Later from Fiji.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1690, 19 July 1875, Page 3

Later from Fiji.

By the arrival of the Dauntless from Fiji we have later papers. The chief item of news ii the arrival of the new Governor and an account of the reception accorded him. His Excellency stated that although he had his commission and the charter of the colony with him, he did not intend to proclaim either until the new machinery was got into peifeet working order. Meanwhile the government would be continued as at present, although under his direction. Dysentery is veiy prevalent among the natives of Taviuna. The Fiji Times objects to the practice pnrsued by some journalists of stigmatising the residents of Fiji. It says j it is the custom to class the community as a whole, and under the same brand of desperadoes, to regard us as mere outcasts of society." The same journal says : "From a private source we learn that letters have been received at Kadavu to the effect that the Mail Company have secured Kadavu as the station for themselves in connection with the Pacific route of steamers." The Suva sugar mill will again start work in about a week from date, and as there is any quantity of cane awaiting treatment it will be kept' hard at work for some time to come, —^MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE. It was with, very great regret that we learnt of the sad bereavement that Mr John Fisher, of Taviuni, has recently sustained by the loss of his wife from drowning; a melancholy catastrophe which occurred on the 13th inst. From information we have received we learn that Mrs. Fisher and her two Tokalu servants were washing in the creek, when suddenly a torrent some feet in height rushed through the gorge, and by its force and rapidity swept the unfortunate lady away. In this district where the hills so much attract the moisture, it is often raining on the high grounds when the sun is shining on the shore, and the creek or rather rocky defiles which serves to carry off the water is so completely locked in that the slightest flush brings the water Sown in a torrent, which ibcreasing its rapidity by its preciptions decent, carries all before it when it emerges on the flat. The native women escaped but Mrs Fisher endeavoured to save .the clothes and was carried to sea by the full force of the torrent. 1 TERRIBLE RAVAGES OF THE MEASLES The terrible ravages caused by measles continue on some islands. A reliable estimate places the number of deaths on the island of Vanua Lan alone fat 18,712. A>, correspondent of the Fiji Times writing horn" that island says : at the town of Dromo Na Nauku, nearly all the ablebodied men were at, the date of my visit, 26th April, reported to to be dead, and the messenger of death was there, claiming other victims daily; At the small tovn of Taci Levu, two tirsga lewas, and a son af one of them, together with 33 natives, had died, including a woman, who strangled herself with a rope. In one native town, there are 40 persons dead, and the pigs are eating the bodies, as there is but one man left to bury them.—At the town of Vuni Lagi, containing about 70 able-bodied men, 30 had died, and as many were sick. In the small town of Nanuca, 15 men had died, including Ratu Naisa, a Ban teacher, and the measles wss still prosecuting its work of death among them. The accounts from Macuata are very distressing ; in some of the towns there were none left to bury the dead; in other instances the deaths were so numerous that the bodies were- left in the hvts and the towns burnt ■'. to } ashes. On the Labasa River the dead bodies were thrown into the stream, which landed them along its shores, where dog?, pigs, and birds, of prey had a continual feast. When all these horrors will end and death and destruction be stayed, is beyond calculation. The Government, it would seem, has done little or nothing towards mitigating the calamity towards the relief of the poor suffering, starving dying natives. The town of JNawi on this coast has been deserted and burnt. It appears that the measles carried off the inhabitants so fast that those of them who had not yet caught, the disease got frantic with fear and ran away from the town leaving the dead, dying, and helplessly sick to their fate ;. two o r three of the latter escaped with their lives, and fired the town to consume the dead and banish £he pestilence. The accounts from Natava Bay are truly appalling. r Mr Ross, formerly se-cretary-'to Tui' Cakau, informed me that in the town of Koronaisaca, one hundred and twenty deaths had occurred from measles, including one man whe took, himself in. despair. One hundred^ and ten natives are reported to have died»the.Bay ?n tbe bush, where they resorted,to inthe hope-: of escaping the dreaded disease. To "use Mr. Kobb': expressive words, the natives at the Bay were rtjldy£J. off-like rotten sheep. A report from Daniela, a native teacher confirms and supplements Mr Ross' .account. Another report:; from Natava Bay states tha* of the teachers assembled there in a town named Biaugnna,: to hold the usual quarterly church .■■_ meeting; twentysSdied of melsles; and that the town of NaVeni was deserted and burnt, after one hundred and thirty deaths had occurred in