FIJI AFFAIRS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 234, 3 October 1932, Page 7

FIJI AFFAIRS.

King Cakobau's Club As Mace For . Legislative Council. BUDGET ESTIMATES. (Received 1.30 p.m.) SUVA, this day. In the Legislative Council this morning the Governor, Sir Murchison Fletcher, who presided, presented for ceremonial use as the Mace of the Council King Cakobau's war club, given by him to Queen Victoria in 1874 on the execution of the deeds of cession and now returned by the King to Fiji. The estimated deficit for 1932. is £12,000. The Governor forecasts a .record crop for 1932 of 130,000 tons of sugar, twice the 1931 output. Copra was again on a paying basis, the estimated output for 1933 being one-third in excess of- 1932. The estimated revenue for 1933 was £568,350 and the expenditure £554,132. The Government is endeavouring to raise the standard and quality of copra. Good results are hoped for from Fiji's participation at Ottawa and the exhibition in August, and a number of inquiries have been made for Fiji products. The first half of the colony's new loan of £160,000 was issued in London in July at 4 per cent at 102. The loan was not guaranteed by the Imperial Government. The balance of the loan will be issued shortly. The Governor is leaving Fiji on November 18 for a seven months' vacation, and Mr. A. W. Seymour, Colonial Secretary, will administer the colony in his absence.