FIJI.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4345, 22 January 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

FIJI.

(FROM OUK AUCKLAND CORRESPONDENT.)

The Llewellyn brings 54 tons sugar from Maitland Brothers, the first they have yet shipped, for Dunedin. A similar quantity will come by next vessel, and they have everything now in working order. This looks like business, and has stirred up many of our people here already. They bei>an to think Fiji sugar a very distant thing, but there is no doubt that when the land titles are once settled and capital can be obtained, production will go on at a very rapid rate. The Itewa cane is yielding 10 to Hi degrees by the saccharometer. This is very goou, as you may see from the fact that etch degree over 8 adds 5s 6d for ton to the value of the cane. Below 8 degrees it is hot, I believe, payable to crush, and does not bring 10s per ton, but adding 5s 6d per ton for each degree over this, the yield becomes very large, as the weight of cane per acre ranges from 20 to 35 tons. lam not very learned in sugar-growing, but with the rich soil, fine climate, and admirable position of Fiji, I don't see how it can fail to be a great produce whenever capital is introduced sufficiently. The prospects of this introduction are getting clearer, as the new Colony is exciting great attention in Batavia, Ceylon, and Mauritius, Skill, as well as capital, are available for the ' special industries tor which Fiji is suitable in t all these countries. The Ceylon gentlemen who came down to see about coffee, are satisfied it will do well They say that in Ceylon the best coffee can only be grown at 400 feet above the sea, but the same climate can be got in Fiji at 1500 feet. Dr Brown is selling a large quantity of coffee from his island. His account sales from San Francisco shew a net return of 9|d per lb. He sold the German man-of-war a ton at lOd per lb, and finds a ready market for all he can grow at that figure. This is not much above the level of the sea ; but finer quality and better results would bo doubtless obtained at a greater elevation. Dr Brown has already 30,000 trees in his plantation. The Coinmissiou to settle titles has began its labours at Taviuni. They went to Waireki in that island, about the worst spot they could have selected, aa there was no accomodadation for the numerous planters compelled to attend. Nor could there have been much for the Commissioners themselves while mosquitoa abound, owing to the uueleared bush

about the place. Tui Cakau, the chief of the district, is disputing some of the older purchases, but the bulk will be put through api parently without trouble or delay. The land he disputes has been sold and re-sold, planted and re-planted, during the la9b six or seven years, so that not much will come of the objections. If any one has ah equitable claim among the Natives, and that claim has been overlooked, he will of course get compensation.; The Fijimen, however, have recognised agents for the laud of each tribe. They call thenV "Matani vanua," and as their existence aad pmer have been very long known it is unlikely, any white man would have purchased without their signatures being attached. If ho did, the' case must be quite exceptional. • A. more serious matter is the decision to' withhold Crown grants on land until the Government claims for payment of wages to laborera are satisfied. Where the lien is on land worked by the pwner there can be no possible objection, but in many cases the occupier and employer of labour was only a tenant. It seems unjust that an innocent landlord should not only lose his rent, but have his land seized' to pay labourers ho did not employ. Such, however, is the decision, at present. The seat of Government continues in Levuka, and the Royal Engineers are improving the city in every way. Nevertheless, the Levukans seem to have made up their minds the seat of Government will be elsewhere, or, at all events,, that the removal is contemplated. Of course there will bo strong feeling over the removal if it be made, but nothing definite is yet known. I am glad to say that all letters, public and private, agree in stating that the measles have created the most kindly feelina between natives and white men, and done very much-to obliterate all seeds of discord. It was feared the natives would superstitiously attribute the disease as a punishment for giving over their country, or regard it as insidiously introduced by the whites for their injury. Neither of I these has occurred. The >Fijians thoroughly acquit the white men, and'feel grateful for the interest manifested, and kindness shown to them, in their great affliction, This is an unexpected but happy result, confirmed by all the letters wo get from the islands. The cession has not made Cakobau deem himself a whit less the king over his own people, and his power was amusingly shown in the tahoo put by him on coooanuts. This was so strict that the Captain of H.M.S. Nymphe, going on an exploring toiir round Ovalau could not get a cocoanut to drink or use, until his route becoming known, a chief ventured to break the taboo, and let him have a few for immediate consumption only. Mr Gustav Hennesy, one of the oldest settlsrs and merchants of Fiji, has been called to the Legislative Council by Sir Arthur Gordon, who grows in popularity, but who will evidently need it all to carry him through the very onerous task he has in hand, and in which, if he be as our old Governors in Now Zealand were, ho must be much hampered by " secret" and "confidential" instructions of one kind and the other which neither Legislature nor people hear of till in the succeeding generation; This, in all our experience, is the worst feature in a Crown Colony; but assuredly, with all its defects, no other than government as a Crown Colony will be possible in Fiji for many years. A considerable stir has been excited by the' arrest of Mr Ennis, a remarkably quiet, agreeable young man, who is well known, and was much liked in Levuka. His quiet, unassuming, and gentlemanly demeanour had procured many friends during the six months of his stay in the Islands, to which he came from Ceylon. Judge the surprise of those friends on his being charged, aa James Octavius Ward, alias Clifford, with having forged a signature to a bill of lading in Hullfor 321 bales woolin January last. The examination excited much interest, but ultimately it was decided that the charge must be dismissed, as the copies of depositions taken before the Magistrates at Hull were not certified in any way as true copies. The steamer Egniont is to be withdrawn from the trade with Sydney, and New Zealand will stand the belter chance of increasing her share. The capital used in Fi)i is largely from Sydney, but ultimately Auckland must take the greater portion of the Fijian trade. The high rates of duty, and the complication of our tariff, altogether will be, however, a serious drawback in the contest.

A rifle match between six of the officers and crew of H.M.S. Nymphe, six of the officers and men of the Koyal Engineers, ajid six of the Levuka Volunteers, ended in the following mcores: —Nymphe, 171; Engineers, 142, Volunteers, 229, The Nymphe and Engineers were equal nearly at the 200 and 400 yards ranges. At the 500 yard-j the Nymphe made 47 and Engineers only 11, The volunteers beat easily apparently at all tho ranges, showing they are not yet spoiled either in eye or hand by the tropioal climate at all events. Th Starof the South has begun to work as the Inter-insular trader of the group under Government subsidy. She has the Colonial steamer Fitzroy with her on the same beat, and the two are offering facilities for travel throughout the group undreamed of by the wildest visionary a few yeara ago. The Fitzroy is owned by the Fijian Government, and will bo very useful. The people are complaining of the charges of both vessels as too high for goods ; but that will soon find its level.