The Fiji Times excerpts — December 1 to December 31, 1969
December 1
THE way in which students of the Fiji School of Medicine are taught preventative and social medicine has impressed an Australian professor. The professor said the point that had impressed him was the way in which the preventative medicine course given to students placed emphasis on the public health problems in their own region.
Decmber 2
A PILOT scheme in Lautoka involving the long term development of a satellite town by the Housing Authority could be the basis for future lowcost housing in Fiji. The Minister for social services, Jonate Mavoa, suggested this in his speech during the debate on the Appropriation Bill.
December 3
PLANS to establish a unit at the University of the South Pacific for developing curriculum have taken another step forward. Governments of the South Pacific have agreed on a proposal to the United Nations Development Programme to help set up and operate the unit.
December 4
SURGICAL and optical instruments and surveyors’ equipment should be added to the list of dutyfree goods in Fiji, according to Mr. H.W.W.Yee. He also suggested that the government should investigate the possibility of removing duty on certain classes of sporting goods.
December 5
A SUGGESTION that government should exploit the hydroelectricity power possibility in Fiji’s rivers was made by Mrs B.C. Livingston in the Legislative Council.
She said the cheap power and water in quantity were essential for overseas investors that the government wanted to attract to the Colony.
December 6
NEW hours of business have been adopted by the Legislative Council which for the convenience of members will not sit in the morning, but continue until late in the evening,
December 9
DUTCH people were more aware now than ever before that the Pacific area was becoming more and more an economic political and cultural unit, the Netherlands’ ambassador to New Zealand said in Suva. He said the “new Pacific” was gradually being understood in Europe.
December 10
EIGHT students out of 112 who applied have been awarded Government of India general cultural scholarships for 1970.
December 12
THE Government should make an official protest about an article in the New Zealand weekly news on the racial and political situation in Fiji, Mr K.C.Ramrakha said yesterday.
“What is raised in this article is so serious in my view that a government to government approach is warranted,” he said.
December 13
NEW Zealand Volunteer Services Abroad workers involved in projects in Fiji are featured in a film to be released early next year. The part which Fiji’s Department of Social Development and Welfare plays in assisting the volunteers will be shown in the film, which will be screened nationally in New Zealand.
December 15
ABOUT 2000 transport industry workers will receive pay rise this month. They will also get improved overtime conditions and a more convenient shift system.
December 16
THE Ba Township board has decided to photograph all neglected government roads in the town and send the photographs to the divisional engineer Western. The board believes government has ignored its role in maintaining the roads.
December 17
A SITE has been chosen in Suva for a big slaughterhouse in which a Meat Industry Board will kill and chill cattle for the local and export markets. Moving the second reading of a Bill to establish the Board, Assistant Mnister for National Resources Jone Naisara said in the Legislative Council that the site at Nasinu has been approved, but a firm of consultants was estimating the cost of the slaughterhouse.
December 18
THE Suva Chamber of Commerce will ask the Government if Fiji will adopt the metric system of measurement and if so when.
Banking hours are “inadequate and sometimes inconvenient” to the public, the Fiji Bank Officers Association has said. The association wants banks to open from 10am to 3pm Mondays to Thursdays, from 10am to 4pm on Friday and to close on Saturday.
December 19
CURRENCY exchange transactions by hotels were something that banks should be doing, the secretary of the Fiji Hotels Association Mr D.H.P Ragg said yesterday.
He was commenting on an allegation made at a Fiji Visitors Bureau forum in Lautoka by a bank employee John Sharma that hotels were cheating tourists when charging travellers cheques.
December 20
FROM January 1 1970, visitors to the Fiji Museum will be asked to pay an admission fee of 10 cents. However, children under 14 years will be admitted free at all times and there will be free admission for everyone on Sundays and on public holidays.
December 22
THE Suva City Council has overwhelmingly confirmed its recent decision to ban trading of tourist-goods shops on Sundays. At its meeting on Friday, the council voted 14 to 6, in favour of the ban. One person abstained from voting.
December 23
IF you wondered where your favourite shoeshine boy was between noon and 1pm yesterday then he was probably enjoying his annual Christmas dinner at Wesley’s Church’s Butt St cafeteria. More than 16 Suva shoeshine and newspaper boys were invited by a Methodist church deaconess to attend the dinner.
December 24
A NEW legal regulation may lead to a rise in the price of draught beer. The basis of calculating excise duty has been changed by an amendment to the Excise Regulation made by the governing council.
December 27
NAVUA people favour the introduction of television, a British broadcasting expert found this week. Desmond Taylor, head of BBC Television news, heard the opinions of Navua residents at a public meeting at the Provincial Council office.
December 29
THE Medical Department considers road accident casualties to be reaching “epidemic level”. In 1965, there were 139 road accident victims admitted to hospitals in Suva, Lautoka, Levuka and Labasa. In 1966, there were 170 admissions.
December 30
ANDERSON Maternity Unit in Suva had its share of Christmas rush delivering five babies on Christmas Day. The Christmas babies, three girls and two boys, were born between 3pm and 10:30pm on Thursday.
December 31
1970 looks as if it will get off to a noisy start if the number of dances, cabarets and other festivities planned for New Year’s Eve tonight is any indication. Revellers have a wide choice of ways in which to welcome the New Year.