Bid To Nationalise

Fiji Gold Fails

Accusations that the gold mining industry was holding Fiji to ransom and that the Emperor Gold Mines at Vatukoula had mulcted Fiji taxpayers of 10 times the amount invested in the operations by the company’s shareholders were levelled by Opposition members during the recent Legislative Council session.

Although doomed from the start, Opposition leader Mr. R. D. Patel’s proposal that the gold mines be nationalised gave rise to a lively two day debate on the subject.

The motion was finally defeated by 23 votes to eight, with Mr. R. H.

Yarrow, who works at Vatukoula, and Liberal Party leader, Dr. L.

Verrier, abstaining.

Mr. Patel claimed the Emperor Gold Mines had mulcted Fiji tax payers of money under the pretext of losing money, having to close down and cause unemployment.

Fair profit

He said that the company records showed that shareholders had invested only $500,000, whereas the Fiji Gov ernment had sunk $4 million into the company since 1951, through sub sidies and tax concessions.

In the last 10 years, Mr. Patel said, the mines had produced 2,725,669 fine ounces of gold and 948,926 fine ounces of silver.

After quoting figures of profits

and losses by the company between 1951 and 1967, he said that a fair profit had been made during most of the years when it was claimed that the company was in financial difficulties and needed assistance.

“How can anybody claim that by approving this resolution we will be doing anything wrong morally or legally,” he asked.

“Nobody, in view of these facts and figures, can accuse us of trying to expropriate private property when our own taxpayers have put S 4 million into this industry.”

In reply, Government members said Mr. Patel’s figures did not take into account the large sums of money the company had ploughed back into development, and the payment of wages, nor the dividends it had re turned.

The Minister of Natural Resources, Mr. D. W. Brown, said Fiji needed millions of dollars to be used for exploration and investigation into mineral research; it needed knowledge to discover wealth and skills to ex ploit the wealth.

"Fortunes lost and won . . ."

“Modem mining history is a story of fortunes lost and won and we haven’t the money to gamble in any such lottery even if the stakes are high,” Mr. Brown said.

“Funds belonging to the Govern ment we hold as trustees of the people and we can’t betray that trust by gambling with the nation’s sav ings. Therefore, we have to persuade someone else to gamble for us.”

He said governments all over the world assisted industries with subsidies and concessions—the Fiji Govern ment was not ashamed of its action with regard to the subsidy.

Speaking on the motion, the Min ister for Communications, Works and Tourism, Mr. C. A. Stinson, stated that the policy of introducing nationalisation in a young developing country was the surest way of spelling doom with overseas investors.