Independence celebration
About 400 persons were guests of the University of Canterbury's Fiji Students’ Society at a celebration to mark Fiji’s independence day on Saturday. Cocktails preceded a buffet dinner which included pork, lamb and vegetables cooked Fijian-style in pits with hot stones, and Indian curries. But the highlight of the evening was a display of Fijian dances performed by Fijians at present working in Canterbury grubbing nassella tussock. There were also displays of Fijian art and artifacts. The guests included the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr A. R. Guthrey), the ViceChancellor of the University (Professor N. C. Phillips), the Minister of Tourism (Mr Walker) and the member of Parliament for Lyttelton (Mr T. M. McGuigan). Mr Walker said the Government would be giving a considerable amount of help to Fiji, and that New Zealand wished to retain the good relations it had always enjoyed with Fiji. Mr McGuigan emphasised the important .role Fiji had to play in the Pacific area. A tape-recorded speech by the Prime Minister of independent Fiji (Ratu Sir Karnisese Mara) was played, and in it the Prime Minister said the celebrations marked not the end of British rule but the birth of a new nation.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19701012.2.132
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CX, Issue 32425, 12 October 1970, Page 14
Word Count
199Independence celebration Press, Volume CX, Issue 32425, 12 October 1970, Page 14
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