LATER FIJI NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1682, 9 July 1875, Page 2

LATER FIJI NEWS.

By way of [Sydney we have received per Mik ado late* Fiji news. The following items are furnished by the correspondent oi tne Sydney Motniny Herald :— RELIGIOUS TROUBLFS AT WALLIS ISLASD. By the Beconnaisance we hear that at Wajlis Island there had been recently some considerable religious trouble, that island beins the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop, and the Rome of the South Seas, Protestantism or Wesleyanism b«ing determinedly opposed. In a fight which took place several lives had been lost, and the Protestant pilot (a half-caste) had been seized and placed in irons The Louisa Rider, a schooner built in Fiji, had been seized by the natives, and the British flag pulled down, but had been afterwards restored to her owner. It is said that an English man-of-war is going to vVallis Island to investigate the disturbances. The wreck of the 'Hermine, French man-of-war, is still visible on the reef, and has. not been BURIED ALIVE—BODIES LEFT EX POSKD. The Ra Const correspondent of Fiji Aryns writes •—" A chief of one of the towns was supposed to be dead of the prevailing epidemic ; he was wrapped up in mats, the grave dug, and the body carried to the side, when just as they were about to lower the body into the grave a faint voice said apparently 'from inside the mats, 'kskua. Great was the astonishment of his would-be undertakers when, on unwinding the mats, they found that he was not only not dead, but from that moment he rapidly recovered, and now laughs heartily at the hastiness of bis friends. The measles have by no mean 3 finished their deadly work yet and it is to be feared that unless immediate steps are taken to enforce the Burial Act something worse than measles will follow, bodies having been found in many instances on the side of the path, having lain there five or six days. Many are thrown into the mangrove bushes, and many are, I believe, made quietly away with to aviod the trouble of looking after them. I Bay many, as I believe there are strong oi ounds for believing such to be the case, and one "instance" I know of in which a man put his foot on a woman's stomach and literally pumped out what little life was left. M.wy s also, are dying from starvation, as there ire no sound persons in some towns to get food for the remainder. A HINT TO THE COLONIES. The Jrrjus says the colony that establishes a reciprocity treaty with Fiji will secure its trade : " Let New Zealand, or New South Wales, we care not which, institute a measure by which, on condition of all its local produce being landed here free of duty charge, all the products of Fiji shall be admitted also free, and soon will a magnificent trade spring up. This is the true a"nd only policy to secure to Fiji an immediate progress to attract to her capital and enterprise —and the only one to secure to the colony, embracing the interests of Fiji, a large and increasing trade."