§ 71. Mr. SPOORasked the Under-Secretary for State for the Colonics whether any riots or disturbances have been taking place in Fiji; whether hundreds of Indians and women have been put into prison; whether there has been any shooting on the part of the authorities: and whether he can make a full statement on the situation?
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYI beg to refer the hon. Member to the reply given on the 3rd of this month to the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Bennett). I have since received a statement from the Governor of all arrests during the disturbances. Under summary jurisdiction, 128 men and 14 women have been convicted of riotous behaviour, and 10 men of other offences; the cases of 40 men and four women were dismissed. Twenty-three men and six women have been committed for trial on charges of wounding with intent, cutting telegraph wires, or riot. Twenty-seven men are on remand on charges of wrecking bridges, one on the charge of cutting telegraph wires.
§ 76. Mr. LAWSONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to 1277 a letter appearing in the Press from Mr. H. S. Polak; honorary secretary, Indians Overseas Association, stating that a cable has been received from the Imperial Indian Citizenship Association of Suva, Fiji, despatched on the date, 20th February, upon which an official telegram was despatched announcing the end of the strike of the Indian labourers, praying for urgent relief and the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the riots and their causes, on the ground that the Report of the local commission exposed the weakness of the Government in authorising firing under conditions amounting to martial law; whether he is aware that in this and other cables received in this country it is alleged that unnecessary racial legislation had been proposed or passed; that Indians were provoked to riots, as in the Punjab; that they have been terrorised and hundreds arrested and gaoled, including women, bail being refused, and trials indefinitely postponed; and whether, in view of these grave allegations, he will cause immediate inquiries to be made and relief given, and will appoint such an impartial Imperial Commission as the circumstances demand
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYI would refer the hon. Member to the reply I have just given to the hon. Member for the Bishop Auckland Division. I am not prepared to take any action on such unconfirmed allegations.
77. Mr. RICHARDSONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, during the recent strike of Indian labourers in Fiji, troops from New Zealand were requisitioned for the sup pression of disturbances and fired on the strikers; and will he state the number of casualties?
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYAn armed guard of about fifty men was sent from New Zealand to assist in the maintenance of order. They have not, to my knowledge, fired on anybody, and they have caused no casualties.
78. Mr. RICHARDSONasked what is the nature of the committee of inquiry appointed to discover the causes of the recent strike amongst Indian labourers in Fiji, its constitution, and the exact terms of reference?
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYOn February 3rd the Governor of Fiji telegraphed that during the previous week, as the result of 1278 meeting a deputation from the strikers, he had appointed a Commission, with the acting Chief Justice as chairman, to investigate the whole question of the cost of living and the rate of wages, and to report what measures Government might take to adjust any disproportion; that the Commission which included the Hon. Badri Mahraj, Indian Member of the Legislative Council, was meeting at once, and that it was intended to give Indian representatives of the wage-earning classes opportunity to sit on the Commission in the different districts. The only other information I have on the subject is contained in a telegram of the 14th February, which stated that Mr. S. Chowla, who was nominated by the strike leaders as additional member of the Commission, had issued an appeal to Indians to resume work.