FIJI INDIANS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 261, 3 November 1924, Page 7

FIJI INDIANS.

MODERN MISSIONARY METHODS. Y.M.C'.A. TAKiKS A HAND. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Sl_"\ A, Octolier 24. The New Zealand Y.M.C'.A., for some yet unexplained reason, decided to ! extend tiie 'benefits of their organisuI tion to the Indians of Fiji. As some OS per cent of them are frankly Hindus or Mohammedans, it seems a rash aud all too early move by those excel- . lent people. The Association has opened lup by presenting to Fiji a missionary witli long excellent experience of India. The white residents have shown nosymI pathy with this move, ns they very . properly say that Now Zealand ought to I first help the Kuropean V.M.C.A., which has been against great odds for some i three years, and to-day is close to closing down. The extending of the Y.M.C'.A. to Fiji -Indians is futile. The picture of a white missionary wearing nn Indian puggaree and lieing gnr- j landed as a Hindu guest hai caused -indignation among local Europeans. ! who know that the new arrival is treading on slippery paths, which are likely to lead to serious misunderstanding, if not worse. The only hope expressed is that the new arrival and his supporters in the Dominion will see before it is too late that they are in reality the tools of a very clever and cunning coterie of partly-educated Indians, whose great ambition is to put one over the Fiji Kuropcans and gain e.iual political rights.