Www..ffiijjiittiimes..com Fiji’s first woman
Sergeant Mataika had spent some time in the traffic section too, where going to the scene of gory road accidents became just part of the job
AFTER completing basic training, Sergeant Mataika was assigned to the Central Police Station in Suva where she spent time in each section.
She had her share of pounding the beat and putting up with the curious stares of Suva residents who were not used to the idea of policewomen.
According to The Fiji Times on February 12, 1976, there were 16 police women in the force.
They had become a familiar sight in their new uniforms — white skirt, black militarystyle jacket and a black hat with a checked band.
They had been part of the regular police force since 1970.
Sergeant Mataika made her share of arrests also, mostly drunk and disorderly cases.
“I would go up to the person and tell them I was arresting them for such-and-such.
“Then I would ask them if they would like to accompany me to the police station.
“They always did. I never had any trouble,” she shared laughingly.
“We know about self-defence, but I never had to use it.”
Sergeant Mataika had spent some time in the traffic section too, where going to the scene of gory road accidents became “just part of the job”.
In 1971 she was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department.
Much of her work involved interviewing women, a job she found most interesting.
“I worked on three murder cases. The first one was really exciting.
“After that they became just part of the job, although I still found them interesting.”
As a member of police force, Sergeant Mataika’s job ended with finding and arresting
March 1
AN Australian engineer will arrive soon to test Nausori’s $50,000 sewage treatment plant due to be in operation in two weeks. The Mayor of Nausori, Cr Krishnanand Chaudhary, told the council’s monthly meeting that “a reflex bulb” was holding up the opening of the plant. George Page of Nopol Waste Treatment (Aust) Ltd will arrive next week, according to town clerk Suresh Chandra. March 2
THE Levuka Town Council is looking for a site on which to build a new library building. The town cerk, Subba Naidu, said he could not say at the moment what it would cost. Mr Naidu said the Library Service of Fiji at Lautoka was willing to supply books for the library.
March 3
THE Ministry of Heath warned people not to accept claims of cancer cures unless they were scientifically proven. A senior health officer said the ministry would investigate a report that man in the Sigatoka Valley claimed to have cures for many types of illnesses, including cancer. He said people were sometimes able to give certain remedies to sufferers which relieved symptoms of illness.
March 5
A COMPETITION for the design of a symbol for parks and amenity areas in Fiji has been organised by the forestry department. It is open to everyone, but the department particularly wants entries from school children. First prize will be $30, second prize $10, third $3 and forth to tenth places will get $l each.
March 6
A BA primary schoolteacher, Ram Pratap Singh, has been appointed as Ba’s new district scout commissioner. He succeeds another schoolteacher, Ram Maan, who has emigrated to the United States. A scout spokesman said Mr Singh joined the movement as an accountant at Ba in 1939. He became assistant district scout commissioner for Ba in 1962, and a national assistant trainer leader an offender.
But her personal opinion is that corporal punishment is of no use at all.
She said she did not believe that it deterred people from crime.
To join the police force, women recruits of the 1970s needed to have passed the Fiji Junior Certificate examination, and needed to have a minimum height of 5ft 6ins and physically fit, and unmarried.
Sergeant Mataika suggested they should also have a sympathetic attitude.
She said the condition requiring policewomen to be unmarried should be reviewed.
She would like to see it changed so married women could also have a career in the police force.
Sergeant Mataika had no plans for marriage.
Her ambition was to become the first woman police superintendent.
■ and a member of the Fiji training team in 1971. March 7
CONSUMER education classes will be held by the Fiji Consumer Council next week at the Nazareth Domestic Training Centre at Loreto, Ovalau. The council’s chairman, Senator Anaseini Qionibaravi, said the theme of the three-day course would be consumer education for consumer protection in rural areas. It would be undertaken by the 43 students who were taking a two-year home economic course at the centre and involved the preparation of individual teaching kits. March 8
PROPOSALS that the name Fijian be adopted as a national name were strongly opposed by delegates at the Fijian Nationalist Party’s annual convention. The Minister for Information, Ratu David Toganivalu, had made the proposal at the Alliance council meeting at Tavua. Delegates unanimously agreed that there should not be any change in the present set up.
March 9
SUVA Volleyball Association will send a men’s and women’s team to Korovou today for a demonstration to players of the Tailevu North Association. The secretary of the Suva Association, Wilson Tigarea, said yesterday most of the plovers in both teams were Fiji representatives who returned from taking part at the recent Oceania tournament in New Zealand.
March 10
WITH appropriate and solemn ceremony, Her Majesty’s Fiji Ships Kiro and Kula were named and commissioned at Walu Bay on Saturday, and Fiji’s naval squadron is now officially in service, the Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara told a crowd of more than 1000 who watched the ceremony. “For an island country such as ours, a naval squadron is not a luxury. It is a necessity,” Ratu Mara said.
March 11
MORE than 600 air travellers bound for Australia were stranded at Nadi Airport following a 48-hour stop work by air traffic controllers across Australia. The 667 passengers, who were accommodated at hotels in the Nadi area, are expected to leave for Australia on Sunday night, when airlines hope the air traffic controllers will resume work.
March 12
THE MAN whose job was to revitalise the banana industry in the South Pacific Islands is a firm believer in large unit farms and modern methods. Louis Walker, 42, from Jamaica, joined the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation on January 2. Although based at the SPEC headquarters in Suva, he expects to spend a great deal of time in other banana-producing countries in the region. March 13
A FISHING trip which yielded 145 tons of tuna has been completed by the chartered Ika Corporation vessel Hatsutori Maru. The catch was 80 per cent skipjack tuna and the remainder yellow fin. Everyone is happy, the Ika Corporation, the Fisheries Division, the Fiji crewmen and the Japanese,” an official of the division said, reporting the catch yesterday.
March 14
VILLAGERS of Nakorosule on the upper Wainimala River are turning out in force to help erect a concrete building for their new pastor. This project was taken up by women in three villages in the area following a request from the late Tui Waimaro, Ratu Josefa Sorovakarua I, before he died last year. A spokesman for the club, Raijieli Ceva, said they were members of the church congregation in the district and were more than willing to lake up the project when they were first approached.
March 16
CUSTOMS at Lautoka seized what is believed to be the largest consignment of drugs discovered in Fiji and worth several hundred thousand dollars on the international drug market. The senior collector of Customs Western, Suresh Chandra, told the Fiji Times at Lautoka yesterday that the drugs were smuggled to Fiji in five surfboards, which were sent to Customs men after they lay uncleared at Nadi Airport for more than six months.
March 17
THE new head of the School of Education at the University of the South Pacific will be arriving from New Zealand at the middle of April. He is Professor Donald Bewley of Massey University in Palmerston North, in the North Island. Professor Bewley replaces Professor Ian Stewart who left last year to join Massey University as a director in extra mural studies.
March 18
THE Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, was among 100 government officials and trade representatives at a demonstration at Nadera, near Suva yesterday of a machine which could revolutionise Fiji house building. The machine, a steel box with a handle, churned out 50 blocks made of earth with 10 per cent cement in about half-an-hour.
March 19
MORE than 50 people who sell produce and other items from temporary shelters near Laqere bridge, seven miles from Suva on the Kings Rd, will be using their new $3000 market early next month. Before market construction began, their future was uncertain following an order by health authorities to stop selling.
March 20
THE first stage of the construction of a $30,000 two-storey building for the Tailevu North Junior Secondary School is complete and work has begun on the final phase. The school’s assistant principal, Adriu Naiyaga, told the Fiji Times that since the school opened in 1974, students had been using the Tailevu community hall near Korovou Town.
March 21
A NEW $12,000 road in Saru, Lautoka, will provide access to a population of more than 5000 people and help to ease the transportation of