Postwar Fiji

T HOSE seeking to implant new ways of life and new social goals among dependent colonial peoples whose roots are still deep in their own cultural traditions are all too often handicapped by a lack of fundamental data bearing directly upon the problems of ends and means. One consequence is that well-intentioned plans for social changes go awry and fail, or fail to achieve full success. In some cases they may arouse active native opposition, or at the least may fail to win cooperation. In one respect plans for induced social change, increased development and social welfare can usefully be likened to military operations. They may fail or succeed, in whole or in part, according to the adequacy of the strategical concept, the appreciation of the task, the tactical plan and method, and the logistical support. One of the essential components of success is to approach the task by assessing and acting upon the most exact available information bearing on every stage of the projected operation. It has been a matter of notorious knowledge for a number of years that one of the most serious weaknesses of colonial administrations is the absence of adequate demographic data. Many well-merited criticisms of this administrative weakness have been offered. In at least one Pacific colonial administration there is a file in which a senior official records, not without pride, that he has effected a useful economy by dispensing with his statistician. To do colonial officials justice, however, a great majority realise how greatly their task would be assisted by proper statistical controls, and it is usually not the fault of the local administrations that for so long they have had to do their best without such aids. In view of the extensive plans for development and welfare which are taking shape in the Crown Colony of Fiji, it is a matter for congratulation that the excellent data of the Census of I946 are now reported to have been released. Through the courtesy of the Acting-Governor and the Commissioner of the Census, the author was able on the occasion of a recent visit to obtain advance copies of some of the more important sections of the report, It is in many ways the most significant

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