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12. That all appointments to offices and positions of emolument within the Colony are made by the Crown alone; that a reference to the appointments made for some years past will show that only an exceedingly small proportion of the offices created have been filled by residents in the Colony, and that in the great majority of instances preference has been given to cadets from England or Scotland, or persons from India. 13. That your Petitioners are denied all right of local self-government, and show that in the year 1877 provision was made for the appointment of a Town Board in Levuka, so constituted that such a proportion of members should be elected by the ratepayers as to give them a majority in the Town Council. That this system worked successfully when tried in Levuka, but that for the management of the town of Suva an officer of the Government alone manages the municipal business* of the town, and imposes and expends all rates. -"' - 14. That a reference to the statistics of the Colony and to other sources of information will show that the European colonists are as orderly, law-abiding, and well-conducted as any other subjects within your Majesty's dominions. 15. That your Majesty's subjects in this Colony are discontented and grieved that all right of being represented or heard in the Councils of this Colony is denied to them, and that they have no voice in the administration of the Government of the Colony, the enactment of its laws, or the public expenditure. 16. That, with few exceptions, the Ordinances of the Colony are introduced to the Legislative Council and passed without prior publicity having been given to them, so as to allow discussion, and objection, or suggestion thereto, to be made through the medium of the public Press, or in other ways through the non-official Members of the Council. 17. That the fact of the inhabitants of the Colony consisting of so large a proportion of native Fijians is no reason why the right ordinarily granted to British subjects of being represented in Colonial Councils of Government should be entirely denied to your Majesty's subjects in this Colony. 18. That, as there will shortly bo assembled at Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, a Convention of Representatives of the Australasian Colonies to consider the question of a General Federation of the Colonies, and the annexation of parts of New Guinea and also certain other islands or groups of islands in the Western Pacific, the time has therefore seemed to your Majesty's Petitioners opportune for praying from your Majesty's Government consideration of their present political position. In furtherance of which object your Petitioners have memorialized the said Convention now about to meet, and have requested them to assist your Petitioners in obtaining the objects herein set forth. Your Petitioners therefore now most humbly pray! —■ 1. That your Majesty will see fit, in the event of the Australasian Colonies becoming federated, to constitute the Colony of Fiji an integral portion of Federated A ustralasia. 2. That in the event of such Federation not being now immediately accomplished, your Majesty will see fit to allow the Colony of Fiji to become incorporated with one of the Australasian Colonies as now existing, with the consent of such Colony. 3. Or, that your Majesty will see fit to grant to the British-born subjects resident within this Colony complete relief from the humiliating condition in which they are at present politically placed. 4. That such relief be granted with due regard to the preservation of all existing rights and privileges of the native races inhabiting this Colony. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will every pray, &c. Dated in Leyuka, Fiji, this 19th September, 1883.

(6.) ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN—ANNEXATION OF. The Hawaiian Consul to The Chief Secretary, Tasmania. Sir, Hawaiian Consulate, Hobart, Tasmania, 10 November, 1883. I have the honor to forward herewith, under cover of this letter, a protest on behalf of the Kingdom of Hawaii against annexation of the various islands in the Pacific Ocean. I shall be glad to hear that the Delegates from Tasmania attending the Conference to be held in Sydney early next month, on this important question, will bring this protest under the notice of the Delegates representing the other Australian Colonies. The wish of the Hawaiian Government is, instead of annexation in the Pacific, that the four great Powers, viz., England, France, Germany, and America, should join in a protectorate over the various islands and archi])elagoes of Polynesia, in a similar manner that Samoa has been governed, where Germany and the United States have for some years past jointly or separately exercised influence over public and native affairs. In fact a protectorate is now established in that group, England and Germany having entered into treaties with the King and the Government of Samoa, making that archipelago quite an independent State, and recognized as such by European diplomacy. The Kingdom of Hawaii is, I believe, under the protection of England, France, and America, and is also recognized by the great Powers as an independent State. It is evidently the wish of the Hawaiian Government that the groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean should be under a protectorate rather than by being annexed by any one Powe%. I have, &c, AUDLEY COOTE, Hawaiian Consul. Forwarded to the Honorable the Premier. This letter has not been acknowledged.—Wm. Mooee, 12 November, 1883.