MALOLO’S CRUISE

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 85, 4 January 1930, Page 21

MALOLO’S CRUISE

SUVA RESIDENTS INDIGNANT DISCOURTEOUS TREATMENT ALLEGED After having incurred no little expense and considerable inconvenience in arranging for a fitting reception to the American tourists ou board the steamer Malolo, residents of Suva were very indignant when last-minute arrangements in regard to the vessel’s itinerary compelled the abandonment of most of the plans made. In a recent copy of the "Fiji Tinies, a full account of the reception and festivities that had been arranged in honour of the tourists is published. In the editorial columns strong exception is also taken to the affront placed upon the residents of Suva by the American Express Company, which chartered the vessel and who are responsible for the tour. According to the orignal schedule, the vessel was to have arrived at Suva early on Saturday.. December 7, and arrangements were immediately made for that day. On November 25 a cable message was received advising that the vessel would arrive at 11 a.m. on Friday, December 6, one day ahead of schedule, and would depart at 5 o’clock the same afternoon. Despite protests cabled to the organisers, the amended schedule was adhered to, and the vessel arrived a day earlier and spent ohly a few hours in the P °lt had been arranged that a small fleet of native canoes would meet the vessel and escort her into the harbour, and that, at 9 o’clock, the visitors would embark and be taken for a 35-mile drive through magnificent mountain scenery, virgin forests, and native villages to the Rewa district. Following the luncheon on board at 1 p.m., a series of native dances was to be given in national and ceremonial costume at Albert Park. To conclude the native ceremonies a fire-walking ceremony was also to have been held in the botanical gardens, to which the passengers only would have been invited. These arrangements had been arrived at following an interview which the elected members had with the Governor, His Excellency agreeing that the sum of £lOO would be placed at the disposal of the committee set up to carry them out. Various local functions were put off so that nothing should clash with the Malolo arrangements. “The shortening of the time to be spent in port necessitated a revision of these arrangements,” says the “Fiji Times.” The arrangements for the canoes and native dances have been cancelled, and substantial compensation paid to the natives, who have given considerable time and incurred expense in practising and arranging the dances. As a result all that could be done was the scenic drive and the throwing open of Government House grounds for inspection. “There is only one thing for Suva to do, and that is to drop the whole affair and allow the clever Express people to arrange their own entertaining,” states the “Fiji Times” in an editorial article on the subject. “We. do not emphasise the exceedingly bad taste shown by the Express people. It is apparent to all. The welcome which the ship and her passengers would have received here would have surpassed in extent and interest any other experienced during the trip. But now this promising picture has been turned to the wall, and the residents of Suva, smarting under the affront, will nyt feel inclined to respond as they otherwise would. We believe the agents for the Matson Company have incurred quite a heavy expense, apd this appears to be merely wasted money. We very strongly protest against the attitude of the Express Company. They were coming here as our guests, and have forfeited any right to the .‘bread and salt’< We hope ■such a fiasco will not form a- precedent. The action,- in short, amounts to a breach of agreement without, even. an.apology to soften the blow.”