Fiji’s Constitution

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30678, 18 February 1965, Page 12

Fiji’s Constitution

It is probably true, as the Governor of Fiji (Sir Derek Jakeway) said on his arrival in Auckland, that the people of Fiji do not want complete independence and that they seek to continue the colony’s link with Britain. It is certainly true of the great majority of the Fijians, who comprise 42 per cent of the population. The introduction of a common roll, as urged by the United Nations Committee on Colonialism, would immediately place the Fijians at a disadvantage compared with the Indians, who number 50 per cent of the population. Although subject to considerable limitations in their ownership and use of land, the Indians have, nevertheless, gathered the greater share of the Colony’s trade and commerce into their hands.

Under British rule the Fijians have maintained their hereditary land rights and the Indians have prospered. On the surface, Fiji is a harmonious community of multi-racial origins. There are fundamental differences between the two principal races, however, which have been controlled rather than solved by firm government. The Fijians are alarmed at the rapid increase in the numbers and in the economic power of the Indians; and the Indians find the entrenched land rights of the Fijians increasingly irksome.

Commenting on the 1961 provisions for elections (on a racial basis) to a minority of seats on the Legislative Council, “ The Times ” said the Fijians had to be coaxed out of shelter into some form of co-operation. “ The most hopeful constitutional model “may be Cyprus, with its communal guarantees”. In the light of events in Cyprus since 1961, the comparison is ominous. It explains much of the British Government’s reluctance to move any faster than need be towards granting Fiji full independence.