COMMITTEE TO DEAL WITH THE SOCIAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS OF INDIAN WOMEN IN FIJI.

White Ribbon, Volume 25, Issue 294, 18 December 1919, Page 11

COMMITTEE TO DEAL WITH THE SOCIAL AND MORAL CONDITIONS OF INDIAN WOMEN IN FIJI.

Cor. Sec. W .C.T.I . of New Zealand. Dear Madam, The enclosed letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary of Fiji (only recently received owing to being insufficiently addressed) was dealt with at a meeting of the above Committee on October 22.

It was decided, as there had been so much delay since this letter was despatched from Fiji:

(1) To send in answer, suggestions for conditions of service for medical women in Fiji, drafted by l)r. Kate Knowles, whic h are based on the rules of the Dufferin Women’s Medical Service for India, and to ask, should these conditions meet with His Excellency's approval, that the Secretary of this Committee be advised by cable in order that the Committee may be in a better position to select a competent woman for the appointment, assuming that His Excellency will accept the choice of the Committee.

(2) To insert the following advertisement in the “Australian Medical Journal” for November: —“Applications arc invited from medical women for work in Fiji among the Indian women. Applicants must pass an examination in Hindustani before taking up work, and be willing to bind themselves to four years’ service.” (3) To write to Dr. K. Platt, Women’s College, Delhi, India, asking it she knew of any British medical woman, with a knowledge o* Hindustani, who would be willing to accept a posi tiem at the* Suva Hospital under condition? based on the Dufferin Women’s Medical Service for India. (i) To write a somewhat similai letter to headquarters’ secretary of the various Missionary Societies in Australia.

In placing this before your Society for endorsement, further suggestions are asked for helping the matter forward. No official report has yet come to hand from Fiji in regard” to the report of the Select Committee appointed by His Excellency to consider the resolutions for reforms adopted by the Legislative Council, but the matter, wc hear, is now being dealt with, and the report should reach this Committee shortlv.—Yours faithfully, H. F. BENNETT, Hon. See 2, Sirius Flabo, Cremornc Road. Cremorne, Sydney, N.S.W,

Colonial Secretary’s Office, Suva, Fiji, 23rd May, iqkp

Madam, —I am directed by the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3rd April last on the subject of certain recommendations contained in the report of Miss Curnham, yvho recently visited Fiji, and as to reforms advocated by Dr. Kate Knowles.

2. I am to say, in reply, that the recommendations of Miss (tarnham have been and are receiving His Excellency's at'tertion, and that you will be informed as soon as i>ossible of the steps which it is found possible to take. p His Excellency i< prepared to consider favourably any recommendations for the improvement of the moral, as yyell as the material, conditions of East Indians in Fiji, including the appointment of a medical yvoman for the purposes suggested by Dr. Kate Knoyvles. In this connection 1 am to enquire whether your Committee is in a position to recommend a lady doctor yvith the necessary qualifications, including a knowledge of Hindustani and the languages of Southern India, yvho yvould be prepared to come to Fiji and perform the duties referred to in your letter, and, if so, to state the terms on yvhich she would be prepared to be appointed.—l am, Madam, vour obedient servant, R. RANKINE, Acting Colonial Secretary. The Honorary Secretary, the Committee of Enquiry into the Social and Moral Conditions of Indian Women in Fiji, Sydney.