THE YOUNGEST BRITISH COLONY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1640, 25 December 1874, Page 473

THE YOUNGEST BRITISH COLONY.

Melbourne Age. Now that Britannia has taken unto herself another colonial charge, it becomes a matter of interest to know something of the present condition of the country over which she has cast the regis of her protection. In the preparation of the following article we have taken advantage of the notes of a gentleman who resided for some time at Levuka, and travelled extensively among the islands. The Fijian group consists of somo 225 islands, of which about 50 can boast of white inhabitants. The native population has been variously estimated at from 75,000 to 150,000. The white population muster about 2,000, of which 1,800 can be counted as resident, and 200 as floating. Of the 1,800 resident there are estimated to be 1,000 adult males, 300 females, and 500 children. Some 400 of these hail from Victoria, 750 from New South Wales, and 650 from New Zealand. Not more than a dozen or 20 Fijian residents have arrived direct from the northern hemisphere. The present population of Levuka, the capital, situated on the island of Ovalau, is 500 all told. Viti Levu, the largest island, which is 350 miles in circumfercncc,has about 250 scattered around thecoast, the largest number being at Suva, whore about 50 reside. Vanua Levu, the second largest island, is about 200 miles in circumference, and contains about 100 whites, the bulk of whom are settled on the Savu Savu and Bau coast, and a fair sprinkling on the Dreketi River. Taviuni, the garden of Fiji, is about 40 miles round, and contains about 100; Loma Loma, above 40 ; Yassawas group (10 or 12 small islets), about 20 ; Bau, 20 ; Kandavu, 40 ; Ovalau, ontside of Levuka, 20 ; and Mango, 10. The rest are distributed over the remaining 41 islands, in homesteads of two, three, five, and so on, generally 5,10, and 20 miles apart. The capital already invested in Fiji is reckoned at about £650,000, of which New South Wales has contributed £290,000 ; Victoria, £1CO,000; New Zealand, £150,000; Germany, £30,000; America and England, £20,000. One firm in Sydney has invested between £60,000 and £70,000, and a Victorian firm between £25,000 and £30,000. £50,000 worth of Fijian debentures are held in New Zealand. Of the above capital some £30,000 are invested in small sailing craft and boats, £50,000 in house property in Levuka, £70,000 in stocks in stores, and the balance, namely, £500,000, in plantations. Plantation life is anything but monotonous, especially when there are 50 or 100 laborers. The food consists of yams, which arc quite equal to potatoes; sweet potatoes; bread fruit; taro, a very strong and very useful vegetable, the leaf making the finest spinach, plenty of salt beef) fresh pork, turkeys, fowls, eggs, fish, bananas, plantains, pine-apples, wi-apples, mammy-apples, kavekas (large cherries), oranges, which are eaten while quite green, but are sweet and pungent; shaddocks, lemons, limes, pumpkins, water and rock melons, chili peppers, arrowroot, watercress, radishes, lettuce, and green cocoanuts. There is abundance of pure and beautiful water. Milk, either from the cow or from the cocoanut. This latter in coffee or blanc-mange is difficult to detect as being different from cows' milk. Levuka presents all the features of a civilized village. The principal buildings, commencing from the south and going northwards along the beach, are the Parliament houses, large, commodious, elegant, and cool; the residences of the Chief Secretary, Chief Justice, and the American consul; Smith and Hedeman's ginningestablishment, Marrinon's Hotel and row of dwelling-houses, French church, Polynesian Club Hotel, Henning's stores and ginning-establishment, row of stores, Empire and Royal Hotel, Evans' Smithfield Butchery, row of stores, Brodziak's store, Wilson and Murchie's large store, Exchange and reading-room, M'Callum's Hotel, chemists and draper's shop, Fiji bank and Grovcr's stores, Wesley an church and Argus Office, Fiji Times office, photographic gallery, Cudlip's stores, Supreme Court, Norns' store, Criterion Hotel and theatre, Hedeman's store, Cousens and Raddock, Pulley (butcher), Albion Hotel, Morgan's store, Levuka Hotel, Parker (chemist), Doig's store, double row of shops, hotels, &c, finished by the residonco of H.B.M. consul, in front of which a wooden jetty runs out. The hill rises abruptly at the back of the town, and handsome dwelling-houses are terraced on it up to a height of 300 ft., surmounted by the residence of Mr Butters, at an elevation of 350 ft., whose large English ensign floating above his observatory is the most conspicuous object in Levuka, and the

first seen by vessels inward bound. There are a dozen hotels, the largest being the Levuka, which has about 50 rooms, and in which from 40 to 60 people meet three times a day at table. The charge for firstclass accommodation in the hotels and boarding-houses is £2 2s per week. A very good table is kept. The out-door amusements consist of cricket, which is played every Saturday by the club, and rifle-shooting at the butts, which goes on at irregular intervals. Numerous matches have been made between the local cricket club and the officers of the various ships of war, the balance being generally in favor of the club. There is also yachting, which all island residents understand and enjoy. The fire brigade is a useful body of men, who take out their engine and practice once a week. Fishing in various ways finds votaries ; dynamite or giant powder being the most effective means resorted to. A boat-load is often killed by one shot. Concerts are generally of monthly occurrence. Amateur dramatic performances by the dramatic club are given bi-monthly. A ball takes place about once a quarter, and discussions in the mechanics' institute once a week. There are a great many social musical and dancing parties, and a pianoforte is to be found in almost every house. Lovers of billiards find no lack of amusement, there being four first class tables. An American bowling alley is fairly patronized. Gambling is almost unknown, a quiet rubber of whist being the extent of card-playing. Picnics are often made to the neighboring islands, and ferning parties are occasionally formed to visit the gullies. Two line creeks run through the town, and have baths in each made by the Corporation, where the entire population regale themselves morning, noon, and night. When a vessel of war is in harbor, carrying a band, it is usually allowed to play on the jetty twice a week. Occasionally, a lady may be seen cantering along the beach, but there is very little inducement to indulge in horso exercise. In time there will doubtless be better roads and more horses. The fashions are closely studied, and the milliners' shops are well patronized. At the public balls, concerts, &c, the catering is excellent, the suppers there laid out invariably astonishing strangers, the tables groaning with joints, turkeys, fowls, jellies, truffles, blanc-manges, sweets and fruits of all kinds, &c. Add to this a plentiful supply of ice, and bushels of fresh limes, and the list is complete. There are three ice-machines, one not at work, and the other two being ample for all the requirements of the town.

The daily routine of a Levuka household is about as follows:—Up at six a.m. and off to the creek for the bath. As you return you find the butcher's boy with his tray carrying up your joint, closely followed by the baker's boy with his basket of bread and hot rolls for breakfast. The milkman is next in rotation, the Chinaman follows with vegetables, and during the day appear relays of sable hawkers, selling fish,fowls,yams, potatoes, oranges, lemons, limes, pineapples, bananas, cucumbers,firewood, shells, coral, &c. Fresh butter comes about once a week from Rewa River; eggs are plentiful, 2s to 2s 6d per dozen. Business begins about 9 a.m., and is closed from 1 to 2 p.m., and open again from 3 to 6 p.m. The only public institution in the town is the hospital, which is supported with a liberal spirit, the donations for the first year averaging £2 per head per annum for the entire population. It has cost about £I,OOO to erect and furnish, and has accommodation for about twenty patients, with a detached building for native patients, and another for matron's quarters. There is only one medical man in Levuka, and he gives his services gratis to the hospital. There are four churches—the French church, English church, Wesleyan church, and Native Wesleyan church, the two former being of wood, and the two latter of stone and lime, built by the natives. The French church possesses a fine peal of bells. Servants give no trouble, the natives being docile, easily taught, and very faithful. .The native girls, who arc all laundresses, take their bundles of clothes to the creek, when they sit alongside of large stones up to their middle in water washing away for hours, and laughing and chaffing the while. They arc a happy race, and the most virtuous under heaven, thanks in a great measure to their missionary training. Washing is charged a dollar per dozen, and one family of whites who are the recognized laundresses are netting over £SOO a-year at it. There arc three or four others in the same line, all making money. Blacksmiths, carpenters, boat-builders, and painters are paid 16s per diem, and can get capital bed and board for 25s per week. A good blacksmith would find plenty of profitable employment. The fall in the prico of cotton from 3s 6d and 4s per lb to Is 3d and 2s has produced general bankruptcy, but the sugar era has begun, and Fiji will without doubt be the great sugar-producing country of tho world. As a comrnuuity there is not a more oidcrly, well-conducted lot of people in any part of the globe. There have been exceptions to this rule, but the recent enforcement of law and order has caused a prompt and complete cessation of anything bordering on rowdyism. The bank, which is an offshoot of the Bank of New Zealand, has regulated tho currency, and nothing but British coin and bank notes

are now to be found. This little institution is doing a good business. Many questions are asked by timid people about the natives, and whether they are quiet. Let it be understood once for all that life and property in Levuka are equally as safe as in Melbourne. The natives are kind, docile, and respectful. Their greatest ambition is to trade with white men, and get shillings out of them. They subscribe to their churches more liberally than white men for their means, and pay their taxes with a very good grace. Capital workmen when they like, they are naturally lazy, and this is no wonder, when they can go up a tree in the morning, and bring down a nice breadfruit for breakfast, which) well cooked, is not at all a bad substitute for a loaf, and is much better than a stale or sour one. Two yards of calico make a suit of clothes for them, but if they have money they spend it promptly with the drapers and storekeepers. Indeed,on Sundays it is surprising to see them bareheaded and bare-footed, with skirts just down to the knees, made of bright red, yellow, blue, and green silk, and their hair stuck full of large red Hybiscus flowers, which are nearly always in bloom. They are scrupulously religious, and have their family worship morning and evening. In every town there is a native teacher and preacher; the latter lashes himself into strong passion when he propounds the terrors of hell to his congregation. Their prayers are said reverentially and impressively on bended knee and face in the dust. Thousands of them read and write well. Their Bibles are printed in their own language. Hospitality to strangers is a marked feature of their character. Their amusements consist of mekes or dances, which are usually held on moonlight nights. Hundreds of them get together with their faces and bodies painted, and dance in perfect time to peculiar music made by two small pieces of wood, beaten with skill on a larger piece, and accompanied by a hollow noise,, produced by different lengths of bamboo, beaten on the ground by the women. The men clap their hands, brandish their clubs, and go through many grotesque figures with skill and precision. A meko once started is not easily stopped, and they frequently go at it till morning, working themselves into a great frenzy, and perspiring freely. Sometimes 20 or 30 persons will meet at an appointed spot for an annual feed. One took place at Mucuata, where they numbered about 300. They all. brought food and put it in the common heap; houses were built for the entire crowd in twenty-four hours, and then commenced a week's eating, drinking, and dancing, but everything most orderly and well conducted. There were about 1,000 pigs collected, tons of smoked fish, tons of yams, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas, and food of all kinds. They remained till it was all gone, and then went home. The inter-island navigation is slow, and carried on in small cutters, at great expense. A small paddle steamer, of about forty or fifty tons, would ensure a certain fortune in the group. Bau, the king's residence, is a small island, 25 miles from Levuka, about 40 acres in extent, and on which about 1,000 reside. They are fed by tribute from the surrounding islands, thus showing the power exercised by the king, who is an intelligent old man. His three sons and two daughters arc fine specimens of the race, and exercise enormous power all over the group. To say that the land cannot be surpassed in richness is only reporting what everyone admits. It is also without doubt the finest cattle country possible to imagine, well watered, running streams every half a mile or mile, as the case may be, luxuriant grass all the year round, and stock always fat. Goats thrive amazingly. They are fat, and their flesh is equal to mutton. Angora goats would do wellSheep have been tried, but as yet without success, the length of the grass and density of scrub being a drawback. There are no native animals of any kind in the country, and few birds, but imported ones are being gradually acclimatized and distributed. Altogether, if sugar is successful, it will be a splendid country. Climate is healthy, the range of thermometer is from 65deg. to OGdeg., and the average 80deg. in the shade all through the year. For nine months in the year the trade winds blow, and the weather is really beautiful. With regard to sugar-growing, no one should touch it unless he can command £5,000. With that and care a fortune can be made. The next best thing is to buy land close to a mill, where you can get your cane crushed ; then you may start with £I,OOO, but no less. There are ten sugar mills either en route, in course of erection, or at work in the islands. Maize-growing is a rapidly extending industry, and very profitable. With attention two crops per annum to three crops in 15 months can he calculated on ; 2s 6d per bushel is paid at the plantation. Immense quantities are being shipped in the Star of the South, steamer, to Auckland. This vessel is a regular trader, subsidized by the New Zealand Government. Small capitalists would find this a safe and profitable industry. Land can be leased at from 2s to 4s per acre per annum. The making of fibre and copra from the cocoanut is also a paying industry for small capitalists. Cotton at present is almost a dead letter. A small rise in that direction would ro-invigorato Fiji, and make her one of the most attractive dependencies of the British Crown,