7

A.—3

close of the current year ; and, finally, I may add that before this minute was written, the Ordinance providing for the creation of municipalities in Suva and Levuka, upon the model of the Australian Colonies, had passed a first reading. Paragraph 14 requires no notice, unless it be to say that the petition bears evidence that the main object of government as regards the European population of Fiji has not been unsuccessful. Paragraph 15 states that the petitioners 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. This statement is perhaps one of the most singular made by the petitioners, and it may be regretted that some reasons are not given for the dissatisfaction with which, as may be inferred, the present non-official members of Council are regarded. The non-official half of the Council is composed of the following gentlemen:—Boger B. Leefe, Esq.; George McEvoy, Esq.; James E. Mason, Esq.; Alex. Barrack, Esq.; John Hill, Esq.; George Morgan, Esq.; Matthew Wilson, Esq. (in the absence of Mr. McEvoy). I think it would be admitted by every candid person in the Colony that, if the non-official members of Council were elected by the colonists, instead of nominated by the Governor, it would be unlikely that a more able or more independent body of men could bo returned. Upon the very day upon which the petition to Her Majesty, forming the subject of this minute, appeared in the columns of the Fiji Times, a journal evincing a persistently-hostile spirit towards Government, the following criticisms upon the appointment of Mr. Matthew Wilson as a member of Council, were also made:—"Mr. Matthew Wilson has been appointed by His Excellency the Governor a member of the Legislative Council. In connection herewith, it may be said to His Excellency, as was said by the Catholic priest to the Protestant who would not believe in purgatory, ' You might go further and fare worse.' Mr. Wilson is a practical man, who has had long experience in the colony; as such, he is capable of forming an intelligent opinion as to its requirements, and, having formed it, he possesses the desirable qualification of being able to maintain it with that degree of firmness and consistency that will compel respect even from those holding different views." How can it be said that, with such a fairly representative body of gentlemen in the Council, representation is denied the petitioners, and that they have "no voice in the administration of the government of the colony, the enactment of its laws, or the public expenditure " ? If the petitioners mean that they are unrepresented, and that they are denied a voice in the Legislative Council of the Colony, because they do not elect the non-official members, they may be technically correct, though substantially wrong; but if, as would appear more likely, they mean that the non-official members cannot control the Council, it can only be said that neither would they do so if returned to Council upon the suffrages of the 1,500 adult male Europeans whose interests they may be said to specially represent. * The grievance contained in paragraph 16 appears overstated, and, as in the case of the recentlypassed Native-labour Ordinance, I am inclined to believe it is less the want of due publicity that is in fault, than that, after the Government has carefully considered the necessity for legislation and the manner of best attaining the object sought, the suggestions of the public Press or of non-official members, are not sufficiently strong to convince the Government that its measures are unsuitable and unnecessary. It may not be out of place here to mention that, in the course of a warm controversy that arose over the Ordinance just named, one newspaper writer declared that the Government was to blame, for had it held its sittings in some place to which the public could have had convenient access, the misunderstanding forming the cause of controversy could not have arisen ; and yet, in spite of this complaint and excuse for misrepresentation, the Government, instead of sitting for the consideration of this measure in the comparatively small Council-room, held the meetings of the Board in the Supreme Court, so that the public might attend, in the largest and most convenient building at its command, and as a fact people came in and went out just as they pleased. Paragraph 17 requires little notice. The assumption raised has already been shown to be without reason. As regards representation being " entirely denied "to " Her Majesty's subjects "in the Colony (the expression "Her Majesty's subjects" clearly meaning the 2,500 Europeans in Fiji, and not the 123,000 "native Fijians" and others, who presumably are not "Her Majesty's subjects"), this paragraph is pregnant with meaning to those who can appreciate it. Although, taking their own figures, the petitioners show that they are only one-fiftieth of the whole population, they do not appear to see the difficulty which they raise, or, if they do see it, the difficulty is only raised to be evaded. The 18th and last paragraph of the petition refers to the approaching Convention in Australia, for considering the question of the Federation of the Australian Colonies, and the annexation to them of New Guinea and a number of islands in the Western Pacific, lying between it and Fiji. The petitioners pray that this Colony may be either— (1.) Included with Federal Australasia, if federation becomes a fact; or (2.) Failing federation of the Australian Colonies, to be incorporated with one of them; or (3.) Failing these alterations, the petitioners beg they may be relieved from the humiliating condition in which they are at present politically placed; and (4.) That such relief be granted with duo regard to the preservation of all existing rights and privileges of the native races inhabiting this Colony.

* Personally, I have no objection to the election of the non-official members of the Council: but, as they could not be allowed to control tho Council, and could not possibly be allowed to impose upon Government their views in the matter of legislation affecting the relation of natives, inter se, or with the European settler, I should anticipate no practical good to result from the change, while friction would be greatly increased.