September 23, 1975
Three trapped in cab of lorry.
A triple smash between a cane train, a lorry and a car left three people - a man, his wife and a child - trapped inside the cab of this lorry at Saweni, near Lautoka, yesterday.
a gas cutter was rushed four miles from Lautoka and used to cut the cab open so that the trapped people could get out. The lorry driver, Shaukat ali (s/o Walli Mohammed) was admitted to Lautoka Hospital with face, arm and leg injuries.
Sugar Row may lead to new party
An apparent split in the National Federation Party has sparked rumours of a new political party being formed. The split has been triggered by a vicious row over the NFP's policy on a recommendation that cane farmers should contribute to a cane price support fund.
An influential National Federation Party member, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Raojibhai Patel, has urged farmers to accept a proposed deduction of $2.50 a ton, to build the fund. In doing so, he has gone against the NFP line of supporting thr farmers' complaint.
Broadcast changes possible for Fiji
A principal engineer in the Posts and Telecommunications Department, Mr Emori Naqova, will represent Fiji at an international broadcasting conference in Geneva from October 6. The plan will cover all the existing medium-wave stations of the Fiji Broadcasting Commission, and make provision for possible additional broadcasting stations in Fiji.
Factory safety laws ignored'
Fiji has some of the world's best factory laws, but too many factories ignore them, the deputy inspector of factories, Mr Jack Jennings told a meeting of sawmill owners called by the Forestry Department. Mr Jennings said safety conditions in most Fiji sawmills were "very bad" and implementation of factory safety regulations "non-existent".
Fiji policeman off to check murder story
A Fiji police officer has left for Sydney to check an alleged confession by a convict said to have claimed that he killed a Methodist Mission schoolteacher, Ms Phyllis Furnivall, at Dilkusha School, near Nausori, in 1970.
The officer in Sydney is Superintendent Sateki Umu, of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Last month New South Wales police notified the Royal Fiji Police Force that a man serving a three-year sentence for burglary had made a statement in which he claimed to have killed the teacher. The man has not been named but the New South Wales police gave his age as being 20. Superintendent Umu led the original investigation into Miss Furnivall's death. The inquiries spread from Fiji to New Zealand and Australia.