Soccer, election, cattle farming
Soccer status
WILL the status of champion sides at the Soccer World Cup change drastically this time around?
Well, looking at Argentina losing out to Saudi Arabia and Japan defeating Germany, one can only guess which teams will qualify for the quarter finals. All in all, it’s only the beginning but it’s getting more exciting.
Go Japan, go.
FLOYD ROBINSON
Nasese, Suva
Issue of nepotism
IS it possible to rid our society of nepotism?
While looking after the interests of close family and friends can be seen sometimes as a thoughtful and caring gesture, it’s still walking a very fine line between corruption and compassion. When those in sensitive government positions do this, then there can be far-reaching consequences and screams of favouritism.
Nepotism can have a corrosive effect on society especially when those in powerful leadership positions use their influence to make room for friends and family with jobs that might otherwise have been given to more qualified professionals.
It becomes an ethical issue where the very fragile fabric of trust is ripped to shreds.
COLIN DEOKI
Australia
Election exposure
IF only elections are held every year, the public will have more issues of interest known faster.
The stories will be more fresh and debate will be healthier.
I rest my case now.
ROUHIT KARAN SINGH
Lautoka
PM’s salary
THE new Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, 75, keeps his election promise not to accept a salary (The Southeast Asian Times 26/11/22).
Hope we can have a PM like that in Fiji someday.
RAJEND NAIDU
Sydney, Australia
Cattle farming
ACCORDING to the article referred to in The Fiji Times on 18/11/22, it was believed in 1985 that “cattle farming was introduced to Fiji by Christian missionaries in the early 1830s, during the colonial period” and that “at that time, cattle were only owned by early missionaries and by the European estate owners”.
There are a number of inaccuracies here. First, the colonial period began in 1874, long after the early 1830s. Second, at that time there were no European estate owners, and likewise no Christian missionaries except for the three Tahitians on Oneata, who had no cattle.
However it is true that cattle were first introduced in the early 1830s, and we now have a detailed account thanks to the journal of the American Captain John H Eagleston, preserved in the Peabody and Essex Museum, Salem, Massechussets. Briefly, Captain Eagleston was a trader who visited Fiji a number of times and became friendly with some chiefs of eastern Fiji, in particular Ro Cokanauto of Rewa. In June 1834, he invited this chief and four of his retinue to accompany him to Tahiti, where they were entertained by Queen Pomare. Just before they left, the Captain bought six calves as presents for his friends in Fiji.
On their return, two were formally presented to Ro Cokanauto on August 24 as the ship was anchored off Nukulau, then taken to Rewa. Although not recorded in the diary, it is probable that two more were given to Tanoa, the Vunivalu of Bau, or his young son Seru Cakobau, and the last two were presented to Roqiqi the Tui Macuata at Vunirara, his residence at the time.
There they flourished and after a few years Roqiqi held a solevu so his people could come and admire, and presumably taste, this novelty. This gathering is preserved in oral tradition as the solevu ni bulumakau mai Vunirara.
PAUL GERAGHTY
USP, Suva