FIJI LABOUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 918, 3 July 1869, Page 15

FIJI LABOUR.

To the Editor of the Otago Witness.

Sir— As I believe a few lines on Fiji would be interesting to your readers, I wi'l give you a few of the leading incidents which have taken place lately, with the prospects of the settlers, <feo.

The greatest difficulty at present is the scarcity of labour, as it is only in a very few places that Fiji labour can be obtained, and at tho best cannot be depended on, and unless some means be adopted of bringing in a regular supply from the New Hehndes and tho Line Islands, it will be quito hopeless to attempt planting with any chance of success.

I see from the Otago papers that you have had an interested party in the shape of a Sandwich Missionary, who has been circulating all sorts of horrible stones of atrocities perpetrated by the wicked captains of ships procuring labour. That suoh has been the case in one or two instances cannot be denied; but to brand the whole planting community with such a orime is nothing more or less than a gross libel, as it is a well known fact, that instead of being forced to kidnap the natives it has been the experience of every planter in Fiji who has had occasion to send back labourers at the expiry of their engagements, that their deoks have been licerally rushed by people anxious to come and work for wages, and m many cases one half of them have been sent ashore for want of accommodation. This desire of the natives to leave their own Islands may Beom strange to thoße unacquainted with the subject, and we don't blame the uninformed of Otago and New South Wales for rising in righteous indignation when they are told in a piteous whine of the severe losses experienced by the Mission, and the number of converts lost to the cause through the actions of the wicked slavers. In the new Hebrides and Line Islands, there are very few white Bettlers, consequently there is next to no employment for a Urge and over-crowded population of blacks. At times they a>e very badly off for food, they ore the most abject of slaves to their own chiofs. They see their friends return laden with whito man's trade, and instead of tho skin and bone skeletons which left them three yearn previous, thoy are now as plump as aldermen. Is it to t~e wondered at, th*t tbo poor wretohes 6hould shew such eagerness to leave a precarious existence for a land so evidently flowing with milk and honey ?

That the honest procuring of labour by a hard working clans, who have many difficulties to contoud with, should >*o termed by such a hard nnme as slavery, i* nothing more than a farce, and I am certain th»«; the people of Otago would fool not a littlo indignant were they to ho»r their pet immigration scheme called by suoh a namo j and yot, tho system in operation horo is conducted on oxaotly tho s»tno principlo, and tho little innocent devices held out as inducements to intending immigrants, nro not more questionable, as pr.ict'sed by Polynesian planters, than those of » g«o<l colonial homo ftgent, save this difference, tho black labourer is promised a certain sum for his services, whioh in no inetanco has ho failed to receive, while on tho other side tho promiso of rapid indopondenco. under an Italian sky, is too often found to bo a dolu&ion and a snare. Tho labour system at present in praotico is as follows :— So many of the planters who aro in want of men, oWtor a vessel, got a permit from the Consul, and go down to tho diffexont islands and ongaiio so many mon, who are brought 'to Lovuka, and before landing them, tho Consul 'go* s aboard, nnd through tho aid of an interpreter, nuke* himsolf thoroughly conversant with tbo terms of agreement, tho inland or islands thoy belong to, and whether they came of their own free will. This done, thoy aro dividod amongst tho different partners to the obarter. who sign an agreement, which is attested beforo the Consul, that tho men shall be well treated, and duly paid, and returned to thoir homos at the expiry of throo years. In ono case wo had an American planter brought before an American man-of-war for cruelty to his Fiji workmen, and ho was fined 7Sodola. Saving this solitary ease I bavo not heard of tho least injustioo being done them. If you vUit tho different plantations, yon find them well fed, fat, and more liable to laugh than cry, and never in any OMe has tho dato of their return been pn»t> poned over a couple of months eroopt with those who elect to remiin Altogether. Th« planter! Juvt all along Ml quite con-

fident 'that bo long as tho labour was procured, „ by themselves, and with the concurrence of the British or American Coubul, there could be no cause for complaint. And fortunately or unfortunately for Fiji, the first cargo of labour, purely on speculation and by strange owners, arrived in Levuka har h our about ten days ago, and anchored right under the hows of the Rosario, British man-of-war, Captain Palmer in command. At the tirao the gallant oapfcain was absent on an official tour, roifnd the island of Ovalau, in company with the Consular Clerk, who is acting in the absence of Captain Jones. On his return he went aboard of the Btranger, and report states that he found by her papers, that one of her charterers was fcoss Lowin, whp, it seems, is charged with nearly all the crimes in the Statute Eook, and the following morning the men, numbering 100, were sent ashore and put under the -charge of the Consular Clerk. They have Bince been sent out to his plantation until suoh time as instructions can be received from headquarters. This is considered a very unwise step, as the Consular Clerk, from his position as sole adviser in the case, shou'd have been more guarded than to allow men to be placed on his own plantation, especially in tbe face of several applications from men of the highest respectability, who offered to take the men and lodge any amount of money as guarantee, for safety and good treatment. The JRosario left here on the 24tb inst, with the labour schooner, which is named the Daphne, in tow, the captain and owner as passengers. I believe they go direct to Sydney, where the case will be investigated and placed before the Home Government. It is generally believed that this will be the means of establishing some means of supervision with some deimed course of what is right, and what is wrong. However, it is very sickening to think that it may be years before any decision is arrived at, and during that time the interests of a large numter of industrious sottlersmay beruined for ever ; as it is, the only thins; left us is to pray that in our case the wheels of the circumlocution office may be accelerated, as, without foreign labour, Fiji will not be worth living in, while with a good supply, the group is bound to stand vers high in the production of the finest South Sea Island cotton, sugar, &o, &c— l am, &c, Thos. Mtjir. Levuka, Fiji, 29th April.

Wreck of the Douglas. — The Newcaßtle correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald supplies that journal with the following particulars of the loss of this vessel : — " The barque Douglas, Capr. Sayer, sailed from Newcastle, N.S.W., on the 4th May, coal laden, bound for Yokohama, Japan, and five days after, viz , the 9th May, (truck on a reef not laid down in the captain's charts, in long. IGOdeg. 20min. &., lat. 29deg 50min. S. The vessel soon became a total wreck. The crew attempted to launch the boats, but they were unable to do so successfully, both boats being stove in and rendered Useless. With considerable difficulty they managed to construct a raft, securing only two gnlious of water and half a bag of biscuit, which unfortunately got wet. With this scanty provision and frail craft, the master and crew, nine souls in all, sot sa 1. The weather was pitiless, and the sufferings of the poor fellows great in the rxtrom* 1 . For ten long dojs were tbey buffeted about on the wide ocean ; death stared them in tho face, when, on the morning of the 19th May, th»y descried a sail, which proved to be the schooner Storm Bird, from New Caledonia to "Newcastle. They were fortunately ot'served. The vessel boTe down to them, and thoy were taken on board in a very exhausted condition ; having only had hilf a glusß of WAter per day and a small portion of biscuit, their sufferings wero very groat. Captain Sayers says ho docs not think oitbor himselt or crew could have lived A day longer ; the faces of tho poor fellows, oven now, wear tho oxpruamon of tho hardships they havo undergone. Ir, would aeom, after being taken on board tho Storm Bird, their misfortunes had not un<lcd, for tho master anil crow of the Storm Bird ha<l boon on abort allowance for thrcu days previously, and although thoir hardships, wero groat, they disoovered others oven in a worse situation, and, British sailor-like, they divided their little storo of provisions with tho shipwrcoked o-ew, and eked it out until everything was gono, and for threo days did both crows go without any kind of food. Things becamo alarming, and they wero boginning to givo thomaclvua up for lvst, whoa on Saturday, 2(hh May. a ■t«amorwas sighted, whioh proved to bo tho Fronoh war stonmor Margoau, from Sydney to Now Caledonia, All sail was set, and tho schooner gavo chase, hnt tho stoamer aoemod only to go tho faster ; but in about an hoar tbo signals wore mado out, and, to thoir joy, they came up with the steamer. Captain Rovoult, of tho Margcan, at onoo kindly seat on boird flvo onsks wino, and ample pro* visions and • tores. Tho captain of tho DougUs further states that on tho 10th inrt. ho onrerved a largo vo»a«l on a reof ; »bo was, sppireotly. of about 700 tons, and had her masts btanding.

A cirtaik quarter-master in ono of tho French regiments hat jnst diod, who wa* well known foe the following, which he delivered with imperturbable) gravity for *i manyyoars m tho oldwt eavalteni win romembor :— "To-morrow, at oight in tho morning, horoo-drtwmig ; tho first who arrives lust will straightway march to tho station, houso." Ho now could qboover why thir tuinyuuooment, idsteiwl of exciting dittati* faction, omuod ff (tiled laughter.