FJJI.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4026, 13 January 1875, Page 5 (Supplement)

FJJI.

(FROM OUR AUCKLAND CORRESrOXDENT.)

The Star of the South brings us the latest news from Fiji. There is nothing very striking to record, but the accounts received are full of hope for the future, and indicate a revival of the activity and progress which seemed paralysed prior to tho annexation of the islands. Sugar and fibre are the rage, with visions of coffee and tobacco in the dis. tance. Cotton is still under a cloud so far as piice and profit are- concerned, but the production is nevertheless consic\eiable, and the low rates now ruling are sufficient^ keep the best situated of the planters going in hopes of better times. Building sites in Levukaare in request, and socially the progress is apparent. _ Among the minor incidents iv this direction, are the opening of a oaie and restaurant, which is spoken of as a great advance on any previous establishment of the kind, while cue of the hotels has put up a handsome drinking fonntain for the public use. Punkahs are general, and Jce.making will soon, no doubt, be one of the industries of the plaoe—an, industry for which the engines employed in cotton-ginning offer great facilities, as the steam power is one of the chief expenses in working the ice maGhinea. The papers speak of a rush, after the hot season, from Australia and other countries as certain. The Australian Stoain Navigation Company have put their steamer Paterson in the trade, anr.l are to send down a steamer of 100 tons for work among the islands aad to collect freight for- Sydney, The Paterson is only on temporarily, and her place is to be supphed soon by a more powerful and faster Vessel,

Httrtraann and Co.'s aud Maitland's sugar mills are to be at work this season at Taviuna. So is the Melbourne Company's powerful plant on the Eewa. These, added to the smaller inachiues already in operation, will swell materially the product next year, as th.c quantity of cane available for crushing is very large already. ~ 3 Labour is abundant, and. the vessels seeking them find no difficulty in obtaining among the other islands, recruits chiefly enlisted ft'om the men who have been returned from Fiji and Queensland, and who soon tire of the monotony and hard fare of the life on their native islands. Speaking of the labour trade, the Fiji Times is very indignant with Cajmui Jacobs, cf the Southern Cross—the Church of England missionary schooner— who published a letter on returning from his last voyage, in which he charged the Lalia of Melbourne, "a cutter of about 35 tons " with having "apparently 100 natives on board. Captain Jacobs also charged inastera oi these labour - seeking yes. sels with personating Mr Cadj-Ington the present head of the mission, as they formerly did Bishop P^teson, in order to attract natives oa b.3ard. He spoke espscially of H a | e ]lo\v going about a vessel wearing spectacles, saying he is Codrington and speaking the Motu language," who went to banta Maria, and wanted people to go to Wolk Island, and who alao called at Star Island with the same tale. Captain Jacobs piso attnbittes murders committed in the Northern islands fa revenge, "supposed on aeoount of returned unpaid labourers from *i]i. The Fiji Titnea'points out several serious and easily-proved inaccuracies in this report. Jn the first place the Ltelia is GO, and not 35, tons, so that the crowding (if any) is not' as alleged. In the second, it states its belief that "the fellow in spectacles " is a gentleman in the Fijian gioup noted for his philanthropic exertions on behalf of imported labourers, and who has been complimented thereon by the Warden in open Court. The origin attributed to. the murders it styles a base calumny^ and appeals to Mr Layard and the records of Fiji to show that no unpaid or underpaid labourers had beep, allowed to leave thegroup. The last refutation, of the most serious, of Captain Jacob's charges, is certainly to the point; and speaking from personal knowledge of this labour trade, I firmly believe that it is wellfounded, and that Captain Jacobs has been grossly imposed upon, or has allowed himself to ace through spectacles darkened wifch prejudice, It is idje tp talk gf the murder pi

miaslonanes or of any one else, as niera revenge for outrages by white men. lam far from denying that snoh outrages havefrom time to lime occurred, though I believa they are the rare exception only, and are sure to be found out when perpetrated— at all events during the la3t three years. There are too many eyes upon the proceedings of theae traders—too many Natives able now to make their voices heard and their complaints understood -and above all, so great a likelihood of their being able at kast to make their complaints Heard when able to speak English in Fiji—that I do not and cannot believe the accounts given of thes3 vessels' proceedings. Looking, too, at Fiji itself, how is it that the Eev. Mr Baker was murdered there by mountaineers when veuturing among them, while other white men. (not missionaries) had travelled safely through the same tribes. Have the nativea no heathen priests jealous of the interference with the religion they preach ? Are there not chiefs who connect missionary enterprise with the political domination of other chiefs they hate, and with whom they have deadly feuds, but who at the same timo support the missionaries in their labour? Far be it from me to say one word against the missionaries or their work. I have witnessed the good they do and the devotion with which they do it. But I have also witne sed general .charges of ill-treat-ment, and an attempt to ban the whole of this labour trade as accursed. I know onthe contrary that the men are well treated in Fiji, and can appeal ±3 all published investigations by naval officers and other authorities in support of this statement. I know also that the men are taught on the plantations habits of industry and "order • that those of hostile tribes who dare not at home go near each other for fear of being killed and eaten soon learn to associate tot gether, to sleep in the same bure, and to eat from the same vessels. They arrive as deadly enemies unclothed, brutal, and ignorant. They leave as-friends after three years' close intercourse with one another They learn many of white men's waya, and anchor hislanguage. Theylearntowork also and go back with what to themis great personal wealth, as well as with many.new plants and new sources of good to their own country Are these not gains of great account ? o£ course it will be said that they learn also habits of drinking, but, except i» the case of. those employed about the beach at lievuka who are few, and not appreciated at all, tnis charge of drunkenness is grossly untrue I venture to assert that such a thing as a drunken native on a Fijian plantation has never been known, and for the best of all reasons, that no drink is ever given to them while they are. not able to buy it if they would as they are not paid tiil the expiration of the agreements made with them • So much for the native labour trade, which, despite all that is so unjustly charged to it, must increase and become the mtiu. source of production in Fiji. Sir Arthur GordonwillEoon be there, and lie is known chiefly ior his stem determination in seein^ that the coolies at Mauritius were fairly deaio with. I shall be much, surprised if lie, liko all the officials, who have preceded him, do not Speak favourably of this labour trade, against which we have heard ho muoh, when he inquires into Is. Political matters offer little upon which to comment. The Provisional Government works steadily, and the revenue for the December quarter will exceed the expenditure. An Arms Act has been passed to. prevent the mountain natives obtaining them for eitherinteriribal fights or other purposes ■^ c xr,ytl^ng P°litical is. however, in suspense tail the Governor arrives.

■^.T^ em^ m San PraDC«eo had arrived with 140,000 feet timber, taking back cotton copra and general produce in return It will be seen from this that our Yankee friends are not blind to the opening which these islands afford them, and that they will be competitors with us in. cur own -productions. . *

Among the social events I should note the death of Sir Charles St. Julian, the Chief Justice under the late Government He leaves a widow and large family, and troops of friends. After going through critical times which would try the best man no one seems to have a word to say against nis memory or deeds, and the papers are full of respectful tribute to his career. He began life as an ivory turner, his father dying when he was young, and leaviag him wifcn nothing bub the foundation of a sound education with which to light his way through the world. In 1537 he went to South Australia, lifter studying land surveying which he practised successfully in that Colony lwo yeara later he went to Sydney and— a Eoman Catholic himself—engaged aa editor of the Australian Chronicle, then tha organ of his Church in that Colony. He remained for 18 months in this capacity and then became editor of the Commercial Journal, the name of which was afterwards altered to the Free Press, remaining under M 3 management till 1843 Its career then closed, and Mr St. Julian became Parliamentary reporter to the Sydney Morning Herald, an office which he filled to the satisfaction of his chiefs for 29 years when he accepted (m 1572) the Chief Justiceship °l ?y\ offered him by the new Government of that kingdom. Mr St. Julian's Law Reports were especially valued, and he published essays on International Law and other questions which secured him the sup. port and friendship of many of the leaduie Sydney men. In ISSS he was elected president of the delegates who met to frawe municipal laws for New South Wales, and gained great credit for the amendments aud consolidation of the Act in which the conference ended. In 1871 he went on a visit to *iji, being then Consul in Sydney for the Hawaiian Islands. His connection with £iji then began, and in the following year he finally settled there, having the order ot Knight of Hawaii bestowed upon him by the king of that country when resigning big ConsulsW In Fiji he had difficult work to do. On the one hand there was the Government at whose command his officewas held and at whose pleasure it might be abolished*. On the other hand, there was an angry peopie on me bnnk of open collision with the Government, contesting the Native right to vote, and ready to resort more than once to arms v the opportunity offered and English, men-of-war did not interfere. • To have se, cured the confidence of all sides, and to die regretted and respected by all, is the hi°hest encomium on Sir Charles St. JnlianW reer, and the most unimpeachable tribute to his memory. I n Sydney he leaves many friends who regretted his departure at the time, and blamed him for surrendering a good poaitaon to accept one of much nfora doubtful solidity in Fiji.