LIFE IN FIJI DESCRIBED BY THE REV. S. WAYMOUTH

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 11, 6 October 1937, Page 11

LIFE IN FIJI DESCRIBED BY THE REV. S. WAYMOUTH

The memb'ers of St. Matthew's Guild of Fellowship were entertained yesterday afternoon with an interesting and most amusing talk given by the Rev. S. F. N. Waymouth, of' Havelock North. The speaker, ^-ho was introduced hy the guild president, Mrs Barton Hobbs, spent a part of his life in the Fijian Islands and it was about this that he gave his talk. Mr Waymouth told his listeners that he had the usual difficulty with the language in Fiji and he arranged for a Fijian interpreter to come to his house every Saturday to take down his sermon for the next day in readiness for the interpretation. He discovered later that the sermon was not being mterprcted as he gave it and this reminded him of the story of a Bisliop who went to Africa and decided to preach his sermon in the language of the people. His congregation was very large, but he later discovered that thfl people only came to listen to the funny words which ha used.

' ' The Fijian people depend mainly on the growing oi' copra and sugar for their living," said the speaker. "Workmen are paid about £20 a year ana also receive their food. The copra is the inside of the coconut and it is the custom of the people for the father to break the nut in two and then the mother and family sit round and help to dig it out and it is tlien dried in the sun or in kilns. "Copra growing is by no means easy, fof the workers rise at four o'clock in the morning, the labourers are then counted off for the day and in the afternoon the coconuts have to be counted up because 1000 coconuts counted bv a Fi.iian are not necessarily 1000 nuts. Great difficulty iu the copra growing is caused by the hurricanes, even though the wireless now give very good warning. The palms take eiglit years to bear and when they are young they are thick at the base and taper very thinly at the top. Hurricanes snap off the young palms thougk the older ones can bend to the ground unharmed." The speaker said that the cyclones often blow at a speed of 100 miles an hour and that after the first hurricane come a lull when the unitiated go forth and smoke their pipes. Usually the lull is followed by a further hurricane from another direction with the rosult that instead of a copra crop or palms there remain a series of match sticks. It was an absolute fact that a four fect by two feet rafter was blown right through a coconut tree, piercing the trunk and commg out on the other side. Mr Waymouth said that the Fijians had an amazing capacity for swiinming and wonderiul examples of this occurred when a cutt-fir were lost in the Hurricanes'. On one oceasion when a cutter was lost a Fijian spent soven days on a six feet by iive feet raft in the tropical heat and with no food and was rescued alive. A two-day swim was quite normal for a Fijian. The parish which Mr Waymouth had extended over a wide area, mostly sea with many reets, and it was1 most diffi; cult to work because there were so many islands to visit. To liiro a cutter cost £1 a day and very often when one reached an island one could not get out again for several days. The average Fijian was so pleased to see a white man that he would keep him a week if he could. The problem was finally soived by making an agreement with an engineer in whose boat they went, the surveyor doing his work in the daytime and Mr Waymouth at night. 'Sojne islands were so far away that it was only possible to reacn tkcm once in tour weeks. The speaker also told aoout MakogSCi Leper Island and said that the Fijians realised more and more that they could be cured with the treatm&nt, which consisted of injections of certain oils. Mr Waymouth paid a trlbute to the wonderful nur«ing which was done at Makogai Island by the Eoman Catholic Sisters. He said that the Rever-

end Mother was a real saint with an absoiute gift for management. Apart from the uncanny feeling of being u'nable to shake hands with the lepers there appeared to ,be little wrong with many of them and it was encouraging to know that the disease could be arrested. He mentioned the amazing needlework done by the girls, some of whom have no lingers and he also said that only those who have visited the island could ever realise how wonderful it would be if the Eotarians ' scheme for providing a talkie plant could be coinpleted. On behalf of the members Mrs Barton Hobbs thanks Mr Waymouth very smcerely for his most interestmg address. Afternoon tea served by the hOstesses, Mesdames J. C. Tosswill and bharky, was enjoyed by all.