Woodman, woodman, save those trees

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WHAT do you do when trees stand in the way of develop ment? Simple, says Fiji’s Public Works Department, cut them down.

That was easier said than done. When the department announced last month it was going to chop down a row of huge raintrees outside Lautoka there was so much public outcry the interim govern ment had to put in a reprieve. Said Suva horticulturist Dick Phillips; “Trees are like human beings. They have a certain lifespan and get old and die a natural death. Every effort should be made to save these trees.”

The trees were planted along the road outside Lautoka towards Nadi in the ear ly 1900 s. It provided shade for inde ntured Indians walking to work in the canefields. An oldtimer, 78-year-old Hari Ram Kuver, remembers the trees well when he was a little boy. He remembers one bad accident, too, when the sugar mills were owned by Colonial Sugar Re finery Company (CSR), of Australia. A CSR truck crashed into one of the trees and four people died.

This, says Fiji’s Public Works Depart ment, is why the trees must be cut. It wants to enlarge the highway outside Lautoka. The trees are in the way.

And they are dangerous to motorists.

Dangerous? asks an irate letter writer to The Fiji Times newspaper. “If drivers are too stupid to stay on the road (or too drunk) and navigate a track off into a tree or electricity pole, that’s their

problem,” she wrote. “Electricity poles

are not being moved because they are a danger to drivers.”

The letter touched off a campaign to save the trees. Four days later the Lauto ka Chamber of Commerce called on the Lautoka City Council to find an alterna tive. “One cannot understand the reasoning behind such a decision (to cut the trees),” said Chamber President Nat

warlal Vagh. “Surely cutting down the

trees will make the place bare.”

Conservationists suggested building

separate road lanes on either side of the trees, providing a dual carriageway for traffic. Other people living in the area joined the campaign. One of them was local chief, Tui Vuda, Ratu Sir Josaia Tavaiqia, who until his resignation in January was Minister for Forests in the interim government. Tavaiqia led a de legation of concerned citizens for a meeting with the Minister for Infrastruc ture and Public Utilities, Apisai Tora under the trees.

Tora, whose village is 20 miles away, said the trees must be cut for the road to be widened. Re-aligning the road would need a new bridge across the river near by. Tora suggested planting new trees

along the new road. But the people said no, these trees belong to our history. So what can the government do?

The government minister put every thing on hold for further consultation.

And with a little more time won, the Save-The-Trees campaigners went away to reload for another battle.D

Under threat: developers wants these trees outside Lautoka cut to make way for a wider road.