LATEST FIJI NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6280, 3 January 1882, Page 6

LATEST FIJI NEWS.

By the s.s. Taiaroa, which arrived from Fiji yesterday, we have fiies of Fiji papers to the 2Stli ult., from which we take the following items : — On the 12th December a preliminary investigation was held at Levuka before the Deputy Commissioner (Mr. H. Hunter) of the High Commissioners' Court into the charges of alleged kidnapping against Capt. Gibbs, and Mr. Klein, mate of the schooner "Winifred, of Auckland. Mr. Seed, the Acting Agent-General of Immigration, was examined, and proved that all the immigrants by the Winifred had been passed before him without complaint. The cases ■were then, on the application o£ the Attor-ney-General, adjourned. On the 14th these cases were resumed. Mr. Garnck again'objected to the jurisdiction of the Court over his client, who was not a British subject, but the Deputy Commissioner concluded to leave this matter open for the decision of a higher authority, reserving the point. The "woman upon whose statement the charge was originally founded was then examined, and her statement amounted to the following facts gives by Mr. J. Cocks, the Government interpreter, who obtained his information from a. countryman of the prosecutrix. She said she was a native of Oaba, and remembered both Captain Gibbs and Mr. Klein. "When the boat went ashore the defendant Klein was not in it,- but there were four blacks and a half-ca3te. When she was beckoned to by the half-caste she went into the boat, and "the half-caste then told her she had better go en board the ship. She went, as she wished to go to Fiji. After she was on board her father came oft, and told her that if she went to Fiji she would die, but she wanted to come, and came. After hearing the evidence of the prosecutrix, the Hon. the Acting Attorney-General said that while expressing the greatest regret that n?.en againat whom no criminal charge could be urged should have been put to the inconvenience which the defendants in this case had, he had no alternative but to withdraw the charge, and thought that, had the gentlemen to whom the information was originally laid exercised ordinary discretion, a vast amount of time and trouble might have been saved. Mr. Garrick again reminded the Court of his original objection to English jurisdiction over his client, who was an .alien, and would be protected by his Consul. Mr. Thomas also addressed the Court on behalf of his client, Captain Gibbs, find said he considered that it was a great hardship upon him that he should be subjected to such a vexatious prosecution. He had already lost two opportunities of obtaining remunerative! employment in other vessels through the ' delay attending these unfounded chargee. He thought it hard indeed when an immigrant had come on board a vessel voluntarily, had been passed first by the Government agent, and again by the Acting Agent-General of Immigration, that such a serious charge should be treated with any credence after so long a lapse of time, when the prosecutrix herself had distinctly stated at the outset that she had come to the colony as a volunteer for service. The Attorney-General again expressed regret at charges without actual foundation having been preferred, and was then asked by the Deputy Commissioner vhether he wished to withdraw the charge in each case, and the reply being in the affimative, the Deputy Commissioner discharged both the accused. Those who have been depending upon the chance of engaging native labourers complain that since the closing of the Bnse Vaka Turaga, at Ba, the difficulties in the way of recruiting have been very considerably increased. Cases are mentioned in which men willing and under verbal promise to engage have been prevented by the interference of the native officials from so doing, and it is said that not a man can be got from Tova Peak to Nadi. Mr. O. Cullip, senior, died suddenly at Levuka. The Fiji Argus says.—"The deceased gentleman was one of the oldest residents of Levuka, having arrived in 1859, shortly after which he embarked in business here, which he carried on for many years as an auctioneer and commission agent. The cause of his decease was disease of the heart. He was a Californian 49-er. Finally, on account of ill-health, he emigrated thence to New Zealand in 1559, where, finding that colony in a state of war, whites against Maoris, he came on to Fiji with his family. Since that time the name of Otty Cudlip ha 3 been a household word in Levuka." The Right Rev. Dr. Lamaze, being at present on a visit to the Fiji portion of his diocese, a confirmation was held in the Roman Catholic church on the 18th ultimo,, when several European children who had been prepared by the Rev. Father Cassidy, D.D., of Auckland, were confirmed. The services were conducted by the .Rev. Fathers of the Order of Mari3ts, and the church was appropriately and effectively decorated. Mrs. Thurston, wife of the Hon. J. B. Tkurston, Colonial Secretary, recently died at Levuka. _^______