AFFAIRS IN FIJI.

Wairarapa Age, 20 January 1922, Page 4

AFFAIRS IN FIJI.

The Indian delegation that is to investigate the conditions under which. Indian labourers worts, in Fiji has arrived in Auckland, and will shortly proceed to Suva. It will be remembered that during the visit of the New Zealan 1 Parliamentary party to Samoa and other Western Pacific islands a call was made at Fiji, and a certain Labour member, despite the Indian unrest then prevailing in the group, and also ir. opposition to the generally-accepted agreement not to take any part in the troubles ashore, is alleged to have interviewed a number of the disaffected people. That he obtained a grotesquely incorrect impression ’of the real cause of the trouble was later shown by his comments on the “awful con ditions as a result of indentured lab-

our.” As a matter of fact, at that time the system of indentured labour had ceased to exist as a result of a protest by the Indian Government to the Home Government. The effect of the withdrawal of indentured labour was disastrous. Several plantations closed down, and then others had to cease operations because of the exorbitant demands of the labourers. Their claims rose from 2s per day to 12s 6d, plus two cows and a bull, free house, free food, free clothing, and free medical attention. Previously they enjoyed all these privileges except the animals, and it was quite common to And amongst the 500 or 600 coolies re-

patriated to India after a few years’ service in Fiji more than half with sufficient savings to keep them in idle ness for Ife. The conditions that made this possible surely leave little to complain of, and it is more than likely that the delegation, which has a first-hand knowledge of labour conditions in India, will come to the conclusion that their compatriots in Fiji have nothing whatever to complain about.