Wartime Emergency and the Displacement of Indians in Fiji

From 1939, under wartime regulations, land was resumed for military purposes in Fiji. Among the lands taken were plots leased by Indian tenant farmers from Fijians, mainly in western Viti Levu. In some cases this caused loss of livelihood and even destitution, as Indo-Fijian historian Brij V. Lal has shown in his book Broken Waves . Unlike Lal, this author argues that in spite of individual cases of suffering, Indians received adequate government compensation, comparable to other displaced occupiers. The real loss for some was that the resumption of cultivated land still with long unexpired terms was in part an opportunity, if not a pretext, for transferring these to the new Native Land Trust Board to be reserved exclusively for Fijians. This was in contravention of Colonial Office policy on the type of land suitable for reservation. Many Indians saw their former lands reserved, but remaining uncultivated for years

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