CHINESE IN FIJI

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 882, 28 January 1930, Page 16

CHINESE IN FIJI

GRIEVANCES REMOVED CONSUL GENERAL’S VISIT No more low-class Chinese coolies are allowed to leave China to settle in countries abroad. This statement was made yesterday afternoon by Mr. F. T. Sung, Consul-General for the Chinese Republic in Australia He returned by the Niagara from Fiji, where he has been investigating conditions and interesting himself in the welfare of the Chinese there. Mr. Sung has been responsible for the removal of several irritating regulations to which the Chinese in Fiji have been subjected in the past. The present Government is very good, he says, and has the welfare of the Chinese citizens at heart. In the past, said the Consul-General, the Chinese peoples in Suva have been put to some hardship, and there has been discrimination against them. It was customary for all Chinese arriving in Fiji and departing from the Crown Colony to have their fingerprints taken. This was considered an insult and a condition reserved only for criminals. After Mr. Sung had interviewed the Government he was instrumental in having the grievance remedied. The prohibition law which applied to Chinese in Fiji has also been removed. Mr. Sung pointed out to the authorities that Chinese very rarely took too much liquor and in other parts of the British Empire they were not prohibited. Now they are able to enjoy the freedom of Europeans in obtaining liquor. During his stay in Suva Mr. Sung discussed the possibilities of growing tea in Fiji. He considers that conditions are admirable for this purpose, and that the land is excellent for the cultivation of tea. Mr. Sung does not know whether the Chinese Government will allow coolies to be brought out from China to work in the tea plantations, as there is a very strict policy in force against any lowclass Chinese leaving the country for foreign parts. This has been done so that the status of Chinese abroad will not be lowered. There are 15,000 Chinese in Fiji, and most of them are farmers. They are all doing very well. Mr. Sung stated that conditions in China, according to his latest advices, were much quieter. The civil wars were only local, and the Government was going ahead rapidly in its efforts to consolidate the Republic.