FIJI.

Evening Star, Issue 3094, 18 January 1873, Page 3

FIJI.

(From the Sydney Morning Herald.)

December 2T

The cry for “annexation” is as loud as ever in Levuka; but beither here nor in such of the country districts as have “spoken” is it annexation that is exactly wanted just now. The Act suspending suits for plantation accounts for a year has just expired, 1 and thefe is a great objection to the compulsory payment of debts by operation of law. The existence and pressure of the governmental authority is also, in many other respects distasteful. W hat has beeu really asked for, and that in the most emphatic manner, is that the operation of the Constitution and of the Courts may be stayed, and the old state of things reverted to, so that the settlers may “deal with the natives” around them, and “get on as well as they used to do” before they were emharr seed by the presence and actio > of a Government. The civil officers were met, in one place, by white men and their imported labourers armed, with the British flag at their head borne by a Tanna man But the Government is determined to sustain its authority. The Ring and principal chiefs have jmt b eu communicated with in reference to this matter, and to tfie request that he would overturn the Constitution, which he (and many of those who joined in tins request) had positively sworn to sustain. The K ng said, as reported to me by one who hoard him—- “ Well, if thpy drive us to tight we can fight. In old days we killed each other like pigs. We gave that up, and now we are likely, it seems, to be shot.like fowls. But W'hy that flag ? That is not the flag of insolence and violence. They should have made a flag for themselves. Let the Queen know this thi g.” The King’s mind is to “ rosota” (t e. endure), but if the people who are daily outraging law, both human and Divine, go too far, he will cease to endure, and either send some of them out of the country or out of the world. England must support the authority of the “ Government de facto” until the working of that Government and (be 'wishes of th? phtjbii pan be properly und impartially inquired into and ascertained, or there will be bloodshed. And if once the Fijians ar ■ driven to force to sustain the authority of their Sovereign and his Government, and their own rights and liberties as a people, it is hard to say where the m’sehief will end. President Grant has sent an autogtaph letter to the King, fully recognising the sovereignty and international rights of the latter. The deputation which waited nppp thp f'hUf Secretary to-day to know the result of his* visit to the King at Ban, and the determination of hip.Majesty as to their request that he would abrogate tbo Constitution, were told that their proposition would neither be discussed nor entertained. A u alternative, and more sensible proposal, that the Parliament should be summoned for January, instead of waiting until May, its usual time of meeting, was discussed some short time since at a ' 1 caucus ” of the members then in Levuka, and it was decided not to adopt this course. In spite of all these under-current ebullitions and threatening thingsare quiet at

present; business is pretty brisk ; buildings are rising in all quarters ; Government notes are taken at par by many of the principal storekeeper* ; the revenue is rapidly increasing (alt: ough hard cash for immediate purposes is short), and there is a great deal of sociality and gaiety. The bad to Mr and Mrs Butt rs was a most exce lent affair, and there is to be a “Carnival'’ at • hiistmas, and a legatta, Ac., to open the New Year. The Law Courts have been pretty busy. The executors of the lato Mr Sagir have recovered a verdict against Mr Swanston, the Minister for Native Affairs, for 1.1198 for the removal of a number of Levini laborers. A number of law points have been reserved which have been argued yea'eiday and today, and on which judgment has been reserved, but it is pretty clear that ether the Government or Mr JSwanston —most probably the former—will have to pay the money.