FIJIAN ITEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 102, 1 May 1940, Page 10

FIJIAN ITEMS.

WATCH ON OPIUM TRAFFIC. CUSTOMS REVENUE UP. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SUVA, April 25. The police have "been very active lately in their efforts to control the opium traffic in Suva. This vice, it is stated, is confined to Chinese at present, but it is of course very necessary in a colony like Fiji, where Europeans are acting: as custodians for the native race, that this traffic should be stamped out. The police make a careful search of all vessels coming from the East, but even so opium is sometimes smuggled ashore. In a recent case arising out of the possession of opium by a Chinese, the magistrate inflicted a very severe penalty, and tokl the defendant that if he went to a higher Court he would be liable to a fine of £1000 and ten years' penal servitude. Revenue From Customs. The Customs revenue for the first quarter this year is £7571 above the estimates for the period. Import duties realised £104,669 —an increase of £4669 on the estimate of £100,000. Port and service import tax brought in £9660, which was £2910 above the estimate of £(5750. The total revenue was £119,321. compared'with an estimate of £111.750. The port and service import tax was increased from 2 to 3 per cent in February this year, which accounts for a little of the increase in this section. Fiji Defence Force. Further applications are being invited for admission to the Fiji Defence Force, which has now reached a fine standard of efficiency. Recruits generally are required to be trained as machine gunners, and the term of engagement is six months on probation and three years, or the duration of tlie war, at the discretion of the Governor. A Fijian girls' hockey team from Levuka visited Suva on the holiday on April 22 and played a match on Albert Park against the local team. The visitors won after a fast match by one goal to nil.