BUYING LAND IN FIJI.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17157, 28 May 1921, Page 4

BUYING LAND IN FIJI.

It has been a long-standing hardship to Europeans who have desired to secure iand and settle in "Fiji, that they could not do s<j without having to compete at open auction (writes tne Suva correspondent of the Auckland ''Herald")i'lie system was iniquitous. A European desiring land had to get permission irom the Lands Commissioner, then tiavel at his own. expense until he found land that met his ideas. Then he had to see the native owners and arrange terms with them. The land application was then submitted to a council of chiefs, and if they approved it went before the \ a tive Lands Commissioner, and ii further approved was finally advertised for public auction at an upset pnee. The ori"inal applicant, after considerable expense, was often outbid by others, even Indians: who had spent nothing* ( Now the Secretary Of State has agreed to the abolition of "the auction system except in special cases. The decision is the result of a long and strenuous agitation by both the local press and politicians. In this case it had the cordial support of his Excellence the Governor, who is sympathetic with any movement for progress. The peculiar thing under the old regime was that any Indian could get land without the final competition at auction. i