Fiji

[Louis the fly]

The first time I went to Fiji was with Shaw Savill. The first thing most obvious when going ashore was that the Fijians owned almost nothing of their own country. Every business, shop, bar, taxi, everything owned by Indians. They had come from India originally to work the sugar plantations and had gradually taken over.
A few years later I was back on a Chapman tramp, this was our last port to load a full cargo of sugar for Silvertown, London.
We docked in Suva and a large gang of Fijian crew boys came aboard. A tarp was stretched over the hatch and this is where they slept, they had old oil drums with holes in the sides to cook their food.
We set off for the small sugar ports, the names I cannot remember, the crew boys loaded the sugar by hand carrying sacks on their backs and pouring it into the hatches. Each sack was tied with string which they placed around their necks, they were paid by the number of strings they had.
In one place was a natural lagoon, we used to swim there to cool off and the local kids came to watch us. After a few days the crowd of kids had grown much larger, we asked why don't you come into the water, they said we are waiting for the shark. That was the end of our swimming.
Happy days.

[Captain Kong]

I was in Fiji two years ago, and it was still under martial law against the Indians. The Fijians revolted against the Indians who had taken all their land, who controlled everything
These were immigrants who bred in great numbers and took over and changed Fiji for ever, I have a feeling it is happening in UK
Her is a Fijian Soldier with Anne.
Brian

[cappy]

1960 in fiji the average fijian is quite laid back .....we had women carrying the sugar also up the gangway in small sacks ....the indian is a born haggler and very industrious......the kava was something new...and different.........loved the place cappy

[Frederick Lacey]

I was there on the "Port Napier" about a week before the Queen arrived for her tour in 1953,
they were practicing for the celebrations, and we got told off for letting off firecrackers on a Sunday.
Police looked smart in their uniforms, couple of photo's on My Photo's of us alongside.

F.

[j.sabourn]

Remember that post card as a kid, this holiday maker plucking a straw out of the grass skirt of a native lady supposedly Fijian but probably from the Town Moor recently discussed, "saying this is the last straw". Very risqué in those days, never saw the swearing and bad language on TV or radio like now, was a different world. They used to say swears like a trooper or seaman, is other way round now, should be swears like a 12 year old. JS

[Captain Kong]

A lot of those Pacific Islands have been ruined by the European introducing labouring immigrants into a once happy land.
In Fiji all the land belonged to all the Fijians to use. Then the Sugar Companies wanted the Fijians to work the sugar CANE,
What for, they asked.
If you work hard and save up the wages you can retire, have a boat , go fishing and sit on your porch in a rocking chair.
We do that already , was the response. so why work.?
So the Sugar Cane Companies introduced the Indians, and they bred, like flies and took over all the land and businesses, and the poor Fijian is out. He now cannot afford to live in his own country.
.
The same has happened in Tahiti. All the land was for all the people of Tahiti, then the frogs took over, They took the land off the Tahitians. They have been building houses on the Tahitians land, and encouraging froggy french people to emigrate there, Soon More French people than Tahitians.
They have destroyed the Tahitian Culture, an Island that was once self sufficient but now has to depend on the frogs.
They are now part of the eu and a province of france.just like Normandy. So instead of testing Nuclear Weapons in france tho` they said it was safe, they exploded 210 Powerful Nuclear Bombs at Tahiti killing the Tahitians off with Lukeamia and cancers and deformed babies etc,

Then there is Hawaii,
Another group of Polynesian Islands, taken over by the Fruit Companies and then the US Military.
The Hawaiians were self sufficient and Happy, the Americans deposed the King and Queen, a Sovereign Nation, and annexed the islands. The Big Fruit Companies like Dole etc, took over the land of the Hawaiians , land that belonged to everyone, made Big Plantations and wanted the Hawaiians to work for them, No Chance.
So they imported labour from China and Japan to work the Plantations, They all bred and also the Americans immigrated there, then the Military took over more land for Weapon Training and Weapon Testing and the poor Hawaiian is now impoverished in their own land while everyone makes money.
I have spent a lot of time in the Pacific Islands and have a lot of Polynesian friends out there, I learn to speak their language and they like me for that, I try to help them and every year I take them items they cannot get there because the French charge them BIG Taxes on everything.
I will be in Polynesia again in January on my annual visit.
Brian

[happy daze john in oz]

It does vary a bit depending on which island you visit. On Dravini island there is no problems as all the residents apart from the school principal are genuine Fiji. But it is a very small island with a population of around 300.

[john walker]

I think that Fiji was very close to civil war at one stage over this issue. The indigenous New Caledonians (Kanak's) Had a similar issue with the French and at that time the French Company Societe Nickel (1985?) with dawn to dusk curfews. One of the main reasons for Idi Amin kicking out the Ugandan Asians was for similar reasons?

[Peter F Chard]

This happened in Lautoka -- The skipper decided to have a Shipper's Dinner for some of the more important clients of the company. He invited four or five of the local Fijians to dinner on board. He gave strict instructions that nobody should say anything that that could be construed as being racial. But it happened, the conversation developed into a debate on race relations in Fiji. It only ended when one of the invited guests, a Fijian the size of a brick privy, with a massive goblet of the finest French brandy in one hand and a huge Cuban cigar in the other said " What is it about you Europeans and your worries about race relations in Fiji -- we locals are well aware of the problem and there is a very simple solution that would solve the problem " What is that asked someone ! The Fijian replied that all that needed to happen was for all the Europeans in Fiji to go to Sydney for the weekend and when they got back on Monday morning the problem would be solved !! What he was proposing was wholesale genocide of the entire Indian population !!! Incredible, regards Peter in NZ.

[happy daze john in oz]

At the time of Sitavani Rambuka there was a George, forget his surname, involved in a suspected coup. He is now a prisoner on one f the smaller islands.