FIJI’S FUTURE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1914, Page 4

FIJI’S FUTURE.

’ho Sydney “Daily Telegraph” Ims tie-' oted considerable space to a series if articles on the development and j mure of Fiji. While most people tave a hazy idea that the sugar in-; lustry of the group is worked largely ; ‘ vith the aid of indentured coolie ia- : lour, few recognise what a hold the; Indian is obtaining in these fruitful is-' ! amis. At present there is a popula- , ion of d!J,OU(J Indians, mainly engaged n the labouring work of the colony.' This does out mean that these fifty Jiousand are permanently resident, lor many of the natives return to their homeland, satisfied with the money; they have saved during their period or ! service. But there is a proportion of! more venturesome natives who see the; opportunities of the new country, and j the greater possibilities that it offers! when compared with their own over-; crowded cities. So in Fiji the Indian coolie is drifting into every avenue' of employment and trade. He is a born trader, and before his tireless! energy and frugal habits the white] man is at a disadvantage that meansj eventual extinction. The Rev. Hanks; foresees the time when the Asiatic will become the dominant factor in the group. And if this is so with the; Fijis, with their comparatively healthy; climate and absence of malaria—a country in which white man can work without undue hardship—the fate of; other.of the South Sea Islands 'is cer-i tain, if a trifle more remote. The “Auckland Star” goes on to say that the islands with which we have conducted a trade ever since New Zealand was a colony must pass in virtual control, if not in name, to the Indian and the Chinaman—and perhaps the Jap. Some indication of what this will mean to us who are hut four days’ steam from Suva wo have seen in the influx of coolies during the past twelve months—a stream of undesirable immigration that no doubt has its source almost exclusively in Fiji. If there is cause for apprehension to-day, what of the future?