FIJI.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 651, 28 April 1870, Page 2

FIJI.

The following items are from files of the Fiji Times to the 26th February : A case of cannibalism is spoken of as haviug taken place on Vauua Levu. Her Britannic Majesty's Consul has appointed Mr Towson to be Postmaster in Fiji. A registry for mortgages and bills of sale has been opened at the British Consulate for such as choose to take advantage of it. Tui Cakau's Secretary (Mr Eoss) has been at work taking a census. He rates the amount of taxes which will be paid to the chief this year at about £SOOO.

A lot of Bau men are playing great pranks in Wairiki, killing all the pigs, eating up all the food, &c. These Bau men are not particular whether they kill a white man's pig or a native's. The cotton crop continues good, and the fielding season at its height. The Norman left the Rewa, for Sydney, on the I.sth, with 142 bales, and the Eagle left Levuka the same day, with 77 bales, to call at the Tasowas on her way to Sydney for a further quantity. Application was made to Cakobau a short time ago to puuish the natives who had assaulted Mr and Mrs Gardner, on Viti Levu. We were pleased to hear that the chief recognised the heinousness of the offence, and gave orders for the arrest of the offenders, so that they might be punished. The man Wiibur, one of the unfortunate sufferers on board the Eingdove, has been sent to New Zealand in the Crest of the Wave, by H.M.'s Consul. He is in much the same state as when he arrived at Levuka. The inhabitants very kindly contributed a sum (some £10) to provide a few necessaries for his comfort on his journey. In a case of violence charged against a white settler, the consul stated that he was without magisterial powers, but would act if six Englishmen would sit with him. The case was, on investigation, dismissed, but it was decided that in future, public meetings should bo called when necessary to arrest anyone under the consul's jurisdiction, and that action should be taken in the namo of the meeting. The foliowiug notice, posted outside the British Consulate, wo publish for genoral information. " With a view to the protection of their interests, and tlio avoidanco of much troublo and perhaps loss, British subjects aro reminded that their mercantile transactions can be recorded, for the inform-

ation of the community, in her Majesty's Consulate." The Consul may decline to interfere in any matter not so registered. The hurricane of tho 16th passed chiefly over the Windward Islands. At Tuviuni it had done some mischief to the crops, blown down some of the houses, and sunk a few boats at their anchorage; but the papers apeak of the extent of the damage as on the whole, slight, owing, we presume, to the houses destroyed being only of native structure, and therefore inexpensive. The wooden and other houses, built at Levuka, in European style, suffered in a very slight degree, the damage being confined to the loosening of iron or shingles on the roofs. Several narrow escapes of boats and small crafts, at sea during the hurricane, are reported. The little cutter Abigail, of four tons, was blown from her anchorage at Wakaya, and under bare poles, ran in an hour, through a raging sea, to Levuka, a distance of twelve miles. The most remarkable part of the little craft's voyage, was the passing through the breakers on the reef, which was effected providentially, without the loss of the vessel, and the certain destruction of those on board, which must have been the result. In the Eewa district the hurricane was but slightly felt,