Problems of Political Advancement in Fiji1
| Author | F. J. West |
| Date | 01 April 1961 |
| Published date | 01 April 1961 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1961.tb01266.x |
Problems
of
Political
Advancement
in
Fy'i
l
by F.
J.
WEST·
Background
The
background against which political
advancement
in Fiji
must
occur
can
be described succinctly.
Its
population
includes some 170,000 Indians, most
of
whom
are
not
immigrants
but
Fijian-born, looking
upon
Fiji as home, against
148,000 Fijians;
and
the age structure
of
the
Indian
population
is such
that
the
Indians
will become even more numerically dominant. By 1971,
the
total
population
of
Fiji will
probably
be
about
548,000
of
whom 314,000 will
be
Indian,
The
Fijian population is spread fairly uniformly,
but
the
Indian
is
concentrated into
urban
centres
and
the six
main
sugar-cane areas.
The
European
and
Chinese groups
are
demographically insignificant. These facts
of
population
are
important
because they
mean
that
the political
advancement
of
the Fijians
cannot
be considered in isolation,
and
because of the
Indian
population growth, it is a
matter
of
great
urgency. No less
urgent
is the economic
background with which Professor
Spate
has
dealt
in his report.s
The
economy
of
Fiji is dominated by
Indian
labour
and
European
capital;
economically
the
Fijians
are
the weakest section of the community,
but
they hold
about
84
per
cent
of the
land,
which is preserved for
them
by the traditional
interpretation
of
the Deed
of
Cession.
The
political consequence of this is
that
the economically
and
demographically inferior
group
in Fiji is politically
paramount
because
of
the long tradition
of
British policy, which has interpreted the Deed
of
Cession
to
mean
that
Fijian interests
must
always be protected
and
preserved,
and
which
has usually worked
through
the system popularly called 'indirect
rule'
to
preserve Fijian society in its villages
under
its own traditional leaders.
It
was
consciousness
that
this
tradition
has been modified
with
unfortunate
conse-
quences which led the authorities to re-create (in 1945) a system designed to
protect
the Fijians politically
and
economically from
the
competition
of
the
other
racial groups.
The
present
Fijian
administration
The
present Fijian administration was set up in 1945 after some years
of
discussion.
On
July
16, 1943, the Governor (Sir Philip Mitchell) addressed a
despatch to the Secretary
of
State
for the Colonies proposing
are-organization
of
native administration to
"broaden
the basis
of
Native
support
and
collabor-
ation,
and
to give reality to Native responsibility for Native Affairs."!
These
proposals were
made
very
much
under
the influence of
Ratu
Sir
Lala
Sukuna,
the principal architect
of
the
Fijian administration.
Sukuna
was
an
Oxford-
*
The
research on which this article is based was carried
out
in 1958-1959 while the
author
was a Fellow
under
the
Cultural
Relations Programme of the Southeast Asia
Treaty
Organiza-
tion.
That
Organization, however, is in no way responsible for opinions expressed in the
article.
1Reprinted from Pacific Affairs,
March,
1960, with acknowledgements to the
Institute
of
Pacific Relations, Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.
2O. H. K. Spate, The Fijian People:
Economic
Problems and Prospects, Legislative Council
of
Fiji, Council
Paper
No. 13 of 1959. Council papers will hereinafter be designated as C. P.
followed by their
number
and
date.
3C. P, 24.fr943.
85
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