[?]Suffer in Fiji Floods
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[?]ive Foods and Bananas [?]Suffer in Fiji Floods
STEEP. drop in banana exports rom Fiji is expected as a result >f storm and flood damage in Liary-March. e heaviest loss will be immedi \lthough the Fijians also plant nas higher up from the rivers, of the fruit is near the banks
le alluvial, quicker-growing soil,
hese banks not only were the ng plants carried away but whole banks were sliced away ickers went as well. Early ship s must be heavily affected ? difficulty of the Fijians is to nt their banana and food ations and at the same time for food. Government has 3y given prompt assistance to villages with free gifts of food, ny of the villages have also that the cess taken from their las by voluntary arrangement ey used for any community 'Se when required) be used y their provincial taxes which save them free to concentrate on replanting. damage is widespread, affect -11 the river country such as r aimbuka, Waidina and Waini- Not only was the land ad g the main rivers affected but he tributaries where the water, e to flow into the main rivers,
backed up. In the first flood much of that country was submerged for three days, and for four days in the following flood. Bananas covered with still water survived, but the fruit emerged yellow.
Food gardens—many of them also planted in alluvial soil —suffered great damage also, with a con sequent shortage of such native foodstuffs as dalo, tapioca, kumala and breadfruit.
To make matters worse, shipments of flour have been delayed, first through the Australian shipping strike and later through wet weather and wharf congestion in Sydney.
Waikawa, which was carrying Fiji’s first shipment of flour since the strike, did not leave Sydney until March 29. It is believed that she
is carrying only a modest consign ment of flour and that the next available ship from Sydney will not be leaving there until the end of April.
Bread shortage in Fiji affects not only European households—it is almost a staple diet with some town Fijians and part-Europeans. t The RNZN warship Lachlan, now well known in South Pacific waters for her survey work, visited remote Palmerston atoll early March en route from Tahiti to Apia. This is the first ship the Marsters of Palmerston have seen since the wreck and subsequent rebuilding of Commander Clark’s yacht Solace, late 1954.
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