THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN FIJI.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 125, 6 October 1868, Page 3

THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN FIJI.

■ """• — '"& •■ • ■ .-. ;j, The following interesting letter, dated Fiji, Aug. 24, and signed Medambs, appears in the Argus of Sept. 26 :— Inasmuch as Fiji has become a place of considerable interest riow-a^'days, it may not be amiss to lay before your public a fair statement of its present condition, its resources (as far as they have been hitherto ascertained), and the difficulties and dangers which lie in the way of colonists. This is all the more necessary because of the fact that utterly contradictory accounts bave found their way from time to time into the colonial >papers-r-one-sided stories, giving no fair picture of the real state of the country ; some representing it as a perfect Dorado, thereby drawing people hither who are utterly unfit for the place; and others making it out to be a .sort of Pandemonium, or dwelling of all the devils, thereby keeping back many who might reasonably hope to succeed. The truth lies between these two extremes, and that truth I will now try to lay before yon. The resources of the country— at least those at present available— may be disposed of in a few- words, cotton, coffee,- and cocoanut oil being its staple products, the last of which is made by the natives, they holding nearly all the lands where the. cocoanut flourishes —lands which. they will probably refuse to part with for several generations to come. The quantity of beche -de - mer gathered from the reefs is so trifling that this article of produce is not worthy of being mentioned ; and I say nothing of sugar, because I am writing of the resources at present available; and though the sugar-cane flourishes here, yet no one has been bold enough to face the immense outlay which the machinery for sugar-making requires. As for unskilled labour, there ib positively nothing for any working man to do, unless he be a carpenter 1 , a blacksmith, or a seaman; and even these trades would soon be overatocked by fresh arrivals. In short, the only men who have any business here are. those who have full purses, clever brains, stout hearts, and strong bodies ; and such men as these can make their way anywhere. Purses moderately full are required for the purchase of land, the hiring of coolies, and . other preliminary expenses ; clever brains are wanted, because our colonists are strangers in a strange land, having savages to deal with, who speak an unknown tongue, and who are proverbially treacherous and uncertain ; stout hearts are needed because of the unsettled state of the country ; and strong bodies are necessary in a climate like this, which, though not deadly, is certainly wasting and wearing.. \ Then, as to the present state of the country. There is no need to treat of this separately, inasmuch as it will be abundantly manifest in a plain account of the difficulties wherewith our colonists have now to strive — of which difficulties I will now at once go on to speak. These appear to me to be : — 1. The fact that the seller of land cannot insure peaceable possession to the purchaser. Land is sold in the first place by the chiefs, who are willing enough to guarantee peaceable possession; but inasmuch as their power to fulfil the contract depends upon their power over other tribes, and even over other chiefs in their own tribe, nothing can be more utterly valueless than any such guarantee given by them. For there is no prophesying in Fijian politics; disturb-, ances arise out of the most trivial causes, and the strongest chief in Fiji may, because of one single reverse, find his power crumbling away beneath his feet; so that, however anxious he may be to do all that he has promised, he may find himself utterly powerlesß to protect our countrymen in the peaceable occupation of the lands which they have bought from him. Nor is this statement i mere theory; it is an undoubtei fact, proved by recent events, and receiving further and stronger proof every day. Thus all, or nearly all of the land buyers on Navitilevu, or Great Fiji, paid a royalty of Is an acre to Thak« ombau, the vunivalu of Baw, who was

supposed to have the whole' of tfiat great island, the largest in the group, under, his control. . Now this royalty was distinctly^ explained by Captain H. E. Jones, V.C., H.B.M. Consul, as a tax for protection, and as payment for liis ensuring peaceable possession of the land on which such tax was paid. IF matters had gone smoothly .with him, he would doubtless have, more or leßs, fully fulfilled his contract; but his armies met with a severe repulse in an attack on the inland tribes, the consequence of which is, that not only are his own men cowed, but disaffected tribes now in subjection to him are waiting eagerly for the next move, in the hope of being able to cast off his yoke frojn their shoulders, and revenge themselves ftwv'old slaughters and butcheries innumerable, not one of which has ever been forgotten ; so that f his next attempt also ends in disaster j- the result will probably be the iutter break-up of his kingdom. Nor \b their any chief in Fiji whose power stands upon a more stable _ foundation. Nor would matters be much mended if the new comer were to buy land from the company to which such large tracts of land have lately been ceded by the Vunivalu ; for it should most assuredly be known to intending emigrants that though the chief may perhaps have an undoubted right to give the lands which he has thus given yet there are parts thereof the giving of which will certainly be disputed, and on some of which he himself dare not so much as set his foot this day, unless he were marching At the head of a powerful army. It should be remembered, also, that Her Britannic Majesty's acting consul protested against this cession of land, on the ground that much of it belonged to tribes who were not under the Vunivalu's rule ; and that Commodore Bowley Lambert, C.8., declared that the company need not look to the vessels of Her Majesty's squadron in these waters for help in either getting or holding the lands thus ceded. Any trouble, therefore, which may arise concerning these lands will fall upon those who hold them under the company. 2. The next great difficulty which the settler ba& to grapple with is that of labour, coolie labour being the only kind that can be profitably employed ; this, at least, is the received opinion here. Now the importation of these coolies is a difficult matter in itself, and further difficulties have been caused by the manner in which, in some instances, the importation has been carried on, there having been much spoken about it from the platforms of public meetings, and written about it in the newspapers. And here, it may not be amiss to say a wprd on ''this** matter, byway of digression. This coolie labour has been denounced as slavery, and; that too . in the very strongest and fieriest terms ; but to speak thus of it, is doing an injustice to the planters in Fiji. Slavery surely consists in holding a man in bondage against his will, in allowing him no pay for his work ; in short, slavery lies in treating a man as a chattel and as a beast of burden ; and to a charge of this kind our planters may fearlessly plead "Not guilty." It is not, however, to be denied — nor do the planters deny — that in some cases natives of other islands have been entrapped by unfair means, or deceived by false representations, into coming down to Fiji ; and this is a great wrong, which calls for punishment ; but of this wrong our planters are guiltless. The shame and disgrace thereof belongs to the masters and owners of certain vessels wherein the natives have been brought ; and it would be well if this traffic were placed under strict G-overnment supervision, and guarded by stringent laws; enforced by heavy penalties. Nor would any class welcome such supervision and Buch laws more heartily than our planters themselves, who are, generally speaking, a fine respectable body of men, who would do credit to any country. The coolies, when they come here, are hired for a term of years ; they are paid wages ; they are well fed, fat, and flourishing, and generally much attached to their masters, who speak in the highest terms of their handiness, industry, and trustworthiness. Moreover, they are to be returned to their own lands at the expiration of their term of service. A.nd for these reasons

r maintain that it* is unjust" la accuse our planters of holding these men in a state of slavery. But this is a digression. The difficulty, as regards these coolies, against which our countrymen here have to contend is twofold. First, the difficulty of getting the men — a difficulty which has been made all the greater by the rascality of a few sea-captains ; and, secondly, the difficulty of returning the men to their homes when, their term of service shall be expired. The former of these is all the more vexatious because such rascality is quite unnecessary ; for the natives of many islands which stud these vast and all but unknown seas are willing enough to go anywhere away from their own lands, such is the dismal horror of their homes, and I am personally acquainted with a .captain who has been in this trade, and who found no difficulty whatever in filling his vessel, the poor miserable savages even swimming off to him on logs, &c, after he had declared that he could take no more of them, and allowing the logs to drift away when they reached his vessel's side, so that he had either to take them with him, or to carry them ashore again in his boat. The villanous wretches, therefore, who have either .entrapped or deluded natives into coming here, have committed a crime which was not even necessary to their purpose, inasmuch as they could have got plenty of men by going to other islands. The second dfficulty which I have mentioned, viz., that of returning these coolies to their homes, is a very formidable one ; because the islands from which they come are so widely scattered that it will be no easy work to take them all back again, each one to his own place ; and inasmuch as in most cases where the influence of Christianity is still unknown, putting one of these men ashore on an island which is not his own is much the same as condemning him to be killed and eaten, such being the probable fate in store for him, the work of taking them back is made all the harder. And these difficulties are great ones ; for unless the people can be honestly brought here and honourahly returned, each man to his own land, the supply of coolies must soon cease, and therewith planting operations also. Allow me to trespass upon your space for one more remark on this coolie question. It has been stated that these coolies are at the planter's mercy, because they do not know for bow long they are hired, and may therefore be kept for an indefinite term ; but this is a great mistake, for they are quite sharp enough to know when their time is up. The late Mr John Creelman, a planter on the Eewa Kiver, who was unfortunately shot in the recent fight between the natives and the Challenger's boats, told me of a conversation which he had with one of his coolies, who had picked up a good deal of English. He was telling Mr Creelman of how the captain of the vessel which brought him to Fiji promised to take him back in six months.. " Why white man so much lie ? " cried he. " "White man plenty missionary ; why he lie ? " " Well, but," said Mr C, "it is only bad white men who lie. All white men are not bad. See now, do I lie to you ? " "Me don know," answered the lad. " Bymeby me see. Me wait three years — then me know you lie. You keep me, you lie. You no keep me, you no lie." " Yes," returned his master, " but how will you know when your three years are up ? " "Me know," cried the coolie. " What for me no know ? Me dig yam three time, plant yam four time, then me go." And this I think, is enough to settle that point. It has also been said that the planters here do not send their men back at the expiration of their term of service; but chose who have thus spoken must have spoken in a spirit of prophecy, inasmuch as there is no coolie yet in Fiji whose term of service has expired. Let us wait and see what the planters will do. It will be time enough to charge them with this when they are guilty of it. 3. The third difficulty which seems to lie in the way of our settlers is the lawlessness of the land — by which I mean the want of authority to estab- j lish law and or,der among both the

■natntveß r f. v tbe settlers themselves. Of the want of authority among the natives I have already spoken, and I therefore now refer only to the absence of any authority which could enforce order among the whites, and punish evil doers. Now, I have already said that the settlers are, generally speaking, a fine respectable body of men, and I do not draw" back from that statement, but :there are say from 500 to 700 white men at present in Fiji ; and if you were jto take that number of men from any .class of society, in any nation under heaven, you would be very sure to -find a few black sheep among them. These black sheep at home qan be. separated from the rest of the flock, and handed over to the tender care of Policeman X, but here there is* unfortunately no substitute for thatuseful official, and the whole flock has to suffer. This difficulty is made the greater by a peculiarity of the Fijian's character, for when he is wronged or abused, he is quite satisfied if he can revenge himself on any one of the wrongdoer's tribe; and innocent men, who are just and honourable in .their dealings, with all men, whether white or black, will have to suffer the consequences of fraud or masterful wrong wherein they had no hand ; nor can this be prevented until some authority be established, and what that authority shall be, and how it shall be supported, is a difficult question, which Judge Lynch, perhapsj alone can settle. 4. Hurricanes, also, and their constant accompaniments, disastrous floods, are sad difficulties in the planter's way. But it should be remembered that years may pass without a hurricane, and the floods injure thoße only who live on the river bottoms. They are, nevertheless, hindrances in the settler's way, and I therefore mention them. 5. Recent events also have raised peculiar difficulties, for fighting has begun between the whites and the natives, and blood has been shed. The late fight up the Hewa river has left an account behind it which it will take years to settle, and has blown into flame a long-smouldering fire which blood alone canquench. It cannot be doubted that the going up of the Challenger's boats was altogether a lamentable mistake, for the case was not one calling for severe punishment ; and unless severe punishmsnt be absolutely required, it is far better for men-of-war to leave these natives alone. But it is no more than justice to Commodore Lambert to say that the mistake was not of his making. The planters assured him that the very sight of his boats, or at most of a shell fired over their heads, would make the natives run, and settle the dispute at once. This also was the opinion of H.B M. Acting Consul ; and if the commodore had thought that there would be fighting he would not have Bent his boats, for the case was not a serious one. However that may be, one thing is certain, namely, that the Fijians think themselves the victors, and are puffed up beyond measure. Nor will they be convinced of their mistake, until they have a sharp lesson read to them ; and though the storm seems now to be blown over, yet those who know the Fijians best feel sure that the present quiet is only a lull, and not a calm, and that the storm will burst forth again ; and, when it comes, the settlers will have to meet it themselves as best they may. 6. Then there is our great distance from a market for cotton, which is a Bad hindrance to Fijian prosperity. The cotton, in most cases, is Bold in the seed to traders, collected from the various plantations in open boats or little schooners, unloaded at the trader's store, ginned and packed in bales, shipped to Sydney or Melbourne, there landed and warehoused, and finally re-shipped to England — all these charges coming out of the planter's pocket, and leaving him but a very narrow margin of profit for himself. And these are the chief obstacles in his way ; for as to the hard living and/| personal discomforts of Fiji, these ajflej no more than what the pioneers of civilization have had to meet in every land ; and I have not thought them worthy of comment. I have now laid before you what I honestly believe to be a fair picture of the land, and I am fully persuaded that the public ought to know the things of which I have now told you j so that fully knowing the difficulties in.; their way, they may

be better able to decide as to whether they can meet them or not. To the intending emigrant I would aay, " If you are the man to meefcf and grapple with these difficulties,'' and if you can work on and patiently wails for the reward of your labours, then res age, tutus eris; but if you are weak hearted or weak handed, or one of those who ' make haste to be rich,* then by all means stay where you -arij, wherever that may be, for the good days of Fiji lie behind a somewhat distant horizon, though they are sure to come to those who have patience to /wait for them." / ■•;: