Report Awaited

1,400 Pages of Evidence

[?]ong Riot Inquiry Ends: Report Awaited

After hearing evidence from 105 witnesses and admitting exhibits Fiji’s Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Lowe, concluded March 4 the public sittings of the Commission of Inquiry o the December disturbances at Suva.

now is sifting and examining ne huge mass of evidence ,;ome 1,400 pages of typescript) during the five weeks hearing i; compiling his official report.

Commissioner was assisted r. P. T. Rice, with Mr. F. G. er as Commission secretary, isel for the police was Mr. J. N. y and the Acting Attorney ral, Mr. Justin Lewis, repre d the Government. e sidelight was the refusal of D. Lakshman, MLC, to appear witness, as summoned on Feb • 10. tshman was charged in Suva strate’s Court on February 26 having failed without reason cause, to appear before the nission. was fined £lO and given seven in which to pay. court, Lakshman told the strate (Mr. B. M. Hughes) that id not intend to pay the fine, magistrate replied that if he t pay at the end of seven days trrant would be issued for the re of his movable goods to the > of £lO.

Main Points tin points of interest that came in evidence before the Com- Lon during February (see also , February) were: Mr. John Burke, Fiji man of Vacuum Oil Co., giving ;nce of developments leading up le oil strike, said the company .ved a log of wages claims from union on October 10 and re ;d them to head office, Mel ne. r. Eric Palmer, agency manager le Shell Co., said they had first Ived notification from the union August 11. )th men said James Anthony, etary of the Workers’ Union, been informed that the matter ild await the return from leave Mr. Burke and Mr. Pearson ell Co.’s nominee in the negotia s). On this evidence the Com jioner commented, “It does not i reasonable to say, ‘You have

put your claims, but you have to wait until one of our men returns from three months’ holiday’ • Superintendent of Police A. D.

Pyster revealed that just before the police fired smoke grenades, on the first day, a letter was handed to James Anthony and he was told that there was to be no meeting, as permission was not granted.

Anthony, excited and annoyed, was handed a microphone by Superin tendent D. M. McGusty; Anthony told the crowd, “No meeting—per mission not granted”. Deputy Super intendent L. W. Allen-Mersh stated that McGusty shortly afterwards gave the order to disperse the crowd with tear smoke. Eighteen smoke grenades were thrown when the crowd did not move after he ordered them to go to their homes peacefully and quietly.

Union View

• The oil workers’ strike could have gone on for some time had he not personally taken over con

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trol from Mr. James Anthony, union secretary, declared Ratu Meli, pre sident of the Wholesale and Retail Workers’ General Union. He negoti ated with oil companies’ represent atives and signed an agreement on December 15. He told the Com mission that had the union received an early reply to its letter to the police asking permission to hold a public meeting on December 9 (the first day of the riots) then there would have been time to stop it— “there would have been no meeting and nothing would have happened.” • Fijian chiefs' could have pre vented the December 9 troubles had

they been approached—Fijians are still bound by tradition and customs to be loyal to their chiefs, said Jioji Suguturaga, a former police officer.

He suggested that the police, the first day, should not have appeared in riot dress. _... • Gangs of hooligans, Fijians, Tongans and Rotumans, who moved around Suva bus station on De cember 9 intimidating bus and taxi drivers, appeared to be organised, said Mr. Henry Laird, Transport Control Board officer. The gather ing crowd at the depot had been in good humour but their mood de teriorated after the arrival of these men who moved around pulling drivers from their seats and shout ing, “Strike, strike”. Other evidence from police was that police later recovered from the headquarters of “snooker” (hooligan) gangs, large quantities of pillaged goods. • The pattern of destruction in the disturbances was a concentrated effort on European business, Mr.

C. A. Stinson. Mayor of Suva, told the Commission on March 1. The damage to Indian and Chinese pro perty did not resemble the extensive damage to European premises. He added: “There had been deep plan ning among the crowds assembled..

They took advantage of the strike and the disruption it caused to start the attack on Europeans in defiance of law and order generally.” • Mr. Chandra Dip, building contractor, said he had been threatened by a group of Fijians and Indians about giving evidence before the Commission. “They said that if I spoke the facts I would be a sorry man”, he stated. He told how he had heard the proprietor of Island Buses on December 9 telling taxi drivers to stop running their taxis then bus owners would stop run ning their buses. He added that after the tear gas incident, he saw Anthony get into a car driven by Mr. S. Maharaj, owner of Pacific Transport Co.; Anthony lay on the floor as the car drove out of the meeting area. • Assistant Public Relations Officer George Rawnsley stated he heard Mr. B. D. Lakshman, MLC, at a public meeting on December 11 tell the assembly that soldiers were coming from overseas. As a result, the Government issued a statement denying that the question of bring ing in overseas troops had even been contemplated. • Assistant Superintendent of Police Eric Smith gave details of the riot damage—records showed £16,610 worth of damage was caused, made up of £14,304 to European property, £1,793 to Indian property, and £513 to Chinese property. Stin sons Ltd., photographic store, suf fered heavily—£3,l46 damage. He added that 242 persons were arrested during the period of the disturb ances (128 of them curfew-breakers).

Nineteen police were injured, mostly by thrown stones.