The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 1912. FIJI.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 53, 27 February 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 1912. FIJI.

Writing-'in 1 the' “Qnart'kly • iVevieW” l on Fiji, Sir Everard im Thurn expresses the view that there arc good ; and strong reasons why the islands ‘should not at present be annexed to cither New Zealand or the Australian Commonwealth, despite their geographical position and community of commercial" interests ; but" it" seems 'that tlje 'time ,h*» come whtVn -every" effort should bo made to assist the development and growtlr of the Pacific' Crown ... r . , i { I 1 n ' colony "towards dthe' point at .which it might 'safely lie-‘allowed to pass out of the' -Crown’ colony" stage and to join that united " of: Australasia whiclr seems certainly destined one day to represent the British Empire in the western portion of the Pacific Ocean. After sketching the history of Fiji until 1873, when Sir Hercules Ilobinson, who was then Governor of New South Wales, on behalf of the British Government, accepted the cession of the Fiji/Islands from King Thakomban, Sir Everard im Thurn describes the system which was invented by Sir Arthur Gordon, the first Governor of Fiji, for keeping separate the native and European elements of the population. The Governor’s plan consisted in keeping the introduced population under British law, while the indigenous native population remained as far as possible under their own chiefs and customs. The position, however, became complicated, first by the introduction of Polynesian labour from other South Sea islands, and secondly by the introduction of Indian coolies. Sir Everard refers especially to this matter, and speaks of “Australian citizens who, perhaps rightly enough, would reserve Australia for white men, and who, certainly wrongly, would rather see the Pacific Islands undeveloped than worked by natives introduced from elsewhere.” Commenting of the situation from the standpoint that the Fiji Islands are destined to become a part of the Australian federation, the Sydney “Telegraph” says:—“ft is plain that when the day arrives for the assumption by the Commonwealth Government of the duty of governing Fiji, the task will present unique difficulties. Under British rule Indian coolie labour lias ; been largely imported, and travellers in Fiji have brought back stories of a hatred between the native Fijians and the alien Indians, so inveterate and deadly that even the sick of the two races cannot lie accommodated in the same hospital. There is another side to the shield than that which is shown by Sir Everard im Tbnrn, but the Commonwealth Government will none the loss bo faced with the difficulty that if it abolishes the Indian coolie the labour difficulty in Fiji may speedily become as acute as it is in Papua.”