Sugar Industry Report

Why Fiji Anxiously Awaits The

By R. W. Robson

rp, n Inc over-all, or long-term, outlook in Fiji has not improved in the past month; but optimistic folk, who do not look much beyond their ,mmediate horizons, find comfort in the following;

, • Die three principal sugar mills (Lautoka, Rarawai and Labasa) beg? , “ ay; Penang will going snortly, and all canefarmers are busily harvesting. Sugar good” 165 should be very 6 u ’ . ® Messrs. Chnstiani Nielsen and Sf? 10 ? com P le .'e d • e Lautoka docks) are now buildnew docks for Suva. The huge job will take 2i years, and the cost ol( ? nial De ‘ eiopmentat ' Wld about *2* millions. Much of that money mimfor’",hMd Pay ‘ me ir c lab ° u / and .materials. ° Somewhat drastic steps taken recently by the Fiji Government to reduce expenditures are paying off.

In the year ended December 31 the Government had a surplus of nearly half a million. US near ' y ® There is increasing recognition of, and aid for, the development of 1961-62 * e Fi i> * ourist industry, which is full Of promise. • The threat that because of the tDiXy cessation of the Government subsidy.

Emperor Gold Mines will cease operations (thus cutting out the Colony’s third most imnortant in dustry and throwing thousands more men into unemployment) is still there; but the completion of an in d^ Strial agreement betwe “ * ba mining company and Its workers at Vatukoula, covering the next two years, suggests that the industry will continue and develop. A party of

Emperor directors, from Australia, are going to Fiji in July to study the situation.

On the other side of the Fiji picture there are some discouraging silhouettes.

The worst, probably, is the con tinued, active hostility of the North west Indian minority group towards the CSR.

Indian 'Planners' v. CSR Having agreed that crushing should commence at end of May, the CSR pointed to good prospects for the industry next year, and urged general planting of cane for 1962 harvesting.

The Patel-Mathur group (Mr.

Mathur is a sugar expert brought in by a section of growers to advise them during the sugar inquiry—and still there) began counter-propa ganda. They insisted growers should not plant cane for 1962 unless they had a guaranteed price; and there fore (they argued) no planting should be undertaken at least until the report of the Sugar Commission was received.

Some growers began planting, and immediately were attacked openly by propaganda, and secretly by per sonal assault and cane-burning. There was much evidence of terrorism, in May, and the great majority of growers therefore did not plant.

There was evidence that thev wanted to plant, and probably would plant as soon as the mills opened— so that, if the terrorists set fire to their fields, the scorched cane could be immediately cut and crushed, and would not be a derd less.

The situation ga' e the CSR some concern. At the end of May, the

planting figures were—

Experts said that this was not anything like the planting needed to take care of next year’s demand—a demand likely to grow through ad ditional sales to USA, in consequence of the Cuban debacle.

They calculated in early June, however, that there still was time for all required planting to be done this year, before the end of the planting season, provided there is no further hold-up.

All sections of the industry await the Sugar Commission’s report. It is at present the hope of responsible

(Continued on p. 134)

Acres Lautoka 448 Rarawai 2,713 Labasa 3,193 Penang ’ 66 Total 6,420

sections that this will mean the fc: ginning of a period of peace in tl; Colony’s major industry.

But there are indications thi whatever its nature, the irreconcilatl Indian group in the NW will fir something in the report to fight, i that —by disturbing and upsetting tl: NW Indian cane-growers—it m;i continue its cunningly devised ai harassing war against the CSR.

It is well known in Fiji that it the ambition of a small group Indians—mostly Gujeratis—to maj Fiji so uncomfortable and costly ft the Australian milling company thi the latter will withdraw from tb Colony, and leave milling to tb Indian co-operatives, which alreau have been discussed and planned. I this means, the dreamers hope to g control of the sugar industry, au attain political power in Fiji.

That, in turn, would lead inevitabd to conflict with the Fijians, an economic disaster for the Colony. I So far, the Fiji Governing (which is mostly an expression the will of the British Colonii

:e) has leaned over backwards in desire to placate Fiji’s racial ips, and avoid friction. The :k of the riots of December, ?, is still fresh in Whitehall is. was seen in the attitude of the ernment during the 1960 sugar vers strike. Those with know e and experience of Fiji know the tactics of the minority In group were based on the latter’s ed of the CSR and of Europeans Tally. be growers did have certain nances against the CSR; but n the CSR showed a spirit of promise and readiness for ement, the minority group ied on the war beyond that point months, in a way that disclosed dtimate purpose. was then that an experienced ernment would have acted with igth and, if necessary, ruthless , so that the welfare of all es in Fiji should not be sacri to the unhealthy ambitions of Gujerati plotters. Instead, the ernment continued to treat the oncilables with timidity and erness. le appearance of the Sugar In ■y Report may force a showdown i the three parties primarily con ed—upon the Government, which not longer play around with so a matter; upon the CSR, which been accused by the Indian p of statistics-manipulation, so it may get an unjust share of industry’s rewards; and upon the m minority, which now is sus id by all classes of dreams of er and avarice which go far be -1 the welfare of the cane 'ers. eanwhile, up to mid-June, there little change in Fiji’s political tion. le deadlock created by the n-European refusal, in Legco, pprove the Government’s plan dect and train Executive Coun aembers for Ministerial respon ty apparently remains, delegation of three Legco mem (Messrs. John Falvey, B. D. hman and Semesa Sikivou) was received and kindly treated at British Colonial Office. They dis ci the plan of providing trained nial Office personnel with extra uments, so as to encourage ser in Fiji. Whitehall proposes the entiation; while Legco generally jrts the idea that defined ad ;trative service is worth a stated rd, whether the service is given versea or by locally-trained per (Over)

There seems to have been no de cision yet. It has little bearing upon Fiji’s chief problems, anyway.

The latter are plain for all to see.

The population, both Fijian and In dian, has increased so fast that it has overtaken and threatens to over whelm the administrative and econo mic machinery, which has the re sponsibility of providing means of sustenance for the people, and es pecially jobs for the oncoming batta lions of teen-agers.

All-Races Convention And meanwhile, a small group of non-official people interested in the future of Fiji is urging that, by public petition, the Governor be asked to set up a Convention. It would represent all races and in terests in Fiji and would discuss the problems created by Fiji’s rapid growth, and make recommendations accordingly.

The main purpose here is to pro vide a means by which all races in Fiji may come together and, accept ing the fact that they must live to gether there in the future, discuss their common problems, describe their grievances and fears, and out line their hopes.

All eyes, of course, are upon the Fijians—they are an unknown factor in this situation.

If they will frankly recognise the Colony’s problems and meet the other community leaders in seeking a solution, a reasonably happy future for Fiji may be expected. But if they simply sit back behind their community barriers, relying stub bornly upon the terms of the Deed of Cession while keeping a cold and suspicious eye upon Indian am bitions and planning, then the future of Fiji can be—to put it mildly— ugly.