CYPRUS REPRESENTATION IN NON

COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES Argentina (Hon. Consul), (Ambassadornon-resident); Austria (Hon. Consul); Brazil (Ambassador) (resident in New York); Cameroons (Hon. Consul); Chile (resident in New York); Congo (Lubumbashi) (Hon. Consul); Congo (Kinshasa) (Hon. Consul); Czechoslovakia (resident in Moscow); Denmark (Hon. Consul-General); Ethiopia (Hon. Consul); Finland (Hon. Consul), Ambassador (resident in Moscow); France (Hon. Consul General) Paris, (Hon. Consul) Marseilles, (Hon. Consul) Lyons; Germany (Ambassador), (Hon. Consul General) Hamburg; Ghana (Hon. Consul); Greece

(Ambassador); Italy (Ambassador) (resident in Athens), (Hon. Consul General); Rome, (Hon Consul) Genoa; Ivory Coast (Hon. Consul); Kuwait (Hon. Consul); Mexico (Hon. Consul) resident in New York); Norway (Hon. Consul); Panama (Hon. Consul); Paraguay (resident in New York); Sweden (Hon. Consul); Switzerland (Hon. Consul General); Turkey (Ambassador); United Arab Republic (Ambassador); United Nations (Permanent Representative); United States (Ambassador), (Hon. Consul) Boston; Uruguay (resident in New York); U.S.S.R. (Ambassador); Yugoslavia (Ambassador) (resident in Athens).

FIJI

IJI has a total area of approximately 7,095 square miles and comprises 844 islands and islets including numerous atolls and reefs. About 100

planting food crops or as temporary residences during the turtle fishing season. The largest islands are Viti Levu, 4,010 square miles, and Vanua Levu 2,137 square miles. The main archipelago lies between latitudes 15° and 22° South and longitudes 175° East and 177° West. The island of Rotuma (17 square miles) and its dependencies were added to the territory in 1881 and are geographically separate. They lie between latitudes 12° and 15° South and longitudes 175° and 180° East.

Suva, the capital and chief port, is 1,148 miles by air from Auckland, 1,738 from Sydney, 3,183 from Honolulu and 5,611 miles from San Francisco.

With the exception of the islands of Kadavu and of the Koro Sea, the islands of Fiji rise from two submerged platforms. The western platform is the broader and from it rise the islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni, Kadavu, and the Lomaiviti and Yasawa groups. The numerous islands of the Lau group are scattered across more than 44,000 square miles, and are based on the elongated and narrower eastern platform. The two platforms are joined by a narrow ridge which lies athwart the deep Nanuku Passage; north of this passage the ocean floor drops steeply to depths of over 5,000 feet.

Most of the larger islands are 'high' islands with sharp peaks and crags, but they have conspicuous areas of flat land as many of the rivers have built extensive deltas.

Viti Levu is the third largest island in the 'open Pacific' (only New Caledonia and Hawaii are larger). The interior is mountainous. The highest peak is Mount Victoria (4,341 feet) but 29 other peaks exceed 3,000 feet. The main axis trends north-south across the island. On both sides of the mountain axis are tracts of broken highland, rimmed in many places by ranges of hills with precipitous seaward-facing slopes. The main rivers are the Rewa, Sigatoka, Navua, Nadi and Ba. The largest of these, the Rewa, is formed of four main streams-the Wainibuka, Wainimala, Waidina and the Waimanu, and a multitude of minor tributaries. It drains a third of the island of Viti Levu and is navigable for about 70 miles by small boats. The lower reaches of the main rivers provide fertile alluvial flats and fan out into substantial deltas. The island of Vanua Levu is also mountainous. The most intensively cultivated areas are in the lower reaches

of the Labasa valley which drains northwards. The island of Taveuni (168 square miles), a wholly volcanic island, has rich deep soils and is noted for its flourishing coconut plantations.

The innumerable small islands vary considerably in structure and form and a great number consist wholly or partly of limestone. They generally rise steeply from the shore and have flat-topped profiles; wherever the limestone is exposed it is eroded into pinnacles or deeply honeycombed. Coral reefs surround many of the islands. In Fiji barrier reefs occur at the seaward edge of the submarine platform and on the outer margins of the large shore flats; the most extensive is the Great Sea Reef which extends with only a few navigable passages for nearly 300 miles along the western fringe of the archipelago.

Temperatures at Suva and at other sea-level stations are high throughout the year but are tempered by the ocean and the territory has all the advantages of a tropical climate without undue extremes of heat. At Suva the mean maximum temperature is 86.6°F (February) and the mean minimum is 68.1°F (July). The prevailing winds are the Trades which blow steadily and with little interruption throughout the greater part of the year and are generally easterly or southeasterly. Wind direction is more variable in the so-called wet season, between November and March or April, when the inter-tropical front reaches farthest south. It is during these months that tropical cyclonic storms or hurricanes are most likely to develop.

The annual rainfall totals vary according to exposure and the windward areas enjoy abundant rainfall, well distributed throughout the year. The leeward (that is north-western) sides have well defined wet and dry seasons.

Conditions at Suva are typical of windward locations not only on Viti Levu but also on Vanua Levu, Kadavu and Taveuni. Its average annual rainfall is 123 inches, most of which falls between November and March. Stations at sea level on the leeward sides have mean annual totals of between 70 and 80 inches, most of which fall during the hurricane season when variable winds blow. In the dry season the leeward sides, particularly on Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, have clear skies, low humidity and a considerable diurnal range of temperatures so that the evenings are quite cool.

The mountains on the larger islands are often shrouded in mist and cloud and receive annual rainfall totals of 300 inches. On the other hand, the small low islands have a moderate rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year and temperatures are more equable. There is a great contrast in vegetation cover between the windward sides of the larger islands with its evergreen rain forest, and the dry leeward sides with its mainly treeless 'talasiga' land. Tropical rain forest extends up the sides of even the highest mountains. Much however has been destroyed and much cultivated and allowed to revert to secondary forest, bamboo and reeds. Mangrove swamps flourish in the deltas and along the shores. The many small coral and limestone islands have little spontaneous vegetation because of their thin sandy soils.

The total population at the last census, which was on 12th September 1966, was 476,727.This was made up as follows: Fijian 202,176 (42-41 per cent), Indian 240,960 (50-55 per cent), European 6,590 (1.38 per cent), Part-European 9,687 (2·03 per cent), Chinese 5,149 (1.08 per cent) and other Pacific Islanders 12,165 (2·55 per cent). At the end of 1971, the estimated total population was 535,357, an increase of about 12.29 per cent. This was made made up as follows: Fijians 231,042 (43.16 per cent); Indians 272,040 (50-81 per cent); Europeans 4,600 (0-86 per

cent); Part-Europeans 9,497 (1.77 per cent); Rotumans 6,643 (1.24 per cent); Chinese 4,725 (0-88 per cent); Other Pacific Islanders 6,679 (1.25 per cent); Others 131 (0.02 per cent).

English, Fijian and Hindustani are the main languages. English is the official language and the medium of instruction in all secondary schools.

The main religions are Christianity, Hinduism and Islam.

Registration of births in 1971 totalled 16,071. This was made up as follows: Fijian 6,754; Indian 8,366 and others 951. This represented a birth rate of 30-02 per 1,000. A target birth rate of 25 per 1,000 in the next two or three years has been set.

Fiji's isolation has kept it free from the major tropical diseases and the general health of the population is good. Tuberculosis, though waning, is still the main public health problem in the territory and the total number of new cases registered in 1969 was 358, a decrease from 541 cases in 1968. The decrease emphasised the success of the mobile Survey Units which have now covered the whole colony. Clinical services are provided almost entirely by the Medical Department and the few private practitioners have concentrated mainly in the larger centres of population. The facilities available for the provision of services consist of 45 health centres in the charge of locally qualified medical officers, 3 area hospitals, 14 sub-divisional hospitals which provide services similar to those of rural hospitals but at a slightly higher level, and four divisional hospitals which admit patients for the immediate area and also act as centres of referral from the rural and district hospitals with their divisions. In addition, there are three special hospitals in the territory for the treatment respectively of tuberculosis, leprosy and mental illness and two mission hospitals. Clinical sevices are also provided by district nurses in the more sparsely populated rural areas of the territory. There are 70 nursing stations in the Dominion. These nurses provide midwifery and child health services and emergency first aid treatment where no doctor is available. In urban and the more thickly populated rural areas, maternal and child health services, with which are integrated family planning facilities, are provided in hospitals and health centres and through mobile clinics.

(Government spending on medical services in 1969 was estimated at $3,145,737.) The total occurrent expenditure of the Medical Department in the year 1971 amounted to F$4,307,992 while capital expenditure reached F$1,710,252. Voluntary bodies are responsible for the maintenance of the great majority of the territory's schools and while education is not yet free it is heavily subsidised by the Government.

Primary schools are staffed in the main by government teachers and grants are paid towards the salaries of untrained teachers where trained ones are not available. Grants are also payable to controlling authorities to enable them to remit fees in necessitous cases, and supplies of basic textbooks are issued free to all primary schools. At the secondary level assistance takes the form of grant-in-aid including the posting of government teachers to non-government schools, and provision for free or partly free places. All schools are eligible to receive building grants and there is provision for some assistance for school hostels.

The secondary academic course lasts for 4 to 5 years, leading through the Fiji Junior Certificate examination in the second year to the New Zealand or Cambridge School Certificate examination in the 3rd or 4th year and the New Zealand University Entrance examination in the 4th or 5th year. Post University Entrance courses are provided at the University of the South Pacific.

In 1971, the full-time school roll in Fiji was nearly 146,000-over a quarter of the country's population. Just on 90% of all children aged 6-13 were attending school full time.

There were over 126,000 students in primary schools and over 19,000 in postprimary institutions. In 1946, there were only 41,000 in primary schools and 789 in post-primary institutions.

There were 627 primary schools, 98 post-primary institutions, including technical and vocational schools and teacher-training colleges. There were 4,740 teachers.

Estimated Government expenditure on education in 1972 apart from capital expenditure is a record. It totals $9,444,000. This compares with $289,800 in 1946. The University of the South Pacific opened in 1968 and its Chancellor, King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, conferred the degree of Bachelor on its first graduates in December 1971.

The labour force is comprised mainly of Fijians and Indians and in 1971 there were approximately 37,700 people in paid employment, excluding domestic servants and casual labourers. The construction and engineering industries employ the largest percentage of the labour force, but large percentages are also employed in manufacturing and crafts, agriculture and fishing, and tourism. At the end of 1971 there was a total of 31 registered trade unions and it is estimated that more than half of the persons in wage-earning employment were members of one or the other.

The main crops produced are sugar, copra and bananas. During 1970 season cane crops harvested were 2,840,395 tons; about 355,147 tons of raw sugar were produced and 329,129 tons valued at approximately F$31,820,883 were exported during the calendar year 1970.

Production of copra in 1970 was 28,000 tons of which 1,099 tons valued at F$180,149 were exported. 7,076 tons of oil-seed cake and meal valued at F$383,431 and 18,705 tons of coconut oil valued at F$5,130,540 were exported. Banana exports to New Zealand in 1970 totalled 79,816 cases valued at $253,494. The last available figures for livestock are from Census of Agriculture conducted in 1968. They are as follows: cattle 140,447; pigs 24,448; goats 66,151 and 24,769 horses. Beef production in 1970 totalled 8,089,000 lbs; an increase of 3 per cent for the total output in 1969 (7,878,000 lbs). The total pork output in 1970 was 558,000 lbs, an increase of 1 per cent from the 1969 output of 553,000 lbs.

During 1970 about 3,881,000 cubic feet of round timber was produced. The principal mineral resources at present being exploited are gold, silver and manganese ore.

Exports in 1970 were as follows:

Unit

Value Price ($ f.o.b.) ($ f.o.b.)

329,129 31,820,883 96.68