FIJI'S CHEAP LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 72, 26 March 1928, Page 3

FIJI'S CHEAP LAND.

MORE SETTLERS REQUIRED. SIR HENRY SCOTT'S VIEWS. Sir Henry Scott, K.C., of Suva, Fiji, arrived in Auckland by the Aorangi yesterday, en route to Sydney. Sir Henry has been a member of the Legislative Council for twenty years, and is Suva's representative on the Executive Council. For a long period he was Mayor of Suva, and has acted as AttorneyGeneral. In an interview, Sir Henry spoke of Fiji's bright future. The colony was in need of more white settlers of a good type with money to invest in the land. The soil would grow almost anything. The trip from New Zealand could be done very quickly, and he advised people to make a visit to the island and investigate the prospects for themselves. Land was cheap compared to New Zealand, while labour was plentiful and cost very little. The dairy industry had gone ■ligyd, and they had now a surplus for exportOwing to the increased area under cultivation a record would be established this season in the export of sugar and copra; cotton-growing was going on steadily in small plantations. Since Fiji had affiiated with New Zealand in the matter of education the results had been most satisfactory. They were about to erect a gills' grammar "school at a cost of £14.000. An impression had gained ground that malaria was rife in the island. He denied this, stating fiat there was no malaria at all in Fiji. Development work was being pushed on, the Secretary of State having sanctioned a loan of £1,000,000 for roads and bridges. On his return Sir Henry intends to do some fishing at Taupo. He has a son at the Wanganui Collegiate School.