The Fiji Times excerpts — January 1 to

January 1

THREE men armed with a crowbar, a cane knife and a dagger held an attendant prisoner in a service station near Nadi Airport early yesterday morning while they tried to break open a cash register. The attendant was working when the men forced their way in.

January 2

AN elderly woman who answered a knock at the door of her house in Disraeli Rd, Suva shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve was knocked down by two youths, who with others, ransacked the house. The woman, 64-year-old Felicia Miller was told to be quiet while the youths turned the house upside down.

January 3

MANY residents at Raiwaqa Housing Estate agree with Suva City Council health administrator Ratu Seru Ralawa about overcrowding problem. The Fiji Times approached and discussed the problem with more than 40 families. They prefer to remain anonymous and agreed with Ratu Seru”s statements.

January 5

THE remaining 10,000 acres of the Garrick Estate will be preserved intact and developed, the grandchildren of a pioneer Fiji settler, Joseph Hector Garrett, have decided. The estate comprising, at one time, of more than 1000 properties including a large area of Suva, has been reduced to a fraction of its original size. Mr Garrett died in 1907. January 6 A FREEHOLD commercial site in the centre of Suva, occupying less than an acre, has been sold for $250,000. An agreement for sale has been entered into between the trustees of the GP Bailey Estate and a group thought to include local businessmen and overseas investors.

January 7

A SURVEY of peri-natal mortality in Suva is being made by A.S. Wilson, a Fiji medical student studying at the University of Queensland. Mr Wilson arrived in Suva last week to carry out the survey which will take about a month. It will be the first of its kind in Fiji.

January 8

THE owners of Wakaya Island in Lomaiviti is in no hurry to develop the island, according to the managing director of the development company. “We are not in a hurry. We want to make sure that whatever is done is done properly,” Mr Robert Hunter said at a press conference in Suva. Construction of an airstrip on the island will take place within six months.

January 9

TWO British television experts will arrive in Fiji this month to continue an investigation into the possibilities of establishing television services here. They are Ian Waters, chief engineer in the transmission department of Pye TVT Ltd, parent company of the Pye organisation, and J. McGann, world marketing manager with Pye TVT.

January 10

THE Bureau of Statistics is now fully localised. It is the first government department to employ only local people. Mohammad Ali Sahib, the former deputy government statistician, has been appointment government statistician to replace Michael Ward who left Fiji at the end of October 1969 on completion of his contract.

January 12

WINDS of up to 45 knots, accompanied by heavy rain, lashed Labasa early yesterday when tropical cyclone Claire began its passage through the Fiji group. The Labasa and Qawa rivers were flooded.

January 13

SUVA’S beggars were on their usual “beat” on Friday while two shiploads of cruise passengers were in port. Tourists were generally confused by the sight of beggars and preferred to walk straight past. Some women gave a few coins. The people who gave most frequently seem to be young women or children.

January 14

THE Chief Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, will report to the Council of Chiefs on a proposal that an Upper House in the Legislature be formed in the new Constitution. *The Emperor Gold Mining Company Ltd believes it will get $500,000 less income this year from its Vatukoula operation than originally expected due to the sudden fall in the price of gold on the world free market.

January 15

ALL 32 people aboard a Polynesian Airline DC-3 were killed yesterday when the aircraft plunged into the lagoon at the end of the runway after taking off from Faleolo Airport in Western Samoa. “The Samoan Islands are stunned by the disaster,” the managing director of The Samoa Times, Mr P.R. Creevey said in a special report to The Fiji Times.

January 16

A FIJI Medical Department pathologist Dr F.Wilson flew to Apia yesterday to assist with the identification of victims killed in the crash of a Polynesian Airlines DC-3 on Wednesday. It is not known how long Dr Wilson of the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, Suva will be in Apia.

January 17

A FUNERAL procession brought a standstill throughout Western Samoa yesterday. Investigators began unravelling the cause of the crash on Wednesday in which all 32 people were killed onboard a Polynesian Airlines aircraft.

January 19

SPECIAL police patrols kept watch on duty free shops yesterday as hundreds of passengers from the cruise liner Southern Cross walked the streets of Suva. The shops have been banned from trading on Sundays by the Suva City Council

January 20

THE 1969 Fiji Junior Certificate examination results is published today on Pages 10, 11 and 12. It is hoped that the results of the New Zealand School Certificate Examination will be made available for publication on Friday. Results of the New Zealand University Entrance examination is expected to be received in time for publication on January 31.

January 21

THE meeting of the Council of Chiefs is in session in