ISLAND NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 111, 12 May 1926, Page 11

ISLAND NEWS.

i ~..„ ' OTTB. FIJI LETTER. - (TrotE Onr Special Corre=p3Ciieiit. ; j SUVA May 7. FIRE 03S KAIWA22A. A reached Suva by telephone on Tuesday that there wa= ax outbreak , of fire or. board the steamer Kaiwarra.. • ' while iving at the sugar port of Lautoka oc Mcndav. The fire was discovered by the watchman in the morning and the alarm odven. The crew exit to work ■ quickiy with the ship* hose and the fir? was soon extinguished. The fire broke • out in the bunker* and the adjoining paint ro'-rn had its contents damaged, but the total h>** was slight. Voce 0! th? cargo «a* touched. AJEERICAN SMALL POX. I Full, and w hat is believed to be adeauate precaution* are being taken by trie medical autboritie* here to t-r -tect '. lie i-olucy fr-.ip.-. any ;ha:i--t- of the *mai» t'OX reported :■.< be iairi} preva'ent or- the : Paciik- Coast i.f the l"r.lted Mate* F~ee vaccina: :on was a: once instituted, and a* the demard became so g-ea: three subsidiary station* have n-.'w '"•ern set • g--ing. Many hundrd* of all races. Eu- r -- jn-iii.. natives and Indians have been treated. Tho st-ean; ■■: pater:* continue* unabated. The Sier~a. i.n her last -ail 1 ere from *st Franeibeo. wa* placed in -trie! quarantine. MTJRDER. Th* act,ng- inspecWir-'reTifral has r»-ce-vf-cl row* iron: the pro\ rice ■ f Ltd. Korth that a Fiiar- woman named \ u'orae had been mu-iered at the town of Xan-.buisa on May d. Hrt flu-band. ' narked ?-<-reir.a:a. ha- r.een arrested and charged formally with the deed. Xo ' deta.i- are yet to band. AN INDIAN OPINION Mr Pillay. a leading Indian merchant. when interviewed recently, said that what Fiji warned was more Indian free labour. She ought tc- maintain at least one million and could do so easily. Then the t-oiory '■< u!d afford to pay £-">iVX' per annum for a nan to govern them,. At present i: was not right that a man *bouid get £.Vtfrj for doing the work of r'ive-ning a m «-c handful of ' so/XVi Indian* and AO.OOO ~ bushmen " He thought £1000 stiff! rlcnt. India was demanding the I right to emigrate, and her people . should be alk-wed at once t<> settle in the northern tiarts of Australia The white man could not cultivate the soil properly in the hot climate, and a line "f demarcation could be drawn acros* ; Aust-alia. dividing white from coloured. , 'There wa? r.-.om for both. But the lack of food and opportunities to work in ■ India owing to the congested population. combined with '.he ice-easing activities ' of the Rnssian Bolshevists, made it neces-sa-y to very quickly f>nd s<>me outlet ■ for this excess population or there would be a big flare up in India.. The reds were stirring up the people against Britain. . j and it was only the present firm hand ' that wa* maintaining peace in Itdia to- .: day. LEVTJANA CAMPAIGN. The seeming mystery as to how the ' ■ parasite fly ptychomyia. which has been ! distributed in certain places to fight the i dreaded Levnana moth, had been able to I reach places sotne 60 mile* from their j planting wixiim the snort space of four ! months, has been solved. The Superintendent of Agriculture, Dt. TothiH. the weli-known Canadian entomologist, with j hi* assistant. Mr. Piane. found that this - I little fly. only recently imported from j Malaya, has found its way along the coastal area wherever there are coconut ' trees, for a distance of 70 mile* in the space of four month*, quite a remarkable perforrr.a-nce. Dr. Ti/thill has now heard from Mr. Taylor, another Fiji entomologist, who is out after mere parasite* for Levuana- saying that he has discovered two new species of artona 'a, LevuajLa like moth • in Java. anc. that he was trying to rear the apanteles a small fly parasite .to destroy these moths. He had also found four Levuana like mo-ths i in mandated New Guinea, and he had turned out some parasite* on these, parasite? which would not conflict with the ptychomyia. VTith such a varied supply , of parasites. Dr. Tothill is optimistic ; about the danger from the Levnana, al- | 1 though it will be a stern battle to over- ! . come the dreaded moth -wh-ose depreda- ■ ] tion* have already taken a good toll of ' many areas of the group. Happily its ,- -1 work is being rapidly counteracted by 5 the fly being now used. " :