ISLAND NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 138, 13 June 1929, Page 23

ISLAND NEWS.

OUR FIJI LETTER.

RELEASE OF TAMASESE,

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SUVA, June 1

There is generally a feeling of satisfaction among the public here at the hews that the Samoan High Chief Tamaeese had been released by the New Zealand authorities. The decision will do more good than any amount of so-called "reforms,'' few of which meet with the approval of the natives. American Consulate. Mr. Roberts, the American consul, is going off for a three months' vacation in the States. During his absence the office duties will be carried on by Mr. W. T. Costello, vice-consul at Sydney. The Governor. Sir Arthur G. M. Fletcher, K.8.E., C.M.G., who has been appointed Governor of Fiji, will arrive here in September next from England, where he is. at present on furlough. He is keenly interested in educational matters, and will have plenty of scope for such activities while in the colony. Methodist Address. The Fiji Methodist Mission has - provided a very handsome address to our retiring Governor, Sir Eyre Hutson. it is heavily bound in morocco, and bears a picture of the Baker Memorial Hall at Davui Levu. The o-ift will be forwarded to the Rev. J. H. Ritson, D.D., general secretary o, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and an ex-President of the Brit.isJi Methodist Conference, who will be asked to present it to Sir Eyre, on his arrival in London. The address includes among other sentiments, the statement tnac, through his efforts the "colony has been definite educational policy 101 its peoples and has been guided to tlie way in which that policy may be carried out with success." Fiji Tourist Traffic. The small and rather feeble efforts of the Fiji Government to attract tounsts are already bearing good fruit. What the result would be were substantial propaganda carried on one can hardly visualise. This rear so far shows that the total arrivals for the first five months is onij 40 short of the number arriving during the whole of 1925. So far the total to the end of May equals the total to the end,of June last. year. Now that the ideal winter weather has set in xne arrivals are expected to greatly exceed those for 1928. Embezzlement Alleged. David Reid, for some time manager of the recently established b ranch . s !L?n Burns, Phiip/Ltd., at Labasa, has been before the Court on ten charge*, ot embezzlement. The total amoimt myolvea is £2000." It was stated that eieven further ehavp* of falsifying accounts are l:c::r!'v". He v:r.3 conirj'-iicu icr n.ai.

Child Welfare Work. Sister Ricketts, who arrived by the Moeraki, comes to the Methodist Mis-, sion to join the staff of the child welfare campaign, now being carried on by the Government in conjunction with the mission. Sister Eicketts has had a valuable experience in a number of countries, including India. A second child welfare worker in Nurse Field came by the Ventura. The campaign is already showing results, and much is expected from its operations. The native women have the veriest modicum of maternal instinct. C.S.R. Co., Ltd. Mr. A. M. 0. Farquhar, for some years the attorney in Fiji for the Colonial Sugar Refining Co., Ltd., has departed for Australia and retirement. He will be succeeded by Mr. F. T. Lord, for many years manager at Nausori. The headquarters will be moved from Lautoka to Nausori, which is only 12 miles from Suva, and connected by a good road and telephone. Mr. Irvine, the popular manager at Labasa, has been appointed to the charge of Lautoka. S. M. Someriield, an employee of Morris, Hedstrom, Limited, and employed in connection with the Vacuum Oil Company, was brought before the Police Court on his arrival from New Zealand, where he had been arrested, on seven charges of embezzlement. Mr. R. Crompton, K.C., with him Mr. Leleu, is prosecuting. It is stated that a considerable sum is involved. Mail Contract. Business men are annoyed at the renewal of the mail contract between the Government and the Union Steamship Company without any reference to the Chambers of Commerce of Suva and Levuka! Not very long ago the chambers protested that the company were not filling their obligations to have their vessels remain in Suva each trip for six hours of daylight, while the Government winked at the breach. The president of the Suva Chamber, Sir M. Hedstrom, said that the matter was not now so acute, as the vessels were now staying the contracted time in port. It was decided to write to the Colonial Secretary pointing out that the Government* had broken a promise to first ask the chamber's opinion ere renewing. Disease in the Pacific. Dr. Lambert, Director of the Rockefeller Foundation in the Southern Pacific, leaves Suva on June 22 for Australia, en route for the Solomon Islands, where' he will spend three months in research and investigating work for his institute. The doctor has been doing most invaluable work in Fiji, and has practical!v wiped out the dread menace of the hookworm, which was threatenino- the life of the Indian as well as of the' Fijian community. He is an expert on tropical diseases, and a most indefatigable worker;