Fiji Island

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The Fiji island of Kioa, in Buca Bay, settled by Tuvaluans from Vaitupu, is only a few kilometres south of Rabi, settled by Banabans from Ocean Island. The Banabans have been fre quently in the news over the last 10 years or so on two issues seeking a bigger share of royalties and com pensation from the British Phosphate Commissioners for damage to Ocean Island,and seeking autonomy from the Gilbert Islands.

The Tuvaluans of Kioa have also had their share of troubles, on a smaller scale, but the outsider would scar cely be aware of them, let alone the existence of the is land, which covers about 2 055 ha bought by the people of Vaitupu to relieve pressures on their own island.

The patriarch of Kioa, Neli Lifuka, reveals many of the problems in his autobiogra phy, Logs in the Current of the Sea , edited by Klaus- Friedrich Koch. In addition to the autobiography there is a legal history of the settlement of Kioa.

Neli was a man born to lead, although he was not of the chiefly or matai class. He had wide experience in

several fields before the Bri tish administration of the then-Gilbert and Ellice Is lands Colony appointed him magistrate of Vaitupu, an ap pointment which led to some resentment. Neli did not al ways conform to the law when administering it; he knew his Vaitupu people and how to apply the law, often his own, to them.

As magistrate he was really the leader of the Vaitupans,

and he chose many of the orig inal settlers of Kioa. The first settlers went to Kioa, which was raw land, in 1946. Neli himself went there with his family in 1962, and found the island beset with legal and ad ministrative problems which retarded development.

Much of the trouble stemm ed from the fact that the title to the island, after the Vaitupans bought it for £3 000 was registered in the

name of the Governor of Fiji as trustee. Differences be tween customary rules of tenure and British law relat ing to freehold land did not help to solve the problem.

The elders back in Vaitupu did not feel that the colonists had a free hand to develop Kioa.

Correspondence between the Fiji and GEIC govern ments did not solve the prob lem. The matter was not settl ed till 1972, when the settlers received official tenancies and citizenship of Fiji. Neli was caught up in much of this turmoil, which led to much misunderstanding and dissen tion about the allocation of blocks of land.

He was eventually deposed as leader of the people of the island. This, however, did not embitter him. He had the satisfaction of knowing that he gave his people leadership when he went to Kioa and that they came to know how to chart the future of their is

land.

NB.

(LOGS IN THE CURRENT OF THE SEA.

Edited by Klaus Friedrich Koch. Published by Australian National University Press, PO Box 4, Canberra. Aust, 2600 $9,50 plus postage).

Kioa islanders retain many of their old customs. They still sail outrigger canoes.