National Party

[?]ea Of Fijian National Party Taking Shape

By a Staff Writer in Fiji

iccording to proposals of the an Affairs Board, the Fijian pie will go to the polls for the t time in 1962.

Avuama Vunivalu, Mlc,

gave some of the details of the posals, which have not yet been roved by the Government, to a ;ting of the Fijian Association, of ch he is president. He said the posals were, briefly; The present qualifications of tors should apply to Fijians. )ility to read or write either in lish or the vernacular; 21 years age; residents of the Colony for e than 12 months.) ) No property or financial quali ;ion. ) Women to have the franchise. • Candidates for election to have toral qualification, plus ability to I and write English. 1 No disqualification of Fijians ling positions under the Crown i election to Legco.

The constituencies at present being suitable, they should be ed to correspond with the pre- Administrative divisions. (This Id mean an increase from five ibers to six.) Members of the Council of :fs, if on the electoral register, )e allowed to vote both in the tituent elections and in the Coun >f Chiefs’ election.

Adequate arrangements for il voting, due to the wide distri )n of Fijians; and also for ab le voting for persons absent from Colony. le meeting of the Fijian Associa discussed the proposals at length, rvuama said: “The purpose of Association in including the elections in its agenda is to J a start in preparing the people step which is foreign, and which / of them refused to accept. If are to succeed in making the a Association a national move , action must be taken to ap a full-time secretary to visit as ' villages as possible, explain he aims of the Association and Reasons why they are requested m as members.” ter, he said: “Those who do not

subscribe to the Association’s aims need not join it. They then are free to form political parties of their own.

“But the Fijians cannot afford not to be united on a national level at the present stage of development.

The reason for unity is obvious.”

Thus this Association of Fijians marks a further stage in the political development of the Fijian people.

Curiously enough, at the moment, other persons are playing with the idea of an All-Fiji National Party, to be a party devoted only to politi cal purposes and with the same thought as the Fijian Association—

namely, to sponsor candidates for the next elections.

Nothing concrete has been done.

PIM representatives here have been approached several times with vague outlines of a party to consist of about a dozen well-known identities, three from each race, to formulate a policy for candidates to take to Legco.

The merits of both these plans are fairly obvious; but the difficulties may be too much for any other than determined and dedicated men. How ever, the political party idea is new to Fiji. It is overdue. It may succeed where other remedies have failed.