Cause Trouble

Fiji's Poor Land

Records May

The failure hitherto of the Govern ment of Fiji to establish an adequate system of registration of Fijian land owners has been brought to light there in recent months; and unless it is dealt with soon and efficiently it could cause serious trouble.

AS everyone knows, practically all the land in Fiji that has not been alienated long ago is the inalienable property of the Fijian people. That is accepted as a fundamental factor and presents few difficulties.

But a complicating factor lies in the method of ownership. A very large proportion of Fijian land is owned by families and communities; and if an accurate record of Fijian lands is to be kept, it is absolutely necessary that there be also main tained an accurate record of births, marriages and deaths.

The Fijian population is increasing steadily—if not rapidly—which ob viously means land fragmentation and that the claims to land made by suc ceeding generations are subject to ever-growing scrutiny.

Old System

Under the old system of Fijian communal life there were few compli cations. If there were any, the chief had sufficient authority to clear them up quickly. Now much of that is changed.

Within Fiji there are at least two immigrant races which have been firmly established, and which seek land ownership. As everyone knows, special measures have been taken to protect the indigenous people against unfair or improper land claims by the immigrant races.

Another new and complicating fac tor is the increasing tendency of the Fijian people to move away from their old tribal structures to the in dividualistic way of life introduced by the West. It is natural that the Fijian, leaving the old village communal sys tem, will wish to retain the land rights which he inherited as a mem ber of a family or group.

These new conditions can be met fairly and properly if the records of births, marriages and deaths are ac curately maintained. But if the re cords are not properly kept, a whole series of troubles could arise to dis tract the Fijian people.

The system of recording informa tion about Fijian families, it appears,

has fallen woefully short of essential requirements.

Large bound books, with entries made in ink, without any system of cross-indexing or any built-in method of checking to ensure accuracy, have been kept within provincial offices.

But these books—the sole source of the information essential to determine land ownership or family relationships—have in some cases suffered from the ravages of weather and age and not infrequently of neglect; so

that many entries have become in decipherable.

One commentator has pointed out that even if these books had been maintained with care, they would have been inadequate—first, because of the lack of systematic indexing and cross-indexing and, second, be causes, as records, they are far from complete.

It appears that thousands of names have not been recorded, either in the register of land-owners or in the

central registry of births, deaths and marriages. For example, no record has yet been made of the deaths of the Fijian soldiers who did not return from the campaigns in the Solomons and in Malaya.

The work of Dr. Lindsay Verrier, who has been a prominent official in the Department of Health in Fiji for many years, has emphasised recently the inadequacy of the present system of records.

As a necessary part of his work, Dr. Verrier, 20 years ago, established his own system of keeping records of land ownership and of births, deaths and marriages. He has personally maintained this system of records up to the present day, so that his records now cover about one-quarter of the Fijian race. But, so far as three quarters of the Fijian people are con

cerned, the records are woefully in adequate.

Dr. Verrier’s system, while not elaborate, was scientifically designed, and apparently is quite sufficient to cover family and land records. He recently expressed his willingness to co-operate with the Government in training a few selected officials in the best methods of extending and carrying on the system.

The subject recently had the atten tion of the Fijian representatives in the Legislative Council, and Ratu K.

T. Mara, Ratu Edward Cakobau and Ravuama Vunivalu very strongly urged upon the Government the need for establishing a sufficient system of records.

“If we don’t deal with this matter this year, complications are going to be serious,” said Ratu Edward.