FIJI.

Otago Witness, Issue 1161, 28 February 1874, Page 5

FIJI.

(FROM OUR AUCKLAND CORRESPONDENT.)

We have later news by H,M. gunboat Alacrity, which arrived here a few days ago. She brings us papers to the 2Sth January, and the intelligence is important. Commodore Goodenough and Consul Layard are vigorously at work. They began by a letter to the King and Chiefs of Fiji, in which they tell them the object of their visit — to enquire into the state of" affairs, and the government of the country. They assure them that England will do nothing to obtain their country by either force or stealth, and that if they hand over the Government to her, it will be taken with the sole view of advancing the interests of the country, and with a constant eye to the peace and prosperity of the people. The letter then urges them to conaider whether they can continue to govern the country, and warns them emphatically that there will be a great increase of white settlers, and greater intricacies following in their train. If the King and Chiefs are satisfied that they can govern, all that England will require is equal justice and protection to white and native. If not, they say virtually that England is quite willing to take over the government, and, as they significantly add, she is accustomed to the management of many islands like Fiji, and will have no difficulty with it. A fortnight afterwards the Commissioners visited the Rewa. They went up the river as far as Nibutautau, where Baker was murdered and eaten, and which the forces of Khig Cakobau have only recently taken. They were thus able to see the greatest of the military difficulties with which, in case of annexation, they would have to contend. These mountaineers of the Upper Rewa have always been the only serious difficulty in the country. The Coast tribes are easily got at, and so are those in the interior of other islands, But the Kai 00lo — the people of the hills — have always resisted the progress of Christianity,_ and maintained a savage independence. With it they have preserved cannibalism and a habit of constant raids on their neighbours of the coast below them. The hills of Viti Levu are in no place more than 4000 feet high. But they run through the island, are very fertile, and thus support largo populations, and they command the entire coast on all sides. On the other hand, fine rivers run down from them, and the Commissioners will now have seen how few real obstacles there are to a small properly equipped force doing all that can bo necessary in case of trouble arising. They met the settlers of the Rewa on their return from the hills, and expressed themselves delighted with the river and satisfied with the prospects and resources of the country. Mr Layard added that they were ready to take over the government if the King and Chiefs oonsented, but cautioned the settlers that England would oxpect them to pay their own expenses. In case of rebellion England would find means for its suppression, but the ordinary government of the country the

settlers must provide. The Consul put the cost down at £10,000, a sum not likely to startle men who are now governed at an expense of more than double the amount, to say nothing of the increased security and increased value of their property under the British flag. The account of the meeting of the Commissioners with the Eewa settlers is given in the Fiji Times of 28th January, and is likely to be, with the letter to Caskobau; historical ill importance.

The curious feature throughout these negotiations is the manner in which thfe settlers are made subordinate to the Natives. If Oakobau and the Chiefs agree, well and good. If not, the Islands will be left to govern themselves. Will they ? There lies the whole question. Will English men of war be again employed to reduce to submission those who oppose the Government by force of arms ? If so, it is an act of bitter injustice to the whites. If not, there will be a time of great disturbance and trouble. Native will be set against native, and the settlers against both, for many years to come. Till one or the other party prove itself the stronger, or till some foreign power Btep in and cut the gordian knot by taking possession, there will be neither peace nor prosperity. To look on King Cakobau and the Chiefs as having any "divine" or inherent rights of sovereignty, I must again repeat — as I have done before — is absurd and unjust. Till recently, every chief was lord of his own land, rendering fealty only to those who were stronger, and could compel him to do so. No Fijian chief was strong enough, or dreamt of being strong enough, to do this with settlers, each of whom was absolute over the land he had bought, and on which he settled. The Fijian chiefs have had th^if own Courts of law and magistrates, orga; nised by the missionaries for the last 13 years. But they never dreamed of summoning before them either a half-caste or an imported labourer — still less a white man. The consuls alone had jurisdiction in these cases. To set up a king now without the consent of the white men and the half -castes, and to take no security for the liberty, the representation, and the property of the whites, is absurd. When this is done by the support and active aid of English men-of-war, it is more than absurd, and may fairly be denounced as criminal and wrong. Happily, although the solution is left entirely to the Fijians, there can be no doubt that they are getting tired of the Government. It does not pay them nor their people regularly, for the Treasury is empty. It taxes their people heavily, and threatens in that way discontent and rebellion. It does not give them any return which they can appreciate, and they must clearly see that if left alone they will soon be split up into hostile tribes, and the white settlers hold the balance between them as of old. The Ministry themselves must be heartily tired of the whole affair too. Shut up in a small place, and isolated from the society of their countrymen by political differences, exposed to the risk of finding themselves forced to shoot down these country men by native savages, and surrounded with difficulties of the most harrassing kind, these gentlemen, or at least the most prominent amoug them, will be only too glad to get honourably rid of their difficulties. The chance of doing so by annexation will be the only one they are likely to have. If that be rejected they have a troublovia career before them, and one from which they cannot extricate themselves with honour. They will be pledged to fight the battles of the present Kini?, and see hip safely through. Whatever may be said against them, there can be no doubt that they would stick to their colours, once raised, and faithfully do what they thought their duty. But they must also know that it would be a hopeless task. They could never coerce permanently the white settlers, who would have all the sympathies of the people of Australia and New Zealand with them in the struggle sure to ensue. Unsupported by English men-of-war, and distracted probably by rebellion among native chiefs themßelveß, what could the Ministry do ? At the first collision between their forces and white settlers a storm of indignation would be raised, and they would find themselves in array against the public opinion of their countrymen throughout the Colonies. Being men of sense and men of determination, they will be tolerably sure to see these difficulties, and to recommend King Cakobau to hand over the Islands to the British Crown, which is now pledged in that case to accept the charge. The details will be easily settled. An annual allowance, and the Islands which are his ancestral property, would make Cakobau a great and mighty man still among the natives, while the chiefs can be dealt with in the same way. There would still be ample land for the white settlers during many a generation — for, it must be remembered, their only industries will be cotton and sugar, and that these require the facilities of access which the coast and the rivers can alone afford. Stock will always have to be imported, and the chief cause of collision with the natives by trespass on their plantations, or by the purchase of large grazing blocks of country, will be thus avoided. Already the ascendancy of the planting over the grazing interests has produced a law requiring people to fence in their stock. None of the plantations of either white men or Fijians are ever fenced, and the custom has become now too deep.rooted to be disturbed. With it there can be no large grazing runs, and a powerful cause of quarrel is thus avoided.

According to the Swiss Times arrangements have been made between the United States and Germany for an exchange of postal cards at two cents (Id).