FIJI'S LABOUR QUESTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11755, 20 July 1916, Page 1

FIJI'S LABOUR QUESTION.

I The Suva correspondent oi : the Syd- ! ney Telegraph writes: — ■ | The question of labour for Fiji, iiott | chat tlio mandate of the Indian. Gov--1 eminent lias gon« So rib. has been | taken up by the i'iji Government.' Al- ' ready the Planters' Association has held a. jueetiu&j but the results iiarc not been maac* public;. It ioems that it was held mainly 10 consider the attitude or jt.s. representatives on the. special committee which has been, appointed by the Government/ to go into the whole question. This committee, consisting of Government lieads of departments, elected members of the -Legislative Council and representatives of "the Planters' Association, has commenced its sittings. One of the alternatives which will 110 doubt receive consideration at the hands of ihe committee in due course will be the recruiting of Chinese labourers. . Tli-3 local branch of the Chinese Nationalist League are strongly antagonistic to tho scheme, and have already written to their countrymen in Sydney, Tsingtau, Shanghai, Canton and Hong Kong, advising opposition to any such movement. They argue that the net- result of their work is greater where they are than it is likely to be in Fiji. , The wages in China are certainly lower than in Fiji, but living is a good deal more expensive here. In Fiji they might earn from £lO to £K> per aimum, but tho cost of living, says the local branch, -is so great that there would bo nothing _ left beyond actual living' expenses-