THE FIJIS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 652, 25 June 1870, Page 2

THE FIJIS.

♦ By the schooner Strathnaver, which arrived at Auckland from Levuka on Jane 13, we have flies of the Fiji Times up to May 28. The schooner brings dates to May 31 : — The yield of cotton for the picking season, just over, has been excellent, and the quality, in spite of wet weather, highly satisfactory. Numbers of new settlers were arriving. The Springbok and Harriet Armitage took 54, and . about the same number had arriving daring the previous month. . -. „ ... The Polynesia Company (Melbourne) have sold 100,000 acres of the land purchased by them from Oakobau to a Dew company, con-" sisting of 40 members, each of whom sabsciibes £250. Many of the new pur-' chasers have arrived by the Springbok, from Melbourne, and the survey and allotment of the land is to be proceeded with as soon as ' possible. The settlers were still occupied in forming some kind of organisation, in order that they might the better co-operate with the Fiji chiefs in securing peace and advancing the general interests of both races. At a meeting held at Levuka a committee was appointed to frame propositions for the consideration of another meeting, to be held on . 15th June. The committee hare published | the result of their labour, and propose that a " corporation" should be formed, and that the council of tire corporation should frame by-laws and represent the white settlers on all occasions. I The cry for labour is great. A large numbsr of the men now employed are being sent back to their respective islands as their engagements expire. To replace them, and to provide for the new plantations opened, and old ones extended, fourteen vessels have left Levuka. The Harriet Armitage ia also expected to go ; and the Magellan Cloud, Sea Witch, and Mary Ann Christina, were about leaving. The demand is, however, so much in excess of probable supply, that efforts have been made through a Chinese merchant in Melbourne, to import Coolies from China ; and the first arrivals of Celestials are looked for in a few monthi. Cakobau was about to make war upon the Chief Of Bua, a district in the northernmost of the two large islands. For this purpose he had purchased the Jeannie Duncan and the well-known Sydney yacht Vivid, ■ paying £1100 for the former, and £800 for the latter vessel. His men (700) left Levuka on the 28th May for Bua, but it was hoped that peace would yet be preserved. The white settlers appear to regard the war as of no concern to them, and hare no apprehension of inconvenience from it, if the white men are carefully prevented from helping on either sida. With this view, the British Consul hid compelled Cakobau to release the schooner Clara, captured by his yacht, the Vivid, because, although the Clara belonged to Bua, she was, at the time, chartered by white settlers, and the Vivid was also commanded and partly worked by white men. The action of the Consul in this matter ap* pears to have met the approval of the settlers generally.