FIJIAN NEWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1017, 5 December 1883, Page 2

FIJIAN NEWS.

Th ) timber trade at Levuka is in a verj active state. In add tion to fever il cargoes of New Zealand timber reeout’y to hand, the Hobart barque Guiding Star has just completed d : scharging a cargo of hardwood, and has gone on to Suva to land a moiety there, while quickly succeeding her came the American vessels Newsboy and Vega, bringing tog ther nearly 1,000,000 feet of timber of various descriptions for the two ports The two Fijians who were suspected of having been perpetrators of the la e murder at Rewa have been committed for trial by the Magistrate of the district. H.M S. Miranda took her departure for Samoa; General Sir Fredk. Haines was a passenger by her, and the object of his visit is to get an insight into the labor trade. A Fijian sentenced to death for murder has been executed at Suva. The whole affair (saya the Times) was most pitiable. The poor wretch was half dead from fright before be was placed on the scaffold, and when there it was found that he was not properly pinioned, and that the operation had to be renewed. He crouched down on the platform, and had to be held up by others that he might be properly killed. The Fiji Times of November the 24th contains the following: —By the PakaIcoha, Mr John Lundon arrived in Lievuka from Samoa, and according to his statement, Mr W. B. Churchward, the acting British Consul and Deputy-Com-missioner under Order-in-Oouncil of the Western Pacific, is well sustaining the reputation established by his chief, Sir A. Gordon, for indulging in high-htnded and arbitrary proceedings at the expense of British subjects. Mr Lundon was attorney for the Auckland South Sea IslandCompany. He arrived at Samoa on the 21st May to secure certain lands in which the company is interested, and finding it necessary to secure the affidavit of a Mr Augustus Nelson, Mr Lundon communicated with the British Consul, who, however, declined to receive Nelson’s affidavit on tffe ground that he was not an American. It seems the lind in question is held by a Mr McKenzie, who, Mr Lundon states, threatened to put a bullet through him if he found him there. Mr Lundon’s grievances, h iwever, mainly consist in two letters he received from Churchward, oh rging him with making “ unfounded statements, ” “ giving incendiary advice," and “ urging the Samoans to commit a breach of the pe ice,” and conduct generally calculated to draw them into serious trouble with the British authorities, and threatens him with proceedings under section 26 of the Order in Council. To this Mr Lundon, in a petition to His Excellency the Assistant High Commissioner, replies, submitting a letter professed to i ave been written by interpreters at the renuest of King Malatoa, and Scumanotafa, of Apia, giving a direct contradiction to these charges. He also states that he has served as an officer of the New Zealaul force in the field, and that he has been elected three different times to Parliament in t’ae Provincial Council of Auckland, and was returned for the late Parliament of New Zealand for Wellington, and is now a member of the Borough Council of Onehunga, having repeatedly filled a similar position in the country districts, and furnishes ample evidence of a high political and social standing in No at Zealand. He also states that imputations of a personal and national character have been levelled at him by the Deputy-Com-missioner, against which he a ivances the h gh confidence he has enjoyed among his fellow-citizens in New Zealand. Copies of the petition and accompanying documents have been sent to the Directors in Auckland, and also to Sir G. Grey, and will likewise be furnished to the Conference in Sydney.