Editorial Note.
pp. 113-114 · Read in the full issue
DR. Hoodless has put his finger squarely on the central point of the Fiji racial problem. The In dians steadily are outnumbering the Fijians; and it is human nature that the Indians, as the largest community in Fiji, will demand a larger and larger share in Govern ment.
The Europeans have introduced to Fiji the Western organisation of society and administration. The Indians have accepted the Western system. The Fijians have not.
What is going to happen if and when the responsibility for ad ministration passes from the hands
of the Europeans to those of the other communities?
The obvious thing, as many have pointed out, is to train Fijians for self-government, on Western lines.
How can that be done? The Fijian system is rooted in age-old habit and tradition, and cannot be changed easily, if at all.
The Fijian system works well.
Under it, the Fijian is happy and secure. Why try to change it? Only because the Fijians, while they might contemplate partnership with the Indians in the future of Fiji, certainly will not accept Indian direction and control.
This is one of the many prob lems which the British brought to Fiji, when they introduced Indian labour to work the plantations so many years ago.