meetings called by the umbrella organisation, the Indian Association of Fiji.

During the 1943 sugar cane strike, it was through S.B. Patel, that a meeting was arranged between the Government and the Maha Sangh. When negotiations started for the 1950 cane contract, it was S.B. Patel who persuaded the five farmers' unions to work together. In 1976, when the National Federation Party (NFP) was hopelessly