OUR FIJI LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 285, 1 December 1924, Page 9

OUR FIJI LETTER.

ISLAND NEWS. i i i FIJI CUSTOMS UPHEVAL. | (From Our Own Correspondent.) SUVA. November 22. Some Fleshly Jokes. Mr. ITcct;,;- Bolitho, who visited Fiji lbout ten years ago, and who 'stayed vithin its borders for a few days (bis ravels being limited to a trip of some IS mill,-... from Suva), has ventured into >rint in a prominent journal called tbe 'Isle of Man Times," to tell the people hat within the past 20 years cannihalsm had been practised in Fiji. This is Hire balderdash, and absolutely without my foundation. He then tries to lend iome semblance of truthfulness to bis 'tale of woe." by stating that some Anglican missionaries had been cooked ty these savage islanders and eaten. As i matter of fuct no missionary has ever icen eaten in Fiji. One missionary, the Rev. Mr. Baker, was killed, but "never •ooked and eaten. He owed his death lo his own foolishness in not heeding a lefinite warning. Why Mr. Bolitho -hould go out of hi. way to blacken the fair name of Fiji is difficult to understand. His fleshly notes are pure figments of an over imaginative imagination. Fiji Butter. It is very gratifying to those who believe in a rosy future for the dairying industry to receive the news last week that the butter, which was supplied by the Tailevu Soldiers' Settlement, and hy Mr. John Barber, of Rewa, had been sold in London for 170/ per cwt. This was the balance of the consignment which was 'sent to London as part of the Fiji exhibit at Wembley. The price is a good one, considering the fact that the sample was sent Home, without any special preparation as to keeping quality, etc. Indian Murder. A murder of an Indian woman was reported last month, and now again another ca.e i-s reported by the Inspector-General. The news comes from Tavuu, on the north coast of this island, that a Madrassi Indian named Andy had chopped up an Indian woman named Katinan, stabbing her often with a knife. Andy then, like -so many others in such a mood, turned tbe knife on himself and tried with special diligence to cut his throat. He did not wholly accomplish his purpose, being found while life still flickered and conveyed to the Indian Hosital. He may yet recover. .Jealousy is reported to be the motive for the crime. Fiji Customs Upheaval. One of the most serious conflicts between the trading community and the Government of Fiji has been started by the introduction into the Legislative Council of a new Customs Bill, of some ...0 clauses, based mainly upon the Customs Acts of New Zealand and Australia. When the bill came before the last session of the Council, the Hon. Henry Marks moved that the bill be committed to a Select Committee for report. Thi-s tbe Government agreed to. The committee met and Mr. Marks, who was a member of the committee, found himself up against an official majority on the committee, who wanted tho clauses so strongly objected to by the commercial community passed in globo. The chief one was the essence of the bill, namely as to the value upon which duty should be paid. The bill provided fur the value to be "the current domestic value." Mr. Marks strongly protested against this, as, while it applied to such countries as the Dominions and the United States, where the manufacturers sold to outside buyers at a considerable less price than to merchants within Uic.-e territories, it would be inflcting a gross injustice upon the Fiji merchant who could not have the goods manufactured within this crlony (as the overseas merchant could do), and so lite man here, who wns shrewd enough to buy cheaply and with liberal discounts, was heavily penalised. Ihe official members refused to amend this principle in the slightest way, and after three meetings, Mr. Marks, for tlie lirst time in bis political life, walked out of the committee, refusing to act further. l)n top of Mr. Marks' action, a special meeting of the Suva Chamber of Commerci was called, at which Mr. Marks, who is president, explained tbe meaning of the "current domestic value," and other serious innovations in the bill. The Chamber then unanimously decided to ask the Government to postpone the second reading of the bill until the Chamber had had time to fully investigate it. It is now rumoured that the Government refuse to back up the collector, who i. the author and foster father of tbe new bill, and intend to drop it for the present, which is a most important victory to the European community over bureauacracy.