ABSTRACT
Sir Murchison Fletcher, himself, when Governor of Fiji, raised both the political and the racial issue at the same time by proposing that in future all elections should be cancelled. And the Governor should place his own nominees not only in the Executive, but also in the Legislative Council. It was this action on the part of the Governor, backed up by some and opposed by other Europeans, which brought out the author, a third time to Fiji. For the acute crisis which this action provoked seemed to him to be a strong enough reason to accept the invitation of the Indian community and help to rescue the franchise which was so powerfully threatened with extinction. If, then, the franchise itself was taken away, which all Crown colonies of any standing possess, it would mean a still further setback and what in the end would amount to the personal rule of a Dictator, with no education in self-government whatever.
