INDIANS IS FIJI.

Otago Witness, Issue 2913, 12 January 1910, Page 3

INDIANS IS FIJI.

(FROM Ouß OWN COBBESPONDENT.) AUCKLAND, January 7. The Suva correspondent of the Herald writes :—A Mahommedan minister, Mirza ! Khan, who has been in Fiji since April, ! 1898, has just forwarded to the Governor j a petition dealing after long inquiry with ! the grievances of his coreligionists in this colony. He begins with a very sincere expression of loyalty on the part of the Indians to the British Crown, and then goes into the question of Indian quarrels on plantations. The Mullah ■ says, If a man is lazy he should be paid j by results. So far as your correspondent * knows, this is the cause of trouble,” j “Dock,” an Indian of his price, right or | wrong, and he’ll lay to get even with you. Payment by results doe-s not appeal to our dusky brethren. The rev. petitioner also wants schools for the young Indians with capable teachers paid by the employers or the Government, and he advocates the employment of clerks in the post office, who are conversant with Hindoo writing (there is a move in this direction already). Last and most important of all is the question of Indian morals. The behaviour of the women is responsible for nearly all the horrible murder cases here, and the Mullah insists that when a woman lives with a man she should be married accordingly to Mahommedan law. It is therefore asked that the Indian priest be empowered to join such couples, and that their marriages have the recgonition of the local courts. There is a lot in this, and if carried out it will save the colony a lot of trouble.