THE first home of the Fiji Times was in Albion Passage, Levuka. The public office fronted Beach Street, close to Niukaube Hill, on which the 1914-18 War Memorial now stands.
As the business prospered, more elaborate premises were built, also on Beach Street. The double-storey building bore the title Office of the Fiji Times.
When, after Cession, it was suggested that the capital of the infant colony should be transferred from Levuka to Suva, the Fiji Times was loud in its condemnation.
But when Sir Arthur Gordon and the suite did move to Suva in 1882, Griffiths was already providing a newspaper service for the new capital.
On October 20, 1881, he had started the Suva Times in a Renwick Rd building on the site fronting the Triangle now occupied by Prouds.
The two newspapers kept in touch by sea mail and quoted extensively from each other’s columns.
After the capital had moved, the shipping news came to the Fiji Times by speedier means. Griffiths made full use of a pigeon post service started at the beginning of 1884, and lots were fitted to the roofs of the Suva and Levuka offices.
The birds made the journey between the two towns in a little more than 30 minutes.
At the end of 1886, Griffiths bowed to the inevitable and from January 1, 1887, the Fiji Times (incorporating the Suva Times) was published in Suva. In an editorial, Griffiths explained there had been a time when “while Suva hardly struggled to support it’s new dignity as the capital of Fiji, the commercial superiority for a long time remained in Levuka.
“Therefore it was decided still to continue the publication of the Fiji Times at the old town, and to start the Suva Times to meet the requirements of the new capital,” he said.
“But since that date, the change has been very marked. The tide of population and trade has naturally set to the political centre and secured for it the decided pre-eminence.
“During the past twelve months, the decadence of the old town has been painfully rapid, and for this, allied to the other reasons given, it was concluded that the time could no longer be deferred for effecting the change which has now been made.”
Griffiths explained that the move had not been made earlier because the Suva Times was meeting Suva’s needs well and “next, there were the hopes of reviving prosperity for Levuka which, however insufficiently based, are always in such cases most unwillingly abandoned.
“Further, there were the strong ties of the old associations, binding the journal to a town with which it had grown up and, so to speak, become incorporated,” he said.
“Each of these considerations had its effect in deferring the matter until now, especially the latter, and even now the long last severance from the old spot has not been accomplished without a painful wrench.”
On September 7, 1904 in the 35th anniversary issue of the Fiji Times, Griffiths was able to write:
“It is not without a thrill of pride that we declare ourselves not only the oldest newspaper in the Colony, but also the oldest business firm.”
“We have at all times, had the welfare of Fiji at heart, second to no other interest,” he continued.
‘Her banner we have constantly held aloft, and demanded from time to time public attention to flagrant abuses of our system of government.
“England seems to have a great many people who desire to govern things when they should be devoting themselves to less exalted methods of wage-earning, and we suffer sadly from the queer antics of some of her representatives.”
On March 30, 1908, at the age of 63, GL Griffiths died. His son Arthur, who had been trained by his father since entering the business in 1886, and had grown up in the same tradition of responsible journalism and public service, had taken over effective control when his father became ill.
