Fijians Won't

Be Rushed

Four Fijian members of the Legis lative Council, three of them elected, were quick to issue a statement saying that the United Nations Special Com mittee on Colonialism should not in terfere unless the people of the country sought it through their acknowledged leaders.

THESE members were Ratu Edward Cakobau, who is Council of Chiefs representative in the Legisla tive Council, Ratu K. K. T. Mara, Semesa Sikivou and Ravuama Vuni valu. The other two Fijian members of the Council, Ratu Penaia Ganilau, and Ratu George Cakobau, were in the United States at the time.

Their colleagues in Fiji were con fident that Ratu Penaia and Ratu George would agree with the view expressed. Incidentally, Ratu Penaia and Ratu George, were ordered by the Fijian Affairs Board not to go anywhere near the committee.

The statement read: “Whatever the committee of 24 might have to say about the govern ment of our country, the Fijian mem bers of the Legislative Council, on be half of our people, want it to be known that we do not desire their interference nor are we impressed with their much publicised utterances.

“As far as the political future of this Colony is concerned, in January this year we submitted a memorial to the United Kingdom Government for consideration and approval. Until a decision has been made on it, we are quite happy to wait.

Don't Interfere “We refuse to be rushed or dra gooned into making rapid and ill conceived political changes. The com mittee should therefore not interfere in our own affairs unless we, the people of this country, seek its assis tance through our acknowledged leaders.”

The four European elected mem bers of the council supported the statement by the Fijians.

Mr. J. N. Falvey said, “We should keep in mind that the Communist members of the committee must have obtained their misinformation from people in Fiji. The sources are not hard to guess”.

Mr. R. G. Kermode said that Fiji did have problems, which she was seeking to solve amicably. But it was irritating to read statements by some members of the committee, telling

Fiji what to do when, in their own countries, they did not nave me general harmony prosperity and contentment which Fiji enjoyed. tie said a responsible and construetiye debate would be of help, but anything along those lines was too much l?xr eXp6 u Ct f 5u m TT^ T c . om , I ? ittee of the UN, when the UN itself, as a body, advocated that lack of education, political immaturity or lack of economic stability or independence, should not stand in the way of pohhcal independence.

Mr. R. A. Kearsley considered that the idea of sending a UN fact-finding mission to Fiji was harmless enough in itself, as Fiji had nothing to be ashamed of and a great deal more

to be proud of than Syrians, Iraqis, Ethiopians and Cambodians, He suspected that the fact-finding mission idea originated in Fiji, and there was cause for suspicion that efforts were being made locally to engineer a situation which would ap- P ear t 0 J ustif y UN intervention of the West New Guinea variety, to be followed by complete independence severance from Britain, a common roll, etc.

Mr. F. G. Archibald said that con sidering there were three main races in Fiji, the record for racial harmony was unsurpassed anywhere in the world. He had yet to hear of any desire to break away from British rule.