"OUTRAGES" ON FIJI LABOUR VESSELS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4401, 22 September 1871, Page 3

"OUTRAGES" ON FIJI LABOUR VESSELS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib,— Almost every vessel from Fiji brings news of fresh "murders " and "outrages " on vessels engaged in procuring labour for Fiji. Why call them mnrdera and outrages ? Let us imagine ourselves in the poaiticn of the islanders : let us suppose ourselves to be members of a tribe in one of the New Hebrides group ; we are early risers, and have just enjoyed our morning meal of yams, and perhaps a little pork, or, as an unusual treat, a piece of man. The young meQ w ho live with me have already started in their canoes to their' fishing ground; the boys have gone to get the day's supply of cocoanuts; and I wich othws am just going to start to my yam patch, when suddenly I hear a great clamour of voices down on the beach, and on running down am informed by some of my neighbours that there is a ship coming down along the island, and that a boat pulled by five oars has intercepted the fishing canoes, capsized them, and carried off the young m«n, who were too busy with their fishing to notice the boat, which came dashing round a point of land, and had got right between them and the shore. At onoe on perceiving the boat they had seized their paddles and made frantic efforts to get to land, but the boat was too fast for them, and in a few minute 3 closed with the canoes, capsized them one after another, and then picked up the natives who were swimming for land, and with them returned to the vessel. For about two days after thia I am very miserable and miss my companions ; but after that, being only a "nigger," I recover my usual goo~cl spirits. One day, about a month after this, I hear shouts announcing that a sail is in sight, and shortly afterwards men came running up the coast, saying that there was a ship off the island which had sent a boat after a canoe, and carried away about seven men and two women out of her. We are in much constei nation, and everybody does a great deal of talking all at the same time, which increases our confusion, and I have almost made up my mind to run away into the bush, when the chief blows his " couch," and we all go to hear what he has to say. He tells us who are the fighting men to get all our weapons, viz., poisoned arrows, bows, and speais, and to go down and secrete ourselves in a dense thicket on the beach ; while some otheia are to wave green branches and hold up yams and cocoauuts as if wishing to trade with the boat. Tim is all arranged promptly, and very shortly the boat approaches, those in her who aio not pulling holding up glass beads, tomahawks, &c, as if anxious to trade. Seeing so few natives on the beach, the boat comes boldly in, and two or three men jumping out of her try to seize some of our people ami carry them into the boat. But our chief gives the signal, and we send a volley of poisoned arrows into the boat, at the same time attacking the white men who came ashore. We do good execution with our arrows, several of the men in the boat beiug hit by more than one arrow j but at the same time th*y kill and wound about seven or eight of us, shooting us down with muskets and revolvers which they had concealed in the boat. They now pull away for the vessel, and we are left to bury our dead. We now think we shall not be troubled again in this way, but we are grievously mistaken, for about a fortnight after another vessel comes along and steals ten men, and shortly afterwards another comes and does much the same. So now we always prepare to attack any boats or vessels that come to our island. Now such an occurrence as thia is called "outrage" and "murder" on Fiji labour vessels. It appears to be a system of selfdefence, and, I admit, retaliation on the part of these islanders, which nearly approaches justifiable homicide. In former years it was possible for a man well acquainted with the islands, and who bore a fcood name with the chiefs, toprocuielabeurby fair means, and even now it is possible, though more difficult, T will allow. But recently a lot of unprincipled adventurers and skippers have been employed by storekeepers and planters in Fiji to procure labour for them It is more than probable that had thia " labour traffic " never existed, or if it had been carried on under proper surveillance, numbers of these South Pacific islands, instead of being the scene of these so-called "outrages," would now have been open to missionary labour, and also bad a fair sprinkling of settlers and legitimate traders in the produce of the soil. There are settlers in Fiji who would not knowingly connive at this barbarous system of procuring labour ; bnt the majority of planters and storekeepers are deliberately encouraging and supporting a system which, though not a breach of the Slavery Act, can nevertheless hardly escape the charge of piracy and kidnapping.— l am, 4c, Justice.

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