"Waste of time"

Next day, I advised Luke, Jone and Sukhueo (a newcomer) to go to the Labour Department. Surely tills department could do something for the lads.

"It's a waste of time, Sir," said Sukhdeo. "They give you a little ticket and you spend a whole week walking here, there and everywhere, but you can't get any jobs."

The government realises the gravity of the unemployment problem and the ineffectiveness of the Labour Department. In the Colony's Annual Report (1964) the section entitled 'Unemployment" (p. 14) is quite illuminating:

"Although the Labour Department operates an employment service and provides facilities for persons to register for work, comparatively few persons register themselves as unemployed, principally because of the few vacancies notified to the department … During the last six years the number of persons who have left school is more than 56,000: whilst some of these school leavers may have obtained work on family holdings or may be self-employed in fishing or agriculture, etc., it is reasonable to assume that a considerable proportion of them must, of necessity, seek paid employment. If a normal wastage of approximately 1.000 a year has taken place in the labour force employed for wages it may also be assumed, taking into account the total numbers employed in Fiji, that the unemployment problem is greater than indicated by the numbers registering for work at labour exchanges."

In spite of the absence of reliable unemployment figures, it Is clear that large numbers who, through necessity, return to family holdings, etc., after leaving school, contribute little to the increase of agricultural produce in the colony. The 1956 census revealed that 6,000 people, or over one third of the Indian population living in the cane zone were redundant to the maximum labour requirements needed for cultivating cane on that area, using existing techniques. Similar situations are to be found on Fijian plantations and in the villages. The 1966 census will be awaited with eagerness by all interested in the affairs of Fiji, but of one thing we can be sure, the numbers of redundant labour force is unlikely to show any reduction.