Dwellers

Plight Of

Fiji's Slum

The inevitable results of an icrease in population that is ister than the development of country’s natural resources is sen now in Fiji, where there is

n increasing tendency on the

art of some sections of the eople to crowd together in sub tandard houses. 7*OR example, there is a consider ■ able settlement, mostly of Indians, ut beyond the public cemetery area 1 Lautoka. All sorts of shacks have een built there. The people, mostly idians, have “squatted” there without ght or permission, and it would be ifflcult to shift them.

These photographs show the sub andard type of houses which have een placed haphazard on this land, /hile the houses, or shacks, are of ny material that came to hand, and ithout such amenities as water apply or electric light or sanitation, ley are for the most part clean and dy; and the swarms of children who ve there are well fed and well cared ar.

Most of the shacks appear to have aod gardens nearby, and places for dwls and, in some cases, pigs.

The Lautoka Town Council, co perating with the Government and le canemillers, who own part of the md, are trying to organise better ousing conditions, under better con ol, for these people; but the ever icreasing population, with its roblems of unemployment or very aw wages, tend to defeat all plans, t is said that there are at least ,000 people, mostly Indians, living in tiis sub-standard settlement.

There are similar settlements in 'ther Fiji towns.