Representation In Fiji

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31158, 7 September 1966, Page 3

Representation In Fiji

(N.Z. Press Association*

AUCKLAND, Sept. 6. The constitutional changes in the Legislative Council for the General Election in Fiji in October were criticised by Mr J. S. Whitelaw, a lecturer in geography at Auckland University.

He said the inadequate number of Indian representatives on the council had placed Fijian Indians in a position of almost permanent opposition to the Government.

“The larger Indian population of Fiji had for years been agitating for representation at least equal to that of the Fijians,” said Mr Whitelaw. The native Fijian population of 189.000 was outnum-

bered by the 228.000 Indians. The equality of representation that the Indians had obtained in the 1964 constitutional revisions had been lost in the current constitution. In 1963, the Indian, Fijian and European population groups were given six representatives on the Legislative Council of 37. Nineteen of the council were Governmentappointed officials. In 1964, the Indians were also given equal treatment in that, tike the Fijian and European communities, they were allowed one member on the Executive Council —“a body similar in some ways in function to the New Zealand Cabinet.”

With the constitution drafted in London last year, the Indian population had lost the representation it had struggled to gain. The Indians now had only 12 seats on the council and the Fijians 14. Europeans and Chinese had 10. “This could provide a source of racial animosity over the next few years,” said Mr Whitelaw. There was some argument for Fijians having a greater representation in the islands that could be described as their birthright. But he considered that representation equal to that for the larger Indian population would have been adequate for the Fijians.