WOES OF THE ISLANDERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 42

WOES OF THE ISLANDERS.

PITEOUS APPEALS FOR JUSTICE

■GRAVE NATIVE UNREST

NATIVES IMPRISONED FOR RINGWORM.

“ TREATED WORSE THAN

HORSES.”

Receixb communications from the Is- . lands demonstrate that the natives are in a grave state of unrest, ill-timed "speech of Governor 0 Brien a >•> ; Wainibokasi Hospital and the ■ lmposi--1 i-bions of various kinds put upon them i: foj the local Magistrates. The latest information on the subject comes from; Mt Humphrey Berkeley, of - Suva, in the shape of a telegram ad dr es•y ft ed to the Right Hon R. J- feecalon. It is as follow a :- — Chambers, Suva, . January 20, 1901. ■ On the 12th January I received a y! dec nation from 'the Province of Serua. I was handed a letter written m Fijian. -'■This is a copy of it in English: : ‘ " ' " ' Benba. January 10, 1901. “To Mr 1 Berkeley. Suva. •■- •.V “Sir, —We are the inhabitants of Se--riia and 'Batiwa. Take pity on us. VVe tytwish to explain the hardships we have y to endure in carrying out the orders J. of the Government. We send fourvmen i to tell you what we think. We, Tura- ■ gas Ni Noros, ‘Heads of the Towns, sign our names below, and after our V.: n amps come those of the people signed 5 by each town—nine Tutragas in Kows • and 203 men." ■ . I received’ . the deputation. Inis • is the statement made: —“ Me are overworked; our taxes are heavy, we t have a long way to go from our vilpi lages to make our taxes. We have nothing we can ball our own. We have to leave our women and our children. We have sometimes to work weeks at a 4 time on the sugar cane, and we have to bring odr food a long distance (in some instances forty miles). When our food is finished that we bring the Government gives us no food, and we have to live on sugar-cane. The Talai (Mr ?: Sutherland) came down, and asked why •we were complaining, and said our complaints were not true. We have now refused to do our work. "We can got no satisfaction. The men have gone hack to their towns. The whole district has refused to work since Mr Sutherland "X went down.” y 1 I advised these men to return to iy their towns and continue their work, and, above all things, not to make any trouble. As they left, my chambers they were arrested by orders of the Governor , and taken back to theiF province." They ; f were brought before the Magistrate, and .sentenced tb one year’s deportation, Three of the men sentenced are mam ed men. They were taken from their town —Serua —marched two or three miles to the Courthouse at Naitoni Toni. They were brought before the Magistrate _at 10 in the morning. I appeared to defend them. The Magistrate refused to hear me, on the ground that a barrister ' has no right of audience in the Native Courts., As a barrister of the Inner Temple I claim the right of audience in all her Majesty’s Courts in the colony. I, however, insisted on appearing as a spectator. The men wore first of ail sentenced to pay a fine of £2, or three weeks' imprisonment. The Magistrate then closed the Court. As soon jaS the white men had left the prisoners were brought back and sentenced to one year's deportation. The Government had sent down a cutter “ sailing boat” on tire previous night, showing that the sentence Was pre-arranged. Into this cutter the 1 men were immediicely Ip-laced, and deported to Kadavu, island 100 miles from their homes. The sentence of deportation is absolutely illegal. The men begged to be allowed to say “good-bye ” to their wives and children, but were refused. The natives pf Serua then came t<> me in a body. They were highly enraged at the treatment their representatives had received, r however, managed to pacify them,and E promised them that if they rema nod: nuiet I would represent the whole matter to you. I can assure you that if Sir B-eorge O'Brien deports more of the natives most serious disturbances will

HUMPHREY BERKELEY. In conversation with a “Times” reporter, the Premier (who has evidently ome to he regarded as a far-off fairy od-father by a large section of the Halves) said that in another oommunicaon which he had received it appeared iat some of the Islanders had actually sen. sent to gaol for a month in default 5 paying fines because they were .'lifted with ringworm. Still further ecmaints had been received* by natives to ie effect that they had been worked l tb© roads without any payment, d id been treated “worse than horses, ►cause, said they, “ horses get fed for e work they do, but food is denied us, ►hough w© are forced to work. - The whole question of the administram at the Islands was discussed by Mr

ddon and the Federal Prime Minis- : just before the former left i\ustra- , and it was decided to make reprextations to- the Home authorities in gard to the matter. Consultations b to take place presently between the Ideral Premiers and the Prime Minisrf of New Zealand in regard to the fcnds generally, especially in the light [internatio a ai relations.