Bulgaria: (Ambassador-resident in Athens); Burundi: (Hon. Consul); Cameroons: (Hon. Consul); Chile: (Ambassador-resident in New York); Colombia: (Hon. Consul); Costa Rica: (Hon. Consul); Council of Europe: (Permanent Representative); Czechoslovakia: (Ambassador-resident in Moscow); Denmark: (Ambassador-resident in London); EEC: (Ambassador); Arab Republic of Egypt: (Ambassador); Ethiopia: (Hon. Consul); Finland; (Ambassador-resident in Moscow); France: (Ambassador); Federal German Republic: (Ambassador); German Democratic Republic: (Ambassador-resident in Moscow); Greece: (Ambassador); Holy See: (Ambassadorresident in Paris); Hungary: (Ambassador -resident in Moscow); Iraq: (Ambassador-resident in Cairo); Italy: (Ambassador-resident in Athens); Ivory Coast: (Hon. Consul); Japan: (Hon. Consul Gen.-Tokyo); Kuwait: (Hon. Consul);

10

Lebanon: (Ambassador-resident in Cairo); Luxembourg: (Ambassador-resident Brussels); Netherlands: (Ambassadorresident in Brussels); Norway: (Ambassador -resident in London); Panama: (Ambassador-resident in NewYork); Paraguay: (Ambassador-resident in New York); Peru: (Ambassador-resident in New York); Poland: (Ambassador-resident in Moscow); Rumania: (Ambassadorresident in Athens); Spain: (Ambassadorresident in Paris); Sudan: (Ambassadorresident in Cairo); Sweden: (Ambassadorresident in London); Switzerland: (Ambassador-resident in Bonn); Syria: (Ambassador-resident in Cairo); Turkey: (Ambassador); United Nations: (Permanent Representative); United States: (Ambassador); Uruguay: (Ambassador-resident in New York); U.S.S.R.: (Ambassador); Yugoslavia: (Ambassador-resident in Athens).

F

FIJI

IJI has a total area of approximately 7,072 square miles and comprises 844 islands and islets including numerous atolls and reefs. About 100 islands are permanently inhabited

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 their evergreen rain forest, and the dry leeward sides with their 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 1974 the estimated total population was 559,813. This was made up as follows: Fijians 244,848; Indians 283,820; Europeans 2,795; Part-Europeans 9,951; Rotumans 6,882; Chinese 4,080; other Pacific Islanders 7,295; Others 142.

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.

Registrations of births in 1974 totalled 18,368. This was made up as follows: Fijian 7,874; Indian 9,457 and others 1,037. This represented a birth rate of 27.81 per 1,000. A target birth rate of 25 per 1,000 by 1975 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 1974 was 294.

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, 16 subdivisional 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 transit centres for the rural and district hospitals within 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 services are also provided by district nurses in the more sparsely populated rural areas of the territory. There are 80 nursing stations in the Dominion. In addition there are 101 other areas which are served by nurses but do not have nursing stations' facilities. These nurses provide midwifery and child health services and emergency first aid treatment where no doctor is available and the review of discharged patients. In urban and more thickly populated areas, maternal and child health services, with which are integrated family planning facilities, are provided in hospitals and health centres and through mobile clinics.

The total re-current expenditure of the Medical Department in the year 1974 amounted to F$6,850,239 while capital expenditure reached F$1,489,000.

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. Free primary education was introduced in Class 1 in 1973 and will be extended to an additional class each year.

Primary schools are staffed in the main from 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 grantin-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.