FIJI. [From the Melbourne Argus."]

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 48, 16 June 1869, Page 4

FIJI. [From the Melbourne Argus."]

A correspondent writing from Rewa, Fiji, under date March 27, 1869, sends the following account of an attack on a plantation, and of the effects of a hurricane : — " The destruction caused by the hurricane of March 15, is most lamentable in those places which felt its worst fury. Bau, Viwa, and Rewa are iv ruins. The whole country up the Rewa River looks as if it had been burnt with fire ; the leaves are withered and fallen ; the very trees are killed ; the planters' houses and their cotton fields are destroyed ; dead bodies of natives have come floating down the river; and though full accounts have not yet come in from all quarters, yet what is already known is enough to show us that this hurricane has been the most furious of all those whicli have visited these islands within the memory of the present generation. " Its path, however, seems to have been a narrow one, extending, perhaps, between Ovalau and Kadavu, neither of which received much damage, while in all places within these boundaries everything is in ruins. Most of the planters seem, to be bestirring themselves manfully to repair the breaches made by the storm. One or two have lost heart, but most of them are showing the true English pluck and steadfastness. " Mr. Waterston, a planter who lives at a place called Nakoropapa, has, with his wife and family, been brutally clubbed by the natives of a town called Buremudu. A Mr. Murray, who was staying with him, seems to be badly hurt, and it is feared that he has sustained some internal injury. It appeal's that these natives have long been annoying Mr. Waterston, and the Pijiaus themselves say that he has been very forbearing with them. The immediate cause of the cowardly attack was the refusal of Mrs. "Waterston to buy a lot of taro which one of the Buremudu people had brought for sale. The man was very abusive to her, and Mr. Waterston coming home at the time, expostulated with him, warning him he would put up with no more such conduct. The man nourished his tomahawk, and dai'ed Mr. Waterston to do his worst, who being thereby provoked beyond endurance, made a quick step forward, and struck him a blow in the eye which knocked him head over heels. The man then went to his town, whence he presently returned with some fifteen or sixteen others, all armed, and made a savage^attack upon the planter's family. Mrs. Waterston was knocked down and severely beaten, though she was saved from many blows by a Fijian of another tribe, who was working about the place, and who threw himself upon her, thus warding off the club strokes. The wife of another planter, who was in the house, was also knocked clown and beaten, as were also two of the children, one of them an infant. The two elder children escaped, their mother having shouted to them to run. Mr. Waterston was knocked down, clubbed, kicked, and trampled upon with such savage ferocity, that it is a wonder that he escaped with his life ; but he seems to be a ' tough customer,' and is now going about his work as usual, though stiff and sore, and full of aches and pains. Poor Mr. Murray, a mild, inoffensive sort of a man, went down and fainted away under the first blow ; and his cowardly assailants struck him repeatedly as he lay ou the ground. " This affair has caused much surprise, as Mr. Waterston's plantation is not more than some twelve miles form Bau, and no one thought that the natives there would dare to make any disturbance at present, especially as affairs have lately been taking a very favourable turn for Thakombau, the powerful kingdom of Rakiraki, which has been for some time secretly favouring his enemies, supplying them with ammunition, &c, having declared in his favour in truly Eijian fashion, by enticing two chiefs of Navosa down from the mountains, and murdering them in cold blood. " The King has sent for the Buremudu people, and it is hoped that he will make a severe example of them."

The Late Importation op Salmon Ova to Otago. — The following letter from Mr. Dawbin, dated May 21, gives the latest news of the ova : — I have delayed reporting to you on the condition of the salmon ova which arrived by the Mindora, expecting from day to day the eggs would hatch, when I should have been able to hnve gi»en a more satisfactory opinion a 9 to the success, or otherwise, of this shipment. None of the eggs have hatched up to this date, which I attribute to the low temperature of the water. For the first fortnight or more after they were deposited in the boxes, very few of the ova wont bad ; but, for the last day or two, since the water has been reduced below forty degrees, I have removed a great number. Still I have a large amount looking quite healthy, and with the eyes showing well. The sea trout ovn. lam sory to say, have gone bad very quietly, although they looked quite as healthy as the others when first deposited in the boxes. A Caution to Owners of Delapidated Premises. — Messrs. Sargood and Co., of Sydney, were defendants in an action tried in the Supremo Court recently, in which Mrs. De Lacy, wife of a tailor, claimed damages for injuries she sustained through the negligence of the defendants, in keeping unguarded a hole in one of the floors of their warehouse. Mrs. De Lacy had gone to the store to purchase some goods, and accidentally fell through this hole a distance of fifteen feet, fracturing her collarbone and breaking two ribs. Her husband claimed £1,700 as compensation, and Mr. Sargood proposed to refer the matter to arbitration. This offer was refused, and this action was brought. The jury awarded the plaintiff £750. A Remarkable Digestion. — "Shirk Gowduh," tho Dubbo Dispatch states, " a native of Ceylon, is employed at Tattersall's Hotel, Dubbo. He possesses a stomach of extraordinary digestive powers, beating the ostrifh by long odds, for tin's bird — by all accounts— can ouly digest paving-stones. Ho cannot, however, liko some of his countrymen, swallow a sheep — wool, tail, horns, and trotters included; but ho can drink a glass of Hennessy's battle-axe and swallow the tumbler afterwards. Cut wine-glasses iiro apparently as great » luxury to him as sweet, biscuits aro to a child. Ho crushes tho globe of the glass between his teeth, without injuring his gums, and then swallows the pieces. A wine-glass disappears in two mouthfuls, a tumblor in four. He leaves the pedestal of the former and the base of the latter, as being too hard and coarse. He has been known to swallow the globes of four wine-glasses in a day, when ho has met with a ' new chum ' to stake a bet on tho experiment. Ho is apparently in good health, does his work, and never complains of illness."