Miss Hibiscus Crowned at Fiji Festival

The teething troubles which confronted the Fiji Junior Chamber of Commerce when organis ing their first Hibiscus Festival in 1956 were absent in the smooth running 1957 festivities.

It was a festival of music, sports, native dancing, art and gaiety, culminating in a gala procession of decorated floats, and the selection —from 35 attractive girls of all races —of the Hibiscus Queen of the year.

Suva assumed a carnival air for the occasion. Shops and stores arranged special window displays; many of the prominent build ings were decorated with palm fronds, hibiscus, coloured lights and bunting. Three thousand overseas visi tors from the liner "Orsova" and a US

destroyer squadron

swelled Suva's crowds to an estimated 35,000

people.

Thousands of people lined Victoria Parade — one of Suva's main thoroughfares—to watch and admire the decorated floats as they passed through the city to Albert Park where Miss Hibiscus entrants were presented to the public.

At the Hibiscus Ball held at the Grand Pacific Hotel, the name of the 1957 Festival Queen was announced.

It was demure, shy, 19 years-old Filimaina Koto, a Fijian student teacher. Her main prize will be two wonderful

weeks in Honolulu, Hawaii, as guest of the Jaycees in that city. She will travel by Qantas.

Our photo (by PRO, Fiji) shows last year's

Miss Hibiscus, Miss Liebling Hoeflich, plair the crown on Miss Filimaina Koto. Runnen; Miss Elizabeth Stokes is shown right.