NEW ZEALAND AND FIJI

Globe, Volume I, Issue 85, 8 September 1874, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND AND FIJI

[From the Melbourne Argus, August 10.] It is to be hoped that, in the event of the Imperial Government accepting the sovereignty of the Fiji Islands, it will take care to inform itself thoroughly as to the social condition and political requirements of the new dependency. In deputing Sir Hercules Robinson to proceed thither on a mission of inquiry, it has made a judicious choice of a confidential agent; and we may be tolerably confident that, in any advice which he may tender as to the form of government best adapted to those islands, ho will not recommend any departure from the “ severe” type, Earl Granville’s deprecation of it notwithstanding. The circumstances under which Great Britain will incorporate Fiji with the Empire—should she resolve on so doing—will not be those which lie more immediately on the surface. She will not annex that group of islands, for the sake of complying with the wishes either of the Native or of the European population. Were this a valid reason for so doing, we might have similar invitations addressed to the Colonial Office, in course of time, from every group of Islands in the South Pacific. To each, in all probability, adventurous subjects of Queen Victoria will find their way, and will presently make the discovery that it would be very desirable to obtain the pro tection of the British flag, and the establishment of a form of government in which they would rule, and the black races would obey —in which the whites should constitute an official aristocracy, and the indigenous population a laborious and tax-paying proletariat. The reasons which are likely to operate with the Horae Government in accepting the unconditional cession of the Fijis, we presume will be Imperial ones. In the first .place, it will enable Great Britain more effectually to prevent the labor traffic in these seas from being transformed into a slave trade. Of this, there was more than a danger, inasmuch as that trade had actually commenced. In the second place, the islands would be valuable to the mother country as a naval station ; and, thirdly, if England did not annex Fiji, some other maritime power, desirous of obtaining a footing or of extending its dominion in these seas, would not be slow to do so ; and in view of the increasing magnitude of the British interests which are growing up in this part of the globe, such a contingency should be avoided if possible. These views find suitable expression in a despatch addressed to the colonial office in October last by the Governor of Now Zealand. In this document Sir James Fergnsson declares the repugnance which the inhabitants of that colony entertain to the prospect of the Fiji Islands falling into the hands of any great power other than England, and to the acquisition by a foreign nation of “great natural harbors which might be made naval stations in case of the interruption of the peace of Europe.” Supposing the Imperial Government were unwilling to burden itself with the sovereignty of the Fiji Islands, Sir James Fergusson states that New Zealand would not be indisposed to assume the control of them itself, it being “the colony which has the most natural affinity to Fiji and the adjacent groups, both in regard to its comparative proximity and to the greater facilities of intercourse afforded by the prevailing winds.” To such a proposition, however, no matter from which of the colonies it might emanate, we may bo certain that the Imperial Government would offer an emphatic negative. Compliance with it would inevitably lead to the establishment of a system of administration in which the political adventurers who have congregated in Levuka would bear the principal sway, and from which nothing could bo expected to arise but financial extravagance and embarrassment, and the oppression and disaffection of the native race. We have already had a ludicrous travesty of Parliamentary government set up in Fiji, than which there has been nothing more grotesque since the days of the Emperor Soulouquc in Hayti. Every white man wanted to be quartered on the public purse : and as this was in a most attenuated condition, the advisers of King Gakobau set about the creation of a National debt, in order to enable them to defray the current expenses of the Government. As the experiment was a failure, the whole thing collapsed, and annexation to Great Britain appeared to be the only solution of the difficulty in which the monarch and people were placed. To attempt to bestow a constitutional form of government on Fiji would be worse than a mistake, it would be a disaster. What is imperatively required is a strong, vigorous, just, and inexpensive system of rule ; the establishment of an authority which would conciliate the respect of the Native chiefs and tribes, and would guarantee peace and safety to the European settlers who have bought and cultivated cotton and sugarplantations. That group of islands will never become a British colony in the sense that New Zealand is. The resources of Fiji will continue to be exploitercd by a mere handful of whites, who will draw what supplies they require from Austra'ia and New Zealand. To develope those resources by free colored labor, and to repress every attempt to introduce anything approximating to slavery either in Fiji or any other group upon which our countrymen may settle should be the object of the power which consents to relieve King Gakobau of his responsibilities. But a Government of “ mean whites,” administering the affairs of the island in the interests of their own class only, could not be depended on, either to discourage the labour traffic or to deal justly , and uprightly with the colored races.

If the Imperial Government should resolve upon the annexation of Fiji, it cannot do better than make it a Crown Colony of the severest type, and place it under the control of an Indian officer of proved capacity and experience, accusto ned to the exercise of authority over native tribes, and entrusted with the discretionary power essential to a Governor so remote from the seat of empire, and go liable to be called upon at any moment to act with decision and firmness in wholly unexpected conjunctures. Such a ruler might not be popular with the placehunters in Levuka ; but by the adoption of a firm and impartial policy, and by convincing the indigenous population of the inflexible justice as well as the irresistible power of the Government he represents, he would command their confidence and insure the safety of the enterprising settlers who are risking their capital and their lives in developing- the natural resources of the islands.