PROGRESS OF FIJI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 182, 31 January 1912, Page 5

PROGRESS OF FIJI.

INTERVIEW WITH MAYOR OF SUVA;

By Telegraph—Press Association. ■ \ Auckland, Last Night. The Hon. J. B. Turner, Mayor of Suva, ' • and a Member of the Legislative Council of ,Fiji lr ,who--is ftt -present in received a cable to-day stating that a gale was blowing over Suva, bm that his Jwme'.there has .not >been<>damaged.t ,:, / ; -"■ Mr. Turner informed a Star representative that the Golonial' Sugaf Company has'a at La»basa, whioh ft tC'*?' 1 small township on the island of Yanu Levu. .Its crops are mostly sugar can, and these have no doubt suffered severely. There are a number of stqres at Labasa, and the population is between 400 and 500. The Rewa river is a waterway about as large as the Waikato, and it drains tlte eastern side of Veti and Le\?u. The Colonial Sugar Company has also a mill there, and the crops consist , ■ of sugar, cane and bananas. The cane' 1 crops were cut at the end of the year, and some of the crops planted five or six. months ago were coming on well. The banana plantations are up the river on low-lying land, and they would be badly damaged by the stormy winds.