442
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — FIJI
Imports subject to duty, 1919, 911,859^, duty-free 130,531/.
Imports 1
Exports
Year
From British Possessions
Prom other Countries
1913 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
£ 824,772 796,880 772,219 888,463 985,116 912,477
£ 79,196 68,470 89,496 104,406 161,391 129,913
Total
£ 903,968 865,346 861,715 992,869 1,166,367 1,042,390
To British Possessions
1,416,419 1,322,265 2,127,160 1,734,398 1,189,614 1,249,391
To other Countries
£
9,521 151,927 126,883 334,003 466,450 621,171
Total
£ 1,425,940 1,474,192 2,254,043 2,068,401 1,656,065 1,871,062
i Excluding parcel post (19,860!. in 1918 and 17,924?. in 1919).
Quantities and values of imports are ascertained by invoice and declaration, or by examination by Customs officers. The countries recorded are the countries of consignment, as disclosed by the shipping documents. In the case of exports, the values are declared by the exporter as the true values of the goods as they lie in the port of shipment, in- cluding cost of packages.
Imports from United Kingdom, 1919, 151,6262. ; exports thereto, 76,346/.
The principal imports during 1919 were: Drapery, 199,809/. ; biscuits, 19,421/.; flour, sharps, and pollard, 88,067/. ; hardware, 43,358/. ; oils, 46,062/. ; bags and sacks, 21,059/. ; timber, 18, 271/. ; machinery, 40,053/. ; coal, 38,939/.; meats, 19,856/.; manure, 19,146/. ; butter and ghee 25,638/.; fish, 13,553/. ; rice, 36,608/. ; galvanised iron goods,15,955Z. ; vegetables and fruit, 21,460/.: tobacco, 17,914/ ; cigars and cigarettes, 6,794/. ; live stock, 8,521/. ; spirits, 17,637/. Principal exports : sugar (64,348 tons), 1,014,241/.; copra (27,311 tons), 674,215/. ; green fruit, 77,428/. ; sici shell (417 tons), 20,764/.; rubber (155,219 lbs.), 13,867/. ; molasses (7,812 tons), 7,812/.
Shipping and Communications.
Fiji is in regular steam communication with New Zealand, Australia, Tonga and Samoa, Honolulu and Canada. During 1919 the number of merchant vessels entered at the ports of entry was 98 steamers of 257,984 tons, and 41 sailing vessels of 18,530 tons. Total tonnage entered and cleared in 1919, 571,203 (British, 530,674). Registered shipping, 1919, 11 vessels of 1,234 tons net ; local vessels holding coasting licences (1919), 248 of 3,101 tons. There is also a subsidised inter-island steamer.
The volume of transactions in postal matter during 1919, was as follows : letters and postcards, 1,109,222 ; newspapers, books, and book-packets, 783,433 ; parcels, 23,204. There is a Money Order system with the United Kingdom, Canada, the Australian States, Now Zealand, Tonga, and India. There is telegraphic communication between Suva and Levuka, 54 miles, of which 11 J miles is by .submarine cable. An overland telephone from Suva to Lautoka, 125 miles. Wireless telegraph stations have been erected at Suva, Labasa, Taveuni and Savusavu.
Government Savings Bank, end of 1919 : 1,315 depositors and 26,851/. deposits. The Bank of New Zealand and tho Bank of New South Wales have branches in the Colony. At the end of 1919 the circulation of the Govern- ment currency notes was 149,868/., and those of private banks, 31,039/. The bank deposits amounted to 870,779/.
Money, weights, and measures are the same as in the United Kingdom.
