FIJI SUGAR OUTLOOK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18171, 17 August 1922, Page 7

FIJI SUGAR OUTLOOK.

*e- ■-. —, INDIANS RES U MIN G WOft K. !-..•■■•■..■: ■/:• ' - . . . . CRUSHING PROCEEDING. ; NEW PLANTING CURTAILED. * [from oi;r own correspondent.] SUVA. Aug. 11. The situation in regard to the sugar j industry is far from satisfactory. The re- ' cent visit of Mr. Srinivasa Sastri was looked forward to by the Indian cane farmers with considerable hope. They believed he came here to settle in some way their claims for better treatment. • His visit appeared to them a rare opportunity to have a man, high in the councils of the Empire, who might improve their conditions. But in this they -were disappointed. Mr. Sastri plainly told them that he wished to have nothing to do with local industrial troubles. While waiting for him : a few of the Indian farmers were willing to cut their cane, and a very few of the , Indian coolies were willing to resume work | in the cane fields; under such conditions 1 the Colonial Sugar Company managed to start crushing. i Old timers in the colony believed that the labour would eventually go back to work. This opinion has been iborne out to some extent. The latest reports from Lautoka are that many Indian cane farmers are planting cane and also cutting cane lor the present crushing. So long as they can get labour at Is 6d a task, it will pay them to supply the company at 10s a ton, for, with extra density of their cane, most of them will average 13s to 15s a ton. One mill at Lautoka is working both day an 4 night shifts. Labour is reported to be coming in slowly, but surely, and i there is little doubt, that while the crush- ! ine may go along a little more slowly than usual, all the available cane will be crushed | without any break in the season. i At Nausori, the mill is busy crushing, and while the general disinclination of the Indian labour to work is still apparent, the manager is confident h© will securo sufficient- labour to finish the crushing. There was some attempt at organising the farmers to boycott the company, but the | Indian is a thrifty soul, and" when he felt that the company would not give way, he ' could not abide the idea of his crops rot ting in the field. i One by one they gave way and now ail are ready to cut, ag their turn comes, and ; as their cane is fit to cut. \ All along, the chief, centre of agitation amonsr the Indians has been in thi 6 island of Viti Levu. Leading agitators were kept out of the large island of Vanua Leva. As a result there has been very little trouble at the company's sugar centre at Labaca. 1 Although the Indian s refused work for a week or two at that centre, they are now reported to be contented and the crushing is in full swing as usual. The general position, however, is not very promising for next year, because planting at all the sugar centres has been considerably retarded by the Indian troubles, and the yield next year must show a considerable decrease from that of this season. A great deal depends upon the result of the mission of Mr. Knox in London. The sugar industry, like the others in Fiji,, is at present starved for lack of labour, and Until a definite policy has been arranged between the Indian and the Imperial Governments for a supply of labour for Fiji, no great improvement in the primary industries of the colony can be expected. I- '