A Note on Fiji

“We both left with the im pression that Fiji was a very promising, rising colony , . . but that it would go ahead a great deal faster if it had not such a mediaeval form of govern ment; and if the people who paid the taxes—especially the white men—had a voice in the way they were spent.

“After all, white men who have lived all their lives there, and have got a big stake in the country must know what is best for the welfare of the place, more than a stray governor who hops around from one part of the world to another, on a few years’ appointment to each place, and has no interest at stake in the Islands except to see that he draws his salary regularly.’’

From “Sunshine and Surf”, by Douglas B. Hall and Lord Albert Osborne, and published in 1901—57 years ago.