WHERE FORTUNE CALLS

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 223, 18 September 1915, Page 15

WHERE FORTUNE CALLS

IN A LAND WHERE W_NT__R ' SMUJES. , ißy Our Fiji Correspondent.) j* There is a possibility tii.it. sooner or | iat.r V-.v /-•._;___ a,:a -v >-■ ' 'a.-. the potentialities of liiev» Tea.'.sot j the I'aeiti.'.'' •'!.. make a aenoU-i etToi't _ to have _'i|i administered from >'•"* ' Zealand. Thai tviii be the dawn 01 promising things for Fiji and Maori.an I. I There is he p-obabiov in & ■-'f ' l war a wave of immigration will set in towards Australasia. and that the, hunger for land, and the aunt tor ror-| tune that ever h .ver.-i about industry and enterprise, •■ , i become Keener "...an I ever. Not that it is every man - privilege to hear the vok-e of Fortune .men i she calls. A* the iate Mar_ Twain I quaintly express**! it: Tortune knocks , at every man's door once in a life, but in i a good' many ca--.es the man is in a neighbouring saloon, an,! does not heir - her." The purpose of this and the articles to follow is to sugge.it to the , men of the rizht stamp tiiat here, in , the islands of Fiji. Dame Fortune beckons. Later, when time permits mc to verity. • by personal observation and expert opinion, the records of experiments portending considerable changes in the corn- I merrial life of Fiji. I wiil write of feats j of agriculture that, at the moment. I seem like fairy tales: of -.-.est* of t-iie, most durable and artist:.- timber- await- j ins the sawmiller's toii'-h: of the topic] that, perhaps, above ail other t .pics, is , absorbingly interestins to, many New, Zealand speculators—rubber. Mean-' time, it may cause growers in Maoriiani , a little reflection to be told that the, day is not far diuar.t when potatoes] and tomatoes, grown in this land 'neath ] :he smiles of winter, will be placed on the New Zealand markets from the! month of r-epteniber onward. It may also interest rubber speculators -o learn how rubber plantations in Si... this year brought to the tapping period, have been produein. revenue to their owners d.ir:n_ nearly the whole ot their maturin_ period. Meantime, let attentton be directed to DAIRYING IN FIJI, a thing as yet in its infancy, dv: with tiie coming settlement of tne land problem, promi-ing developments tnat some New Zealand dairy farmers and capital- j ists may deem it wise to watch with | tender and not unselfish solicitude, j Here, in a ian 1 where the thermometer ' registers .1 winter average of US. and a. j summer average of St.. where the ra:n- | Ull i* a.i.indant all the year round.. where the grass grows as i: grows in r.o other land, where cattle thrive we!! an 1 i have little sickness, dairy produce as an j export and as a means of increa-ing the country* wealth is hardly thoit_ht of. Yet the ruo-: fr.i.'rant .-iii.l puatab-e of] butter is rr.a le at tile Taviuni butter! factory ithe only .-ne in tne Islan l.«'.| .thou..i to supplement th.s lnstiimient local sunpiv bufer has t. > be importel j from New " Ze.il.in '.. There ;- not a j s.iu> cheese factory in the idands. i Tiii- apparent lack of enterprise is] , always m eye-opener t.. rhe new-.-omer. ] He -eet.s exp.nn.r ion*, n". I is t ■">-■! that j Fiji is misunderstood out-i !e. and mis-j govern,-i inside. When capitalists oil otaer kind* think of Fiji, they think af su_ar. of copra, of ban.in.is. anl. per | haps, of maize: ►here their imagination! potentialities of this outpost ni the F..n i pire in .'.ther direction', they are fjee 11 with the fact tha- the land belongs to the natives, and the .-ttin. of it. i: is] said, is as simple as hookin. a .r.vior out of the sea with a bent pin. Hut more of this anon. AN" EXPERT'S OPINION. It was your correspondent's pr-.vi'.e.e to have a chat, a few days ago. with Mr i ... Fleming, who has had many years' experience as a cheese factory manager in New Z"a..m 1 and Au-tr.ii,a. anl who] will be remembered by many- as the mana.er of ,i cheese factory at Mercer.! in the Waikato. New Zealand. Mr I F'e.ning has been in Fiji for five years, j and is no.v manager of a birr cattle sta- . tion owned by -underland and Co.. the. I largest fresh meat distributors in these I islands. Asked for his opinion of the I possibilities of dairying in Fiji. Mr F'eming replied succinctly, "Immense." I am indebted to Mr F'.etrrm_ for the confirmation of the facts githerei herem anent dairying and labour conditions, in both or" which aspects he has had considerable local experience. LABOUR. There are no "socialistic" difficulties in Fiji. The indentured Indian coolies .ire steady. re!;.i.b'.e fellows, and can be employed at rates varying from 1. to 2 per day i find themselves i. Their tasks are regulated by the Government overseem- ..rtic.u'.s. and if they fall short of I their allotted tasks their pay falls shorti i proportionately. They rarely do fall short in either direction. They are keen. clever workmen, and in whatever department their employer chooses that they should specialise in. in that department they become speedily proficient.

FEED. Feed is abundant beyond even the nightmare dreams of the dairy farmer whose cattle luxuriate in the smiling I plains and valleys of Auckian 1 nrovince. ] The Pa:'j grass may be cited as. perhaps. ] a striking example. Within three ] months after so.v.ng the P.ira develops ; a heig-ht of from three to tour feet, and j is fit to cut. A splendid grass for fat- ! tening. it will yield "0 crop-, or more per ! annum. It may bo cut up and dried. ', thinned to oaten hay. or cut up for ! chaff for the feeding of hor-es. There ] are other fine cattle grasses: notably, the Thurston and the paspiilnm (the latter a cross between a cocksfoot and a rey_rasc.i. For the paspaltim it is claimed that. ?fter shutting up a paddock for a fortnight, it provides six ■ inches of luxuriant feed. DOUBLE PROFIT-MAKIXG. \ At Taviuni there is an instance of double-banking in profit-making tha: will appeal to the dairymen whose minds favour mixed farming". Here the cows browse beneath rhe shade of long lines of cocoanut trees—literally rnii:c°r,r*ove and milk beneath—so that in addition to his dairying profits the farmer a Uo nets a handsome revenue from coira." PIONEERING. ] The pioneer in Fiji must have a stout | heart, and be more or less kin to the j hardy souls who drew fortunes front j tiie development of other lands. At the same t mc. tiie pioneer in Fiii is not necessarily burdened with the .inancul il'.tliculties of Ins prece.linjr kinsmen Tiie cutting; down and burning of bush is followed by a prolific growth oi grass. A favoured device is to top tin* trees and leave th? trunks to rot. Between these trunks maize and rice are planted, and the farmer secures a speedy return pending- the .level.ipment I of the dairying possibilities, oil his I holding. |

WANTED. A CHEESE FACTORY. There is tint, a- i have stated, a cheese factory in lite Mr. Fleming .s, empi.atic :n ins opinion that there :- »i fortune t.i :..- n.a I ■ ..ut of an up i ■ ■'■■<---. cheese fatory a !_pted to io.a. coalition*, ii ;■ -. tii.-n. -an opportunity :•>" an < nterp.-i-.n_ cijiitahst to take '•.• ■>■ tract of ,o tin try. introduce t... I'.ecs--iiri . att'e. or a.-5..-.t small *.'iti. :- ,'■! to the land an i . onion che.r pf...i ■■« f-el and healthy cattle - .n.ate ' o ■-- -ir- ly ma ,c :i. • venture i ...xliM • - one f.,r ail parties o. ... rue .. -y pioneer,n. hand, worki__ t.ieir factory .nr '.i-operative principle-, couid do erjual!} i. ell. LAND DIFFICULTIES. No v hav.ng stated the bright side of tne picture, .t uecomes my duty to aho-v tiie revel's,.. Land is somewhat ditlicu.l to obtain :n Fiji at present. Kleventwelfths of it naminally belongs, to tiie native. When Fiji was ceded to the iate Queen Victoria, the stipulation made was that sufficient should ue retained in the hands of the natives to provide for their comfortable subsist- . nee. Through early neglect, apparently, no proper attempt was made to define t rotn and native lands, with the result that a squabble has been going on for years between tuose who assert that t.ie land belongs to the natives and those who contend that it belongs to tne Crown. The position may now best be summed up in t.ie words of the petition | drawn up by the Planters' Association of I Fiji in 190... and forwarded to the Seere- ! tare oi -tiite for the Colonies: — "The most important factor, as regards the expansion of the colony and the growth or its prosperity, is the improvement of the facilities for offering to settlers the ' opportunity of opening up the vast re- | sources of the waste lands which are ! no * of no use or benefit to the owners." i The then a. tual position oi" affairs Istiil I more or less applying), may also be I summed up in the words of his Excellency the Governor, in his message to the Fiji Legislative Council, as far back as the 10th October. 1005:— "Worst of all, perhaps, no one either in the Native Department or the Lands Department or anywhere else has known what land was available, nor how and at what price it may be obtained." The land rjuestion is still being {ought out. and there are not wanting signs that it is approaching, tediously, a i settlement. Meantime, it cannot be said j that land is unobtainable. Leaseholds, ! for a term of 99 years, are obtainable ! through the Native Lands Department, ! and tiie rentals in the past have varied j from _d and 3d to 10/ per acre P<- r ' annum. More than ordinary patience is | re.-]u:red. perhaps, to negotiate all the I le.ai formalities involved in a native | laud transaction, but men of set purpose I may V trusted to exhibit that. I There are hardships, of a sort, conj necte-i with piono-ring in Fiji as elsewhere: where is the developing, country i that know- them not? But. to the i ,_n_ and hardy. the stout hearted and i the enterprising. Fortune does beckon iin this !a:id where winter smiles ami i s,,mrner is bearabie by man and be-as-". I alike.