FIJI NEWS

Press, Volume XXIII, Issue 2966, 22 February 1875, Page 3

FIJI NEWS

The Fiji correspondent of the Auckland Herald, writing on February 6th, says:— Since I last wrote to you by the Star of tbe South, we have been visited by a severe hurricane. The weather had been very unsettled for some days previously. It commenced to blow on the morning of January 7th, the wind increasing in strength till 2 a.m. on the morning of the Bth, when it was about its height, causing great destruction to property on shore and in the harbor. All the lower part of the town was swamped, and the water at one time stood two feet on the floor of Thompson's Hotel. Verandahs and trees were blown down in all directions, and in the harbor things were much worse. Some of the small crafts ran down below Nasova, thinking to be safe there, but by eight o'clock some of the small vessels had parted their chain and came ashore. No loss of life, however, occurred, and at about midnight the schooner Luie Low parted, and drove do vn on the point below the American Consulate. The crew, by the aid of the people on shore, were all safely landed. About an hour afterwards the cutter Albert drove ashore, and at 2 am. H.M. schooner Beagle parted, and drove down to the same spot. Lieutenant Handle tried to cut away the masts, and had partly succeeded, when he found his vessel driven on the top of the schooner Luie Low and cutter Albert. The cutter got smashed up between the two schooners, which were loaded for Samoa. The cutter Annie Young has not been seen since the evening of the 7th. It is supposed that when the Beagle drove, she must have taken the cutter with her, as she was siding right under her stern at dark. The harbor had been dragged for traces of the missing vessel, but without sue cess. The general opiuion is that she has been blown right over the reef, and foundered with all hands. The master leaves a wife and three children. There were three natives on board at the time. The Beagle and Luie Low have since been got off, and are undergoing repairs. Tbe Beagle proceeds to Sydney as soon as her repairs are effected. People who have lived here for several years say it was the heaviest hurricane they have experienced. During the hurricane one of lighthouses caught fire, and was burned down. The accident is supposed to have occured through the bursting of a kerosene lamp. H.M.S. Dido arrived on the 4th, from Mucata coast, and brought two prisoners. They are petty chiefs who have been fighting and creating a disturbance. They were lodged in Tologa Gaol. Captain King, of the cutter Leslie, while recruiting labour at Aurora, one of the New Hebrides Group, was murdered by the natives. They also killed the other natives which composed the boat's crew. There was another boat on shore at the time, in charge of the trading master. He shoved off, and tried to cover the first boat with his gun; every time he fired the natives dodged behind the boat, and then would run out and club the crew before the master could load again. They stripped the body of the captain and dragged it into the bush, in sight of those in the boat. The natives seemed to be friendly a few minutes before, and exchanged trade, and no reason can be assigued for the outbreak. The trading master, being no navigator, did not know what to do with the vessel, but after some knocking about they managed to reach Havanuah harbor, ard the mate of the Hallie Jackson, the vessel that was wrecked there, brought the cutter on to Levuka. Captain Douglass, of the Mary Eliza, has just returned from a labor cruise. He has brought sixty-five laborers. He reports that while at Ambryn Island, he saw in the possession of the natives a ship's boat, painted white, with masts, sails, and oars, which had something like a name painted on the stern. The natives would not allow him to land, and bad fighting pits dug on the beach. He was there some six months before, and landed some laborers. Each of these had a gun, and on this occasion made use of them. From a statement of revenue and expends ture accounts, published last Wednesday in the Government Gazette, I make the following summary:—Revenue from October 11th to December 31st, 1874, £.1262 19s lid. Expenditure (inclusive of £(»47 Is Id for Executive expenses, £311 12s 2d for judicial expenses, and £213 lis postal and Colonial Secretary's office), amounting to £3718 Os lid, and this amount, after deducting £1000 borrowed from-N. S. Wales Government, would leave £544 13s in hand. There are steps on foot to start a large Sugar Crushing and Refining Company, capital £100.000.