember (PIM, Jan. p. 126), arrived at Papeete January 17 from Suva.

They were under the command of Captain Noel Ferris and Captain Lawrence Davis respectively, with Dr. Rodger Revel, Director of the Scripps Institute, in overall charge of the expedition which flew the flag of the US Navy.

The expedition cleared San Diego on September 25, 1952, and made calls at Eniwetok, Bikini, Kwajalein, Ocean Island, Rotuma, Aitape,

Nukualofa and Pagopago before calling at Suva. The ships were present at the explosion of a bomb at Bikini on October 1, which the world’s press judged, from unofficial eye-witness accounts, to have been the first hydrogen bomb ever ex ploded by the United States.

Members of the expedition, which is said to be mainly engaged on ocean soundings, were hospitably entertained while in Papeete. They departed in continuation of the voyage two days later, bound for Marquesas and the States.

Mr. and Mrs, Alfred Deroche and their three daughters arrived in Brisbane recently from New Cale donia by Air France. They will spend a holiday in Australia.