The Globe. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1874.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 89, 12 September 1874, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1874.

We are under the impression that one of the reasons for which Mr Yogel wishes to take a trip to England, is that he may put the Polynesian scheme into shape, and float it if possible. Eor reasons we will state, we shall be curious to know whether the gentleman he alluded to as having suggested the matter to him, is al«o intending a trip home. We shall watch the Auckland papers for some time to come. We learn from Mr Vogel that the gentleman in question was intimately connected with the Bank of Eiji, which has ' been mainly an Auckland affair. The Bank holds a large quantity of land in Eiji, some of which is most suitable for the growth of sugar, and the other tropical staples alluded to by the Premier. We are also very curious to know what position Mr J. S. Macfarlane, who seems to be pre-eminently the artful dodger ”of Auckland, has taken up with regard to this scheme. It is well known that he was one of the principal promoters of the Bank of Eiji, and is largely interested in that business. It would be interesting to know if he, and those connected with him, do not look upon the Yogel Polynesian scheme as an excellent means of bolstering up an institution, that up to the present time can hardly be ranked as a financial success. Mr Butters, exmayor of Melbourne, and more recently Speaker of the Legislature of Eiji, is also an intimate acquaintance of the Premier of New Zealand, and no doubt has laid before that gentlemen a glowing prospectus of the glories to be reaped from the opening up of the Islands by New Zealand traffic. Mr Butters has recently arrived from Eiji, and is, we believe, in New Zealand at present. The land which is the property of the Bank of Eiji, is held under a title which would hardly be as unassailable by any legal authority. The Bank came into existence after the abrogation of the infant constitution, an act which was effected by the Ministry of King Thakombau themselves. It being then impossible to lay the Bill authorising the establishment of the Bank before the Assembly, (since the Assembly was defunct), King Thakombau was induced to sign, a Eoyal Charter giving the required guarantees, under his own signature, and those of the Privy Council, a body comprising all the leading chiefs of various islands. The charter was signed and forwarded to Auckland, and being deemed satisfactory by the promoters, a staff of officials was sent to Levuka, and the Bank commenced business.

Thus the signing of the charter, and the consequent establishment of the Bank, took place after the cessation of a government, which had so far a legal status to the world, that it had obtained a de facto recognition from the Chief Powers. This supportwas merely given on the tacit assumption that the constitution which had been published to the world, would be maintained ; with its annihilation, the recognition naturally ceased, and the British Consul and Commodore informed a deputation who waited on them at Levuka, in March last, that their opinion was, that at that time, and in fact since the previous October, at which date the proclamation annulling the constitution was issued, there was no 1 egiti mate authority in the country. The cession of the kingdom which shortly afterwards occurred, was no doubt hastened by this declaration, and an interim Government was formed by the English, American, and German consuls, in conj unction with the representatives of King Thakombau. Now that news has arrived from England of the refusal of the proposed cession, unless unconditionally, financial affairs in Fiji, which had always been fluctuating, have gone down to a lower ebb than ever. The Government, having been unable to pay their employes, were consequently obliged to issue promissory notes at six months, which the storekeepers refuse to look at, and which they themselves will not receive as dues. What can give a more forcible idea of their embarrassments P The luckless planters, who appear to be pretty generally as badly off as the

Government, have been equally unable to pay their servants, consequently Estates are at a discount, and the only persons benefiting by the present state of things, are the promoters of the bank. These gentlemen are too shrewd not to be aware of the fact that their edifice may turn out to be only built upon sand, and that Crown Law Officers may at some future date disallow the legality of the grants on which they hold their land. This, of coarse, is in the event of Fiji becoming a British Colony. No doubt, if Mr Vogel’s scheme is carried out, Fiji will be the starting point of the Company’s operations, and we may be pretty sure that the agency will be in the hands of the Bank. The Kingdom of Fiji may yet be a blissful reality; and there will be no troublesome British law officers to enquire too closely into the validity of the Bank Charter. May not the nucleus of this notable scheme of the Premier’s have come from the brains of some wary Auckland - cum - Fiji financiers, casting about for means to save themselves and their institutions from storms, which are only too likely to brew if the present state of penury and discontent lasts much longer in Fiji ? At any rate the fact of the suggestor of the scheme, being identical with the person most instrumental in founding the Bank of Fiji, and the singularly opportune visit of Mr Butters to Wellington, are calculated to give some color to such a surmise.