LIFE IN FIJI.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 69, 22 March 1934, Page 8

LIFE IN FIJI.

NEWS FROM ISLANDS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. f VOLCANIC DISTURBANCE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SUVA, March 1. Last week as 'the result of a fall from a lorry, near Nasinu, an Indian road labourer named Dalpliat, died at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital. Whether the man jumped or fell as the lorry swept round a corner is not known. The vehicle was driven by a European. News was received in Suva on February 20 of a volcanic disturbance and eruption oil Late Island, which liVs near Vavau, in the Tongan Group. The position is given as latitude I'Jdeg 10in 5s south and longitude 174deg 52m west. The liov s was transmitted by the captain of the French ves.se! City of Strasburg. No further particulars arc available. Indian Woman Killed. Thunderstorms have become almost a daily occurrence in Fiji of late weeks. Some people think they keep hurricanes away, so as a rule those storms are looked upon with favour. But they do damage and prove dangerous. In a recent letter it was stated that lightning h:ul killed an Indian ill the Kcwa district. Last week an Indian woman was killed upon the C.S.R. Co.'s estate at Olosara, in the Singatoka district. She was inside a grass house at the time and a sovereign she was wearing in her necklace was blackened and scored by the lightning stroke. During the same storm a European house was struck, while many coconut trees were shattered. Thetso storms have been unusually violent this season. Citrus Crop Reduced. The Agricultural Department announces that the Fiji citrus crop will not be up to the standard of other years iu quantity. It is proposed to tighten the conditions of export shipping. Stricter measures will be taken and only first class fruit will be shipped. Attention lias been drawn to a statement made by Mr. Anthony, president of the New South Wales Banana Growers' Federation, to the effect that bananas from Fiji and Australia have been selling on a comparatively equal price level during the last year. Bought Gun Without License. Because ho wanted a gun, for some unknown purpose, not disclosed at his trial, a native minister of the Methodist Mission named Aminisiai, was beforo the Suva Police Court last week. He had bought the gun from a European for £3. It was a shot gun. He pleaded guilty, but said he took the gun (bought in October) to the police station in Januuary to take out a license. The police said tlio date when he came to the station was February. 12. He should have obtained his license early in January. He was fined 10/ and ordered to take out,the license. The European who sold the gun to a person who was not the holder of a permit was lined 10/. The police inspector said it was a serious matter to sell a gun to a native who held no license. Washaway Damages Road. The Commissioner of Works is being sorely tried in connection with the new Inter-insular Road. Heavy rains, week in week out, have caused landslips and washawnys. These have been overcome after perhaps a few days' delay. But the crowning mishap so far has been a great washaway of over 2000 tons of material, leaving a large gap in the road and preventing any kind of traffic. The Commissioner says he is satisfied that a huge cloudburst was the cause, as no ordinary rain could have done so much damage. He has put on large gangs and hopes to make traffic possible in a short time. It will lie a year or two before the road gets thoroughly set. The country through which it passes for many miles is liable to heavy rains.

A toll was taken at Nausori in December of vehicles and persons crossing the Rewa River. There were 22,950 persons in chars-a-bancs, 24,002 pedestrians, 6(558 passengers in motor cars, 1874 cars, 3574 chars-a-bancs, 409 lorries, OSS other vehicles—a. wonderful record for such a small country in one month, and this miles away from the capital.