FIJIAN SOCIALITIES.

Evening Star, Issue 3446, 9 March 1874, Page 3

FIJIAN SOCIALITIES.

The bar in Fiji is composed of half-a-dozen properly qualified attorneys from the Colonies, and others who have been admitted to practice under the local rules. The arguments in the Supreme Court are generally conducted with decorum, and in jwntof ahiJity; they usually uFSffi "ffinSotonial district courts. The behaviour of the witnesses, however, is often of a kind to show how unaccustomed they are to the solemnity of judicial proceedings. A native witness, who had one morning kept the full court waiting half-an-hour for his attendance, when interrogated as to the reason of b,ia delay, calmly replied he had, not finished his breakfast at the the court opened. A white planter, much more emphatic in his way, growing restive under cross-examination, after a glance out of the window, which showed that the previously calm sea was being ruffled by a breeze, exclaimed, as he abruptly left the witne-s box, “Do you think I am going to stop humbugging here when there is a fair wind for Taviuni ?'* Toe native magistracy includes some men of intelligence, bub the Fijian police have not much power in their bands. Some ludicrous instances have occurred of their idea of the relative importance of different crimes According to the old law and custom of Fiji it was an offence punishable by death for a Kai si (a common man or slave) to eat turtle, a food which has always been sacred to the great chiefs. Not very long agq, however, an innovating Kai si, vyh’fthad heard of the new order of things a,nd the blessings to be enjoyed under the Fijian constitution, accepted literally the declaration of the great charter of his King that “all men are equal,’ aud dined sumptuously one day off a fine fat turtle. The terribly sewa was immediately conveyed to his chief, who happened to he a magistrate, and the man was at once arrested. When the local magistrate s court next sat, there was a heavy list of serious charges to be dealt with, involving destruction of life and property, and the white justices wanted to proceed with these first, but the native magistrate would listen to nothing until the oulpnt he was specially interested in had been uealt with, fer as he said he knew of no crime equal in enormity to that of a Kai si who had presumed to eat turtle. There is also a remarkable judgment of a native magistrate on repqrd A chief was charged before him with assaulting an o%er of the Government, It was proved in - yid nce ifiat the officer had taken liberties with the chief’s wife on three separate occasions, but that the woman ouly t o mpiained the third time, and then beoause her husband saw. The Fijian Solomon fined all three equally. There was wisdom as well as originality in this decision. Another native held a very peculiar view of the efficacy of the law. He had two wives who were constantly quarrelling, and he intimated that it was his intention to take them to the court as soon as he had saved enough money to pav tbeir fines. r “

The roving class m Levuka is not remark?if t em P erance - An amusing story is tola an attempt to form a Temperance Society m Levuka, and how the members fell away first the vice-president, and then someone else producing a medical certificate that he must have one drink of brandy a day. One Sunday evening the Rev. Mr Floyd, the Church of Jingland minister, courageously addressed his hearers as “ You gamblers and drunkards here to-night.” The congregation, cm coming out, nearly all agreed that their minister was becoming horribly personal, and that they would not tolerate it. The origin of this sermon was stated to bo the behaviour of the principal deacon who, the previous Sunday, just after partaking oi the sacrament, had gone to a neighboring hotel, and there joined a euchre party; which ended in a wild debauch. The social amenities in Fiji are not always of the most rigid kind. Once a professional introduced a friend to an unmarried ladv in these terms “ Allow me to present to' you Mr He’s very drunk now (very true of both), but he s au awfully nice fellow, and I’m sure you’ll like him when you know him.” Miss bridled up a little, and left the room at the first opportunity, but then she is considered a trifle prim and over particular.

The Parliamentary debates have been prolific in amusing scenes, but the funniest thing which occurred was a little incident the comic aide of which wus discovered by very few. Mr Griffiths, the proprietor of the * Fiji Times,’ was brought to the bar of the House for a libel contained in a long leading article published in his paper. The House did not want a white elephant, and was very willing that the offender be let off with an apology. The Speaker suggested to the trembling culprit that ho had inadvertently been guilty of libelling the Parliament—that in short it was a typographical error. “ Yes,’, said Mr Griffiths, seizing the loophole of escape with avidity, “it was a typographical error,” and he was discharged without further ado ! It would have been just as absurd had Mr Disraeli endeavored to recant the statements contained in one of his longest orations by saying that the whole speech was a slip of the tongue. The Government, immediately on its establishment, was inundated with applications for employment in the Civil Service There are also appointments in connection with the military and naval forces (the navy consists of the cutter Vivid), aud the following application from “an e.lucate.l gentleman of military proclivities” will serve as an amusing example of the qualifications candidates for Government employment sometimes think it proper to rely upon “ (Jn board H F M revenue cutter Vivid. To the Hon. the Premier. I have the honor to offer myself as a candidate for Government service I am informed by Lieutenant Neil that the Government are likely, ere long, to [require the services of a few educated gentlemen of military proclivities who understand the Native language, I have the honor

to submit for your consideration my reasons for believing that my services might be accepted by your Government Ist, lam an Knglish gentleman of coat armor, and my name is to be seen in Burke’s Landed Gent emen of England and Wales, under the head of ‘Jackson of Doncaster 2nd, I was educated at Rugby by the present Archbishop of Canterbury.”—‘Argus,’