THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 203, 27 August 1910, Page 18

THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

• i NOTES OK A SUMMER CRUISE. . .VISITS TO TCOJGA. SAMOA ____> _ FIJI. (By HAKOLD BEA.__________..) ] Unlike Nukualofa and Haapai—both , exceedingly low islands, the highest , land, not rising more than 30 ft ( above sea-level—the town of Vavau ( and the districts adjacent there- j to are billy, in some places almost mountainous, and as many of the hills, rising abruptly from the sea. are covered from. , summit to base with all description of : tropical flora., the effect of this is indescrib- , ably beautiful. In the harbour and num- j erous bays of Vavau the -whole of the \ British fleet could shelter in absolute safety. To tourists, one of the. greatest attractions of Vavau is the famous Swallows' i Cave, access to which is gained by boat 1 or liimch. The colouring of the walls and the dome-shaped roof of this cave would delight the soul of an artist, as also ] would the exquisite blue of the deep < water inside the cave. The picturesque ( effect is -heightened by the strong light 1 which streams into the cave from the 1 entrance thereto, and from an aperture <' at the back of it. After viewing this ' wonderful csrve, the passengers were en ' tertained at afternoon tea by tbe captain ' of the steamer, the locality selected for ' i this event being a lovely little bay i fronted by a small sandy beach, which • in the afternoon sun looked like a veri- ' table silver stand. L__vD T___l__E __-_ TRADE IN TONGA. ' Before leaving the Tongan group, it i may be interesting to refer briefly to two matters —land tenure and the conditions '■_ oi trade in these islands.. As regards the : former, this is held by the hereditary [ nobles, or chiefs, as representatives of separate tribes, or hapus. As each member of the tribe attains his majority— that is, sixteen years of age —he becomes '. entitled, without payment, to a small plot of land in his native village, called an Abbe, and another section, comprising a few acres for cultivation purposes, in the country. If a Europ-an desires land he must, in the first place, negotiate for the lease of it—the term, by law, not to exceed 21 years without right of renewal—with the native owner, a chief or noble a s already explained. \Chen the price has been agreed upon, this, to protect the landlord, must be ratified by Cabinet. As soon as this has been done the lease is executed and the tenant is then placed in possession. All rents are payable to the Government, who account for same when collected to the owners of the land after deducting therefrom 10 per cent for the cost of administration, etc With regard to trade. I must say that my preconceived notions as to the conditions surrounding same have been dispelled by a visit to these Islands. Before coming to them, I imagined that the credit system existed to a very gTeat extent, and that the majority of a trailers' assets comprised stock and book debts, loose capital being conspicuous by its absence. This is quite an erroneous idea. In point of fact, through debts due by natives not being recoverable at law, prompt cash is paid for nearly all purchases. Owing to the strong demand that obtains for copra, the trader pays the natives for same as delivered, and the latter deals with his purchases from the trader in like manner. Would that we could introduce a similar system in onr own Dominion! When mutual confidence is established, the trader wiU occasionally supply a native with goods against supplies "of copra in sight, but. as I have indicated, this is the exception and not the rule. SAMOA We left Vavau on Wednesday, the 27th July, for Apia, passing on the way the famous bnrning mountain on the Island of SavaiL We were abreast of this at midnight on Thursday, and saw the volcano and tie river of molten lava plunging into the sea under the most attractive conditions. This sight alone repays one for a. visit to this part of tha world. On the morning of the 2*>th July we dropped anchor inside the reef at Apia, where we found six German men-o'-war and one American, gunboat. Apia is developing rapidly under Ger- : man rule, thanks also to the prices ruling for copra and other tropical pro- [ duets, including cocoa, coffee, bananas, pineapples, etc. There are many places ! of interest to visit at this spot, the principal attractions being R. L. Stevenson's late house VaQima —now occupied by the Governor —and Stevenson's tomb, situated on the summit of a mountain : at the back of his much-loved home. In ' addition, there are beautiful drives to a ' fine waterfall and the celebrated slide, where one can experience the pleasant ' sensation of da_l___g down a smooth rock (accompanied by Samoan maidens 1 if you wish) into a pool of water several feet below. This, I am told., is distinctly ' exhilarating. Within a short distance " of our anchorage there lay—piled up on - the reef—the remains of the German ■ warship Adler, to remind us of the hurri- • cane of exceptional fury which visited Samoa in March, ISS9. In Apia harbour .. the American war vessels Trenton and i Yandalia were wrecked, and the Nipsic stranded. The vessels Eber and Adler, : of the Imperial German Navy, were also [ wrecked, and tho Olga stranded and 130 lives was lost, the only vessel that escaped i being the HALs. Calliope, by steaming , out to sea. As showing the force of the , hurricane, it may be mentioned that it took the Calliope two hours to get dear i of the reef, which was rather less than i one mile from her anchorage. To the ; lasting credit of the German and _____ I can sailors on the wrecked and stranded . ships, these men cheered the British ship as she steamed past them. i When at Apia we saw the ancient Maori, one of the first steamers of the l Union S.S. Co. and the little Rob Roy, that formerly belonged to a Picton firm, and traded between Nelson, Wellington ' , and Picton. In gazing on the Maori, and picturing the up-to-date turbine ! r steamer of the same name now engaged ! in the ferry service between Wellington j and Lyttelton, one felt inclined to para- I I phrase the quotation "tempon mutantur I et nos mutamur in illis." A NO .T__ POSTAL SERVICE i ; We remained at Apia two whole days, ■ : and then proceeded to Mulifinua, about ! two hours' steam from Apia, to take in ; ; j more copra. A short ran from Mulifinua I brought us to Niuafou, one of the Ton- i , I gan group, to receive and deliver the ! ;. tin mail, a most interesting and unique performance. The steamer lies about j . half a mile from the shore, and the mail , ; is brought off in an ordinary sealed I , kerosene tin by a native, who swims to I _ I and from the ship. He partly support; I himself on a bamboo cane. This he lies astride, and, placing the tin can con- I taining the mril in from of himself, resting on the bamboo cane, he swims, as 1 ! have already mentioned, to and from j the steamer. This feat is not unaecom- i panied by danger, as the sea swarms j

with sharks. The latter, however, do aot apparently desire to enter into contest with a South Sea Islander. Tbe centre of the Island of NTnafon, an old crater, is a large lagoon, in which are hot springs, and traces of volcanic action are everywhere to be seen. A severe eruption took place in 1853, when a village was destroyed, and many lives were lost, On the 12th of April, 1867, another eruption occurred without loss of life. The last outbreak was on the south end of the island. The volcano was again in eruption in ISSC, when all the villages were destroyed, also many of the cocoanut trees and food plantations. It was seen in activity again in 18S7. No water excepting Tain water exists on the island, but in seasons of drought a small quantity of brackish water is obtained from one of tlie three small islets which exist in the great lagoon in the centre of the island. FIJI: EXPANSION OF TRADE. Our next stopping place was Levuka, where we remained for twelve hours, then we sailed for Suva, the capital of Fiji. Fiji, to-day, in spite of the severe hurricane which visited the islands in March last, is in a decidedly flourishing condition, and, from information obtained from reliable sources, 1 should think that the future of the colony is distinctly bright, As I write I have before mc a paper laid on the table of the Le-ri.-la-tive Council on the Ist June, _910, wjiich contains a mass of interesting and instructive information. Inter alia, this gives the statistical returns of the trade and commerce of Fiji for the years 1900, I_o7, I9OS and 1909. The following table shows tbe value of the imports and exports, and the total trade of the colony (exclusve of bullion and specie) during the four years under review: Tear. Imports. Exports. TI. trade. £ £ £ I£> °B 609.45 T. C 03,410 1. ___._.. 00. I S°<' «43.007 __.__ 1.524,371 1908 682,634 __.__ I,.__.<_ 7 18 0° 636,250 V4l,im I,jS_,o_6 It is satisfactory to note that the total trade of the colony in 1909 is the highest yet recorded in the history of the colony, and exceeds that of the* previous year, the next highest, by £12.339. The increase is due to a considerable extent to the higher price of copra, the second staple product of the colony, and the increase in quantity exported, the value showing an increase of £72.111, and the quantity an increase of 2949 tons on the previous I year. Compared with 190S, the value of I fruit exported shows an increase of j £30,274, but sugar shows a decrease of | £39,337 on the previous year. The value of exports rose from £603.410 in 1906 to £947,136 in 1909, an increase of over 50 per cent during the four years, which must be considered highly satisfactory. The increase in the value of imports during the same period was small, with a decrease of £20,404 for 1909 as compared with 1908. I More than nine-tenths of the trade of the colony is with the Australian States and New Zealand. With greater attention given to the products that figure, at present, as minor exports, especially in regard to cocoa and tea, and with rubber as an article of export in the future, it is hoped that a larger proportion of the colony's export trade will eventually find its way to new markets. The value of imports from the several Australian States and New Zealand has during the : past four years been as follows:— State or Dominion. 190(5 1907 19( >-_5..V ..T..__l _t__r_ .17.; N.Z 100,2!>0 _>,__) __< .■island .. v :i7o : Yi-tviria. _. — — — Totals .. £__,(_S £__,IC7 ___,- From these figures it will be seen that throughout the four years under review practically the whole of the imports from Australasia have come from New South Wales and New Zealand. It is anticipated that, on the resumption of the new service between Fiji and Melbourne, in which there has been a temporary cessation owing to the damage to the banana crop caused by the late gale, Victoria will resume its former place as a State with which a considerable interchange of commerce will take place. The amount of Custom duties levied during 1909 amounted to £100.357, as compared with £106,595 for 1908. being a decrease of £238. The following statement shows the amount of Custom duties leviea on imports during the four years, and the proportion which the amounts levied bear to—(1) the total value of imports, and (2) the total value of dutiable imports. Custom proportion duties Tl. valne value of dutlYear. UevieU. of- imports, able imports. £ £ £ 1906 .. 99.585 16.34 23.61 |1907 .. 107.077 16.65 2__7 IPO . .. 1 __!_ 16.09 19.60 ISO 9 .. 106,357 10.71 _O._J The value of dutiable imports in 1909 was £525,819, as compared with £..43,825 in 189S, being a decrease of £IS.OOC. It is hoped there will be an increase in the imports, and that the revenue from that increase will eventually make good the loss caused by reductions in the tariff in 190 S. The exports for the four years under review have been divided among the countries and in the amounts shown under:—Country. i__ 180" mos iooo '___.._ . 197,403 27'-\SSO 276.720 440,463 N.Z 370.15_ -33.-9S 545.__ l 434. THO Victoria.. _ — — _-TJ_ Other countries 33.823 175.185 56,104 35,394 Total .. £003,409 £831,3.4 i_75,393 £947,136 The principal exports of the colony are sugar, copra, and green fruit. THE TRADE WITH NEW ZEALAND. It will be seen that whilst New Zealand, chiefly in the chape of sugar, takes no less than 49.5S per cent of the total value of produce shipped to Australia and New Zealand in 1909, she, in turn, only obtained in that year 15.74 per cent of the value of goods imported by Fiji, as against New South Wales' 84.14 per cent. This is not 1:6 it should be. and is, to my mind, a serious reflection j upon the lack of enterprise and activj ity of our merchants and traders. We j have as good communication with Fiji as our brethren in the Commonwealth. j We grow, manufacture, and import, gen- | erally speaking, the same class of goods, I and this should enable us to secure a 1 larger proportion of the trade, more es- ' peeially in view of the fact that we j are Fiji's best customer. Upon discussI ing this aspect of the ease with merj chants at Levuka and Suva, complaints [ were made as to the independence of i New Zealand suppliers and the carelessi ne_s displayed in tho fulfilment of or- . ders. With the growing importance of j tho neighbouring colony, it behoves us I to bestir ourselves and to do all in our I power to extend our trade relations. ; The more strings we have to our bow the i greater will be our commercial siren- _h. 1 En route from Suva to Sydney, we ! touched at Lautoka, a few miles from ; Suva —where is situated one of the I largest sugar mills in the Southern Hemisphere. Owing to the short time

at our disposal, we were only able to make a brief inspection of this mill. There is in Fiji a large area of land available for the cultivation of sugar, ( and with a most suitable climate and . satisfactory labour conditions, the industry is bound to assume big proportions ■ in the near future. Indeed, it seems to mc that, having regard to the manner in which the cultivation and production of sugar is being hampered in Queensland hy prohibiting the employment of coloured labour in that State, it is only a matter of time when Australasia will have to draw the bulk of her supplies of this article from Fiji. In this con neetion, I would refer you to an article which appeared in the '"Sydney Morning Herald" under date 10th August, headed: "The Sugar Industry. In a Parloua Plight. Federal Government to he __- praached." LAN© _!__•.[___ IN FIJI. As in the case of Tonga and Samoa, land at present can only be obtained in Fiji on leasehold tenure. In the first place, terms are arranged between the lessors (the natives) and the lessees (the Europeans), and these have to be ratified by Cabinet. Under this system ' land can be leased for a period not ex- ' coed ing GO years, but with right of re- J newal. In the early days, when the alienation of land was permitted, many ' settlers availed themselves of the opportunity thus presented of acquiring the fee-simple. In all, I believe, slightly under ;>OO,OOO acres were freeholded. Notwithstanding the fairly liberal terms on which land can be leased, there is a strong feeling existing that it would be to the advantage of the Colony if it were possible to purchase the freehold, on the ground that this form of tenure would stimulate settlement to •a much greater extent. Whether this feeling is justified or not, I am not prepared to express an opinion. At 1 p.m. on Thursday, the 4th August, we sailed from Lautoka for Sydney, after having spent a most delightful i holiday of a little over a fortnight in these interesting Islands. Too much .a-nnot be said in praise of Captain Geo. Uolford, his officers and stewards, for the manner in which they catered for the pleasure and comfort of their passengers.