The Government Printing Department
THE Government Printing Department did not come into being until it was established in Suva after the administration moved from the old capital of Levuka in 1882.
It appears that during the earlier years the printing of the Royal Gazette and possibly other miscellaneous printing was undertaken by a commercial printer established in Levuka, Ovalau.
The imprint on the early Gazettes indicate that from 1874 until September 1882, the Gazette was published in the old capital and from then on the place of publication was Suva.
The first Government Printing Office was housed in a building – where the Defence Club now stands along Gordon St.
At the time other Government Departments were in a rambling two-storied wooden building on the present site of the Anglican Cathedral.
1915 Expansion
The press stayed along Gordon St for a little more than 30 years.
By then the department has expanded and with purchase of new heavy press machines there was a very urgent need for a larger and more substantial premises.
In 1915, a concrete block was erected facing Carnavon St at the south-west end of the old Government Buildings area.
Further modifications and extensions have, of course, been effected since that time.
When the administration transferred to the new Government Buildings in 1939 and the derelict wooden premises were eventually demolished, the Government Press (GP) remained as the sole survivor at the original site.
And, as public services have expanded, so the press has had to grow to meet their requirements.
By 1958, the GP department had a staff of 69 and had acquired more machinery and equipment. The department handled more than 3000 orders a year, ranging from a modest handful of labels to publications involving several hundred tonnes of paper and approximately one million forms, receipts and other items.
About 70,000 covered books, 20,000 pads and over 100,000 Gazettes, brochures, reports and booklets were cleared by the department in a year.
This consumed an average of more than one tonne of paper every week.
In addition, the Press printed all legislation for the Western Pacific High Commission territories which consisted of the Solomon Islands, colonies of Gilbert (Kiribati) and Ellis Islands (Tuvalu) , and supplied the bulk of their other printing requirements.
Work was also carried for the Condominium of New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and the Kingdom of Tonga. Even the little island of Pitcairn had its modest printing orders fulfilled by the department in Suva.
The Fiji Military Forces and most official and quasi-official bodies in the Colony also relied on the Government Press and apart from multifarious printing jobs, the department was called on to produce a number of regular publications.
These included the (published every week together with legal supplements, Bills and Ordinances), the the the and monthly 16-page Fijian newspaper.
Every month a statistical digest of the Colony’s trade was published on behalf of the Customs Department.
Departmental annual reports and any other special reports were published in the form of Council Papers as they were received during the years and the full proceedings of Legislative Council meetings were printed in session copies of Hansard. They were the regular items published.
By the end of 1958, there were extra printed materials for the Legislative Council elections and the Census. A new telephone directory and a 52-page consolidation of Fiji Information were also printed.
Two substantial publications, both illustrated, were produced early in the year on behalf of the Agricultural Department –
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