THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1949. "LITTLE INDIA" IN THE PACIFIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27025, 9 March 1949, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1949. "LITTLE INDIA " IN THE PACIFIC

One of the urgent problems of the i, , Pacific—and one that might well ' come into the purview of the South Pacific Commission—is the intolerable situation that is developing be- • \tween the Indian and Fijian populations in Fiji. Reference to the grave fears that bloodshed might occur between the two races was made in our cable news yesterday, and recent news from the island supports the opinion that the question of the future of the Indians in Fiji should be settled without delay. The tension between the Fijians and the Indians is being heightened by the ■ growing clamour of the Indians for more land and greater political representation, and their aspirations are being actively encouraged by the . new Government of India, which recently despatched to Suva a High • • Commissioner dharged with attending only to the interests of “ non-

.permanent Indian residents” of the colony. “But in none of his 'speeches,” according to a despatch from Suva which appeared in the Pacific Islands Monthly, “ has the commissioner said anything to weaken the idea that he is* to £>e an effective link between India and Fiji-India.” It is now 75 years since Fiji sought the protection of the British Crown, and in the Deed of Cession Great Britain undertook ■ to administer the colony in the ; interests of the Fijians. The Fijian people and their leaders are now

demanding that the Colonial Office .should*respect the spirit of the contract, and take action to prevent ' their being overwhelmed by the extraordinarily fecund and increasingly truculent Indians. The Indians , were originally indentured to provide labour for the sugar cane plan- •_- tations, a type of . work which the proud Fijians at the time despised. To-day, the Indians number 125,000, ; whereas the Fijian population is less l’ than 120,000, and the Indian birth ■ V rate is considerably greater than the • Fijian. The Indians, moreover, have made no effort tp adapt their way of life to Fijian conditions. They ■ exist in Fiji as an alien community, observing their own beliefs, practising their old customs, and professing no allegiance except to “ Mother India.” During the recent .>. war 2500 men went overseas from ‘•'/Fiji, but they included only one '•.‘’■’.lndian. The Fijian leaders recognise 1.1, that if the protests that they have ■/h been making for nearly half a cen'/'‘■tury are not heeded by the British iGovernment' their people_ will be i SI; exterminated by the Asiatic flood—- •'' unless they recall their warrior tra- ' ditions and seek a primitive and

violent solution to their problems, iiq The more outspoken Fijians are de:i:‘‘manding that the Indians should be '/ deported from the island, but the %■- difficulty—even if the principle were IfU admitted —of transporting a cornel munity which, by its thrift and .'.[ industry, has almost monopolised the ’. commercial life of Fiji, appears to be insuperable. The prospect is a disturbing one, and is of particular concern to New Zealand. The possibility that this strategic island might eventually come under the dominai' tion of a racial group which has few ,!■' ties with the British Commonwealth has alarming implications. ,

ROXBURGH GORGE SCHEME announcement by the Minister 'of Works, Mr Sample, of the decision upon the location of the dam at Coal Creek should be received throughout Otago and Southland with satisfaction, and possibly a shade of relief. Decision on this • point has been awaited with some eagerness by those who have realised that so long as the engineers - were not finally satisfied that suitable conditions existed for the -! massive construction works involved ;iin the Roxburgh Gorge hydro--Telectric scheme, the stamp of official Iv.’*' approval could not be placed upon ••.‘rit. Mr Semple’s statement to the o.iDaily Times makes it clear that the ’V work has not been wasted. The Roxburgh Gorge pror‘i iject will in due course be translated ' •'rfrom the drawing-boards into a • hydro-electric power development iwMfli, at a relatively small loss to and beauty of the from which the Clutha its volume, will provide new °f power for the South particularly, Otago. of the Clutha is, a State undertaking. the capacity of any provincial organisation to a scheme of such magniits benefit can be extended the provincial district of H||B The scheme, however, ■ ■ the potentiality of especial 3'5 for Otago. With the largest scheme in the southoperating within an impetus to indusshould be experi33vfJ"|Win Otago perhaps as great HHI given by the discovery of century. This will not automatically. It will be of the provincial of all descriptions to it does take place. For there have been complaints South has been starved for of the North. The RoxGorge scheme will give an asset which it can use to the balance to its own adKtage and to the greater economic of the country as a whole.