Sing Imports,

Trade Boom

Petition

New Shops

rom Our Own Correspondent S import boom (May PIM, age 25), is reflected in bulging tocks of textiles and other in the Indian and Chinese as well as in the larger .shments.

May the Port Alma brought tons of cargo from Britain, vo London ships in June will I another 17,000 tons, e was when one or two big indented for the smaller shops 1 to them wholesale, but to rany Indian indentors have d the business. Competition : retailers is keen, and there ays a desire to have in stock yer the tailor next door may ing. ;he urban areas particularly, st-war development of an up e dress-consciousness among Fijian women has broadened ;mand for materials of good r, and among Indian women stliness of a sari is often re -1 as an indication of a hus financial status. Both Fijian rdian women nowadays have e to what is best in both ials and Western “acces ther reflection of the boom be noted in the surprising it of commercial building now way at Suva. three-storey shopping blocks mailer buildings are in the s of transforming parts of ggledy-piggledy maze of small >e and Indian shops in the alou Creek area of central illy significant, perhaps, is the Bank of New Zealand ig at the Triangle has been erably enlarged, hort, Suva people with money to be ready to build every except hotels, with the st enthusiasm. There is ig to indicate any plan to re tire hurricane-demolished raid’s; and the whittled-down Seas Hotel, on the site of the lub, still marks time in a -completed state. it is believed to be the largest ash ever taken at Pukapuka recently hooked by Tutu i, late of Rarotonga. The which weighed 400 lbs and n overall measurement of ten ;ook the fishermen miles out the reef and almost swamped canoe. The large fish was ards divided among the ers.

t A marked improvement in the delivery of airmail parcels at Suva has been effected as a result of representations by the Suva Chamber of Commerce. Parcels will now be delivered at the Post Office, thus avoiding a trip to the Bond with clearance orders.

Another improvement suggested by the Chamber is being investigated.

It is that surface mails from England to Fiji be routed through Canada to connect with the Orient liners.