FIJI NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9308, 18 September 1893, Page 5

FIJI NEWS.

From Fiji papers to hand byway of Sydney the following: items of interest are gleaned : —His Excellency, Sir John B. Thurston, had just returned from a visit to Rotumah. Trade at that island is stated to be at a standstill. The only exports from the place are copra and a little kava, but there has been a great- falling off in the quantity of copra made owing to hurricanes, drought, and a disease which has affected the trees. It is stated that the island of Rotumah will be uninhabited at no distant date, as all the young natives leave there for other parts of Fiji, and the old people are dying off fast. The race will, it) is believed, become extinct in a few years. Fourteen years ago 3000 natives lived in Rotumah. To-day there are less than half that number. In villages formerly of several hundred inhabitants there are not a hundred natives left. Voiraosi, a village at one time containing two or three hundred population, is reduced to seven inhabitants. Disease has played havoc in the islands. Elephantiasis and scrofula have carried off many, and old and young natives still suffer terribly from these loathsome complaints. A strange discovery was made by the master of the cutter Lewa Leva on his trip to Labasa. He reports that on the 15th ultimo he sighted a dead body floating on the water. On eretting near it ho saw it dragged down by a monster shark. As several bodies have previously been seen near the same spot, it is believed that they represent the crew of the Keti Levu. This vessel left Taviuni some time ago, and has not been heard of since. There were between SO and 40 persons on board.