VISIT TO FIJI

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 209, 4 August 1937, Page 10

VISIT TO FIJI

DAYS OF INTEREST. BOWLER’S DIARY. From the time of bis departure from New Zealand till bis return, Mr G. M. Ranson, of Palmerston North, who was one of the party of New Zealand bowlers who participated in the Suva Bowling Club’s annual carnival in Fiji, kept a diary of the events. The diary makes very interesting reading, as it covers not only the progress of the contest but also sidelights on contemporary native customs.

Rugby football, Mr Ranson’s diary observes, has taken on momentous importance in the islands, there be ing about eight senior native teams and a large number of junior players. Several European teams also play, but not against the natives. The Fijians play with bare feet, but instead of kicking with the toes incline the foot outwards and strike the ball with the ball of the toe. A bus and motor-boat tour conducted for the party, fourteen of whom took advantage of it, had proved most interesting. Not only had the numerous Fijian villages been visited, but also a new stone bridge over the River Rewa, which had cost £130,000. « There were, to Mr Ranson’s knowledge, two butter factories in the islands, * which manufactured a good quality product. The meat obtainable—beef and pork—was, however, hard and tasteless. , The temperature during the period of the bowling tourney, tho diary observes, had ranged from 80 degrees to 89 degrees Fahrenheit, while the temperature during June had ranged from 77 to 89 degrees. An entry made on July 23 indicates that Victoria won the rink championship, Suva being runner-up- An entertainment staged by the _ Fijians for the tourists from a ship hact been much appreciated. The hymn sword dancers and the fire walkeis were the principal entertainers. On July 13, in the course of an inter-island cruise, an accident happened to the propeller and the vessel had to he towed to Suva, a distance of 64 miles from where the mishap occurred.