DISCONTENT IN FIJI

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1915, Page 10

DISCONTENT IN FIJI

POLICE INSPECTORS BY THE OUNCE. As the law stands in Fiji, it requires that all natives shall be indoors by 11 p.m. That a certain amount of laxity has crept in there is no doubt (says the Suva correspondent of the Sydney Telegraph). Every week there are cases before the court in which Fijians are fined for being out after hours. Lately, however, several houses of white people have been entered by natives, and it is alleged that they have entered the houses with the intention of committing more serious crimes than' burglaries. There have been cases, too, where white women have been assaulted. The offenders were brought before the Court and given the extreme penalty of the law as it stands — six months and twenty-four lashes. Suva is certainly feeling the effects of a wave of these nocturnal visits, and the uneasiness of the white population took the form of a public meeting at the Town Hall, which was quite a record in its way. There was a crowded attendance, and the meeting was presided over by the Mayor (Dr. Brought), whose home had been visited a week before. The Mayor said that two-thirds of the women and children of Suva at the present moment were afraid to remain in their houses alone, while the men were afraid to go out and leave the women and children unprotected. Mr. H. M. Scott, M.L.C., moved that ifc was imperative, in the interests of the public, that there should be a more efficient police control, by the appointment of more experienced policemen. He also moved that the penalty for entering a house with intent to annoy a female, which is the offence set out under the ordinance, be increased from six months and twenty-four strokes of the cat to two years. The speaker attacked the system by which the important posts in the constabularly are filled. " We do not want Oxford and Cambridge graduates to come here and learn police work," he said. "They may make estimable citizens in other walks of life, but they are not suitable for police officers. We want men trained to the work, of seven or more years' standing; such as could be brought from Australia or New Zealand." Mr. H. Marks, M.L.C., said he had gone into figures. He had taken the weight of one of the sub-inspectors sent out from England and compared the cost, and it worked out at Is 4d an ounce. (Laughter.) They could get much better men at 6d an ounce from nearer home. The Fijian police ought to be wiped out altogether. The Fijian policeman had never been of much account and to-day he was worse than ever. He was also in favour of increasing the number of Sikh or Punjabi policemen. The motion was carried without a dissentient. At present the constabulary at Fiji, and incidentally Suva, consists mainly of Fijians, who look extremely picturesque in their blue tunics and white sulus, and a smaller number of Sikhs, who, under god management, make fine policemen, intelligent, and smart. The Fijian, on parade in a body, is splendid to look' at. Generations of teaching through his "mekkes" or native dancing have made him a fine instrument for this class of tiling, but as a policeman, he is too good-natured and soft to be a success. The Sikh is not so good to look upon when marching. He lacks the precision of movement and careful attention to alignment noticeable in the Fijian, but ho has the keenness of intelligence lacking in the native of Fiji. ,Over these are placed the "graduates from colleges" to guide and direct men, in the case of the Sikhs at any rate, who very often know a good deal more of police matters than the young men who have come out from England to the colonies. At the • meeting one of the speakers blamed the moving pictures for half the troubles complained of. Whatever effect problem plays at the pictures may have on a white community there is no doubt that in a community of this kind they do affect the native mind, which is more primal in its instincts. He sees these pictures showing extraordinary imaginings and takes it for granted that this is the # ordinary life of the white man, and is prompted to do likewise. While this unrest is noticeable in Suva, and whilft it may be coupled with happenings elsewhere in the islands, there is no caus"e for any serious alarm — not yet, at any rate.