Fijians celebrate in Honiara-but

Honiara-but with few Solomon Islanders

prom a Honiara correspondent

Fiji’s independence on Octo

her 10— celebrated lavishly by .. -i • . o i Fijians living in the Solomon Islands was conspicuous in Honiara rather for the absence of Solomon Islanders. It raised

questions of how popular Fijians

are in the Solomons, and how long it will be before the Solo mons are celebrating their own

independence.

What must have been almost the entire Fijian population in Honiara turned out in the morning for formal ceremonies in which the High Com missioner. Sir Michael Gass, was guest of honour. There was far less formality in the evening when about 600 guests were invited to a feast to end all feasts, which ran well into the next day. Drink flowed at an open bar and there was some fine dancing.

At the formal morning ceremony, Sir Michael made a speech emphasising the close ties between Fiji and the Solomons; first because of the number of Solomon Islanders who had received training in various capacities in Fiji, and secondly because of the number of Fijians who had come to the Solomons in trades such as plumbing, carpentry er mechanics. He hoped that the Fijians in Honiara would one day join the celebrations for “our own independence”.

1116 Fijian flag was raised after prayers conducted by Father Moris sini. The proceedings were ended With some very good dancing, especially by the men.

The ceremony was very much a Fyian affair and although Mr Harry Chandra attended, the Fiji Indians in Honiara also had little part in ceremonies in common with the Solomon Islanders.

The guests o£ honour included Mr. anc j M rs Francis Bugotu, but none of the BSIP Governing Council members. Other guests seated nearby almost entirel >' o£ ex ‘ Fijians in Honiara did not seem to mix in particularly well with their kin in the Solomons before the celebrations, and many Solomon Islanders feel that their presence P re ';TP t j .their own people getting qualified m the various trades carried on by Fijians, who are considered to guard their skills too closely, The question is how long such an attitude between two related peoples will continue, and how it will affect both territories in the view each will take to the present trend of creating a Pacific comity area.

The other section of Honiara society not represented to any great extent was the Chinese community which again raises the question of what their place will be in the new Pacific.

The final question is, of course, when will independence come for the Solomons? It may well be sooner than many think and the new develop ment plan for the Solomons, when published, will no doubt show how fast things will begin to move from now on.

Warships of four navies were in Suva during independence. Here, sailors catch a camera-eye view of the festivities, and photo grapher Bal Ram takes a camera eye view of them.