THE famous ivi tree at the triangle, marking the start of Victoria Pde, has been part of some very interesting events in the past.
One such event happened there during the early stage of development of the city when the waters from Suva bay came “within 20 yards of the ivi tree”.
Back in the day, the Tahitian chestnut was strikingly large and its wide branches afforded ample shelter as a marketing place.
“It’s convenient location and nearby waters induced Fijians coming from Rewa River and other adjacent districts to display their produce for sale in groups around the large ivi tree,”
noted Arthur Griffiths in his book, Memories of Fiji.
Arthur was the son of The Fiji Times founder, George Littleton Griffiths. He took over the newspaper company when George died in 1908.
Back in the day there were no regulations on the selling of food on the streets of Suva so one day a huge pig that was on sale and feeding on some bananas had an encounter with two English bulldogs
belonging to Messrs James McEwan & Co.
“The dog kernels were not more than 200 yards from the ivi tree and these animals had wandered away unnoticed to the scene where stood the contended porker,” Arthur said.
In a few moments the canines bit the ear of the pig. Half a dozen dog experts present could not do anything to separate the dogs from the pig’s ear. Ithad started to bleed.
“Some people brought a bucket of salt water dipped from the bay close by and threw it over the pig’s head but the dogs held on silently in good bulldog fashion.
They acted as though they had been trained for this.” The pig was finally saved by Andrew Forsythe, a dog handler.
He caught one dog by the throat and choked him off and handed him to someone to hold while he repeated the act on the second dog.
That was the end of the market day furore by the ivi tree at the triangle.
The pig escaped two dogs’ fury but whether it escaped the pot is another story altogether.
