IN OLD FIJI.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 300, 19 December 1922, Page 13

IN OLD FIJI.

ygSS CAKABATJ WAS KING. j jojffi ASUflSfi REMINISCENCES. I jjom Oar Special Correspondent.) SUVA, November IS. w Fisher, of Butha Bay, is now % years old. Ho is one of the £M«U in the colony and „,..»* to write some of Ms reo .!■ StioW of those wild .lays when old king k ,T,„ was the chief authority in F.j„ ffierXn he tried a sort nf const.So! government. In the* later Sphere was « great dea of ....rent JLtta white colonists and there was .coifsMerable parly who favot.rel a L* in the Government, with the par£ur object of petting rid of the then Slier Mr. V. A. «.'A who was virLlly the dictator of Fiji. The wni'es tok counsel with Commodore Goodoouzh, who advised them to interview He King and got him to call the Legisr tire Council together. The deputnVoi .weed to this, and set out 60 interview Thng, but found nearly all the peopb Zi lowing them. When they eume Stft creek they found Mr. Woods. Fijians, armed with rifles. ..iKne them. Mr. Woods said lie knew Jffffiton. and he told them they J not we the King. At this the-e and calls to tja ■ tadm to proceed in spite of \\ owl* ',nd we will see he does not stop you. ne leaders, »ing the iiselessnoss of further aggression, deeded to go be.r.k uJ report to the Commodore whei a la»'ver who had a revolver vc,y foolishly fired a shot in the air. Then thines began t0 na PP en - lb ° whites crannied with the Fijians, and in many „M wrested the rifles from them. llop--ay the guns were not loaded. All was confusion. The King, who lived close enough to be able to see the fight, sent tome armed henchmen to escort the unarmed leaders to his house, and there they remained in. safety until the row wag o rer, and incidentally many of Leruka's leading citizens were under trrest One amusing incident happened ts the leaders, of whom Mr. Fisher was one, were passing through the crowd. A certain party who was well known in Uvuka was seen struggling with two lefty Fijians, and probably thinking that lis last hour had come called out to the leaders as they passed; '-Tell my brother Idied a Protestant, and the keys of the life are behind the kitchen door." This fight did not end in much serious image being done to anyone, but on the details being given to the Commodore lie got a petition signed and forwarded" to England, and as a result the King (ipied a deed of cession to Queen Victoria, of all the group, and Sir Hercules Robinson, the then Governor of New Eouih Wales, formally took over control tin behalf of the British Government. The fight at the creeek was afterwards known is the "Battle of Bull's Run."' There are Still a few residents who «re present on' the memorable occasion en October 10, 1874, when a lieutenant front the Dido hauled down the Fijian flag, whilst a bluejacket hoisted the Union Jack in its place. Sir Hercules Bobinson then said: "With the hoisting of the British flag here to-day I do detlare the whole of the islands in Fiji, together with all land contained therein, Is now annexed to Great Britain to have and to hold for the benefit of the British Crown." So amid great cheering these fair islands were handed over t-o a settled form" of government, and Mr. J. B. Thurston, who had been Mr. Woods' chief lenchman, was made first Colonial Secretary