On Monday, June 29, 1970, The Fiji Times published the following articles.
Potholes repairers out in force
Suva City Council men worked throughout the weekend repairing damage done to roads during torrential rain last week.
The City Engineer, Mr C Bradman, said he had put as many men as possible to work on the repairs.
He said the chief priority after Wednesday’s rain was the patching of inner-city roads.
Fine weather on Thursday morning permitted an early start on patching in Victoria Parade, Renwick Road and the Suva Market area.
However not all the work had been completed before it had to be abandoned because of the return of the rain.
Italians to shoot Fiji film
The chairman and managing director of an Italian film company, Mr Giacomo Pezzali, visited Suva at the weekend to make arrangements for filming of a documentary about Fiji next month.
A film crew from the company, Trans World Film SPA, is due to arrive at Nadi next month.
Mr Pezzali said the all colour documentary was being produced in collaboration with the Fiji Visitors Bureau.
It would cover tourism, education, the history and cultures of Fiji, the country’s geography and handicrafts.
Local efforts emphasised
Local enterprise would have to be an important factor if Fiji was to progress economically under its new status, the Minister for Social Services, Mr Jonate Mavoa, said at Ba on Friday afternoon.
He was speaking at the official opening ceremony of Motibhai and Company Ltd’s new $100,000 supermarket at Ba.
Mr Mavoa warned that with independence , Fiji would have to rely less and less on overseas investors.
A great deal of effort would be required by local people to show more enterprise.
“Economists often talk of three factors which influence production: Land, capital and labour,” he said.
US play on the drawing board
Manu Tupou, a Fijian from Lau, who is making a name for himself on stage and screen in the United States, in a letter to the Public Relations Office, says he is collaborating in writing a new play.
It deals with a young Fiji chief who sees his country through independence.
There is a comedy routine dealing with a confrontation between the chief and a real estate agency from America.
Another comic scene is the meeting between the chief and two young American girls who came to Fiji under the Peace Corps programme.
Disease incidence decline
The incidence of infectious diseases, except for gonorrhoea, dropped last week.
There were 30 cases of gonorrhoea reported during the week, a Medical Department health bulletin said.
Only about half the number of influenza cases were reported compared with the previous week, when 360 cases were reported.
The lowest figure for infantile diarrhoea for many weeks, 83 cases, was reported but two severe cases died.
Shipwrecked family helped by Rotumans
An Auckland family of three whose 36ft cutter, the Mapu, was wrecked on the Rotuma Island reef two weeks ago are still waiting for a ship to bring them to Suva.
The next ship due to call at Rotuma is the Tongan cargo ship Aoniu, which is expected to sail from Suva to the island on friday. She may make an attempt to salvage the Mapu, which is reported to be badly damaged.
The Mapu is owned by Mr Edward Stallard, who is accompanied by his wife and his son Christopher (12).
Pothole accident
Two men were taken to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital on Saturday night after they were thrown from a motorcycle in Queen Elizabeth Drive near the China Club.
The rider, Mr Safiq Mohammed (s/o Fida Mohammed) of Toorak Road, was allowed to leave after he was treated for cuts to his forehead and left hand and scratches on both knees.
His pillion passenger, Mr Laisenia Foe, of Brown Street, was kept in the recovery ward for observation. he has head injuries and multiple scratches on his face and neck.
