Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, NOV. 29,1900. Fiji.

Manawatu Herald, 29 November 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, NOV. 29, 1900. Fiji.

It may be aa well at tha very outset to state that Fiji ia a Crown Colony ceded to the British • 'rown in 1874. The population in December 1897 was 121,798; comprising 99,773 native Fijians, 12,025 Indian immigrants, 8,401 Europeans, and some Polynesians, half-castes, and Chinese. It has an income of £74,492 and a public debt of je218,256. The Governor is appointed by the Crown, and is assisted by an Executive Council, consisting of three official members Laws are passed by a Legislative Council, of which the i Governor is president, and which I contains six official and six unofficial members, all nominated by the Crown. Native administration is carried on through the chiefs under the Governor's supervision. i Our readers will remember that there has been an agitation amongst the islanders for annexation to New Zealand, which has stirred up much opposition on the part of the New South Wales Government, and, as we shall show later on, opposition, of an unfair nature, on the part of the Governor of the Crown colony of Fiji. We understand that there has been, for years, on the part of our far-seeing public men, a desire to amalgamate the rule of all the outlying islands in the South Pacific with this colony, and there is a great deal to be said both for and against , taw fjuggegUon,, It appears from tho

Fiji Times that the Governor of Fiji, Sir G. O'Brien, took the opportunity en the 28rd of October last, when opening a new hospital at Wainibokasi, to make some remarks both against the advisability of the natives taking any part in the agitation to federate with this co'ony, and against the way the Maoris have been treated by us. After the remarks of the Governor have been read we think our readers will agree that the Fijians have nothing to fear from our administration, but on the other hand much to gain, as there has never been a field on which the best efforts to preserve a native race have been tried than that of New Zealand, and the consideration given to the natives has been almost Quixotic in the desire to do nothing unfair towards them. With experience thus gained the members of the New Zealand legislature appear most fitted to be entrusted with tht property of the Fijian natives, and more likely to do them justice than a nominee government. So far as the native difficulty was concerned we should be glad to see federation accomplished. Sir G. O'Brien told the meeting, composed chiefly of natives, that at a federation meeting the other night in Suva, mention was made of the Rewa water-supply. " Why, it was said that it was absurd to supply you with water, and that it was very wrong to have spent the money that has been spent in doing so." He then went on to suggest that the federation meeting had said that brackish water was good enough for the natives, and then asked, " Now, why do I mention this to you ? It is in order that you may see how little these people know or care about the Fijians Well, the New Zealand party has said that the Rewa water is good enough for them (the sick and dying), go I suppose that if they are parched with thirst they ought to get up, if they can, and walk miles to the Rewa to find brackish water to quench it." These few words show the animus of the Governor towards the federation movement, which, as possibly it would be the means of doing away with his office, may ev plain why he holds such views, but foolish as they are, coming from a gentleman holding the position he does, they might be forgiven, but the untrue and distort d statements as to how this Colony has treated the Maoris requires both an explanation and an apology at his hands. Unfortunately for Sir G. O'Brien the value of any statement made by him in the future, in his own colony, wi 1 be discounted by the want of knowledge of which he has shown of what is being done elsewhere. He goes on to say : -" If the chiefs and the more intelligent amongst you ask yourselves the question, What has this New Zealand party got to gain from us 9 you will not have to wait very long before you see the answer. You have the land, my friends, and that is what they want to get, and hope that they will get it if you are foolish enough to listen to them. It has always been the same in evevy country under the kind of Government that there is in New Zealand— the white men have always taken the land from the coloured owners. It has been so in New Zealand, where the land once all belonged to the coloured people. Who owns that land now? The white people have got nearly the whole of it The coloured people are cooped up in the fragment of land that has been left to them, and and many of them have no land at all What has happened in New Zealand to the coloured people's land will happen here, too, if New Zealand gets this country. But you have been told that if New Zealand gets this country the natives will not have to pay native taxes. Of course, the perso'S who have told you this have done so to tempt you to listen to them, in order that, if you are foolish enough, you may think it a good thing that New Zealand should get this country. Therefore they tell you that if you were under the Now Zealand Government you would not have to pay native taxes. Bui they do not tell you that if you paid no native taxes you wou d, like the coloured people in New Zealand, lose nearly all your land. For what, after all, are those so-called native taxes that you have to pay ? I will tell you. They amount to less than £1 a year for each adult male, and they are the rent which the Fijian people pay for the lands that they are not actually cultivating. Under the Act of Cession, by which the father of Roko Tui Taileyu, and the other great chiefs of Fiji, on behalf of themselves and their several tribes, made over the country to Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, it was agreed that the Fijians should keep the lands they were cultivating, and that all the rest should belong to Government-. But when it was found that this did not please the chiefs and people, the Government allowed them to have all the unoccupied lands, and in return got from them the small rent which is known by the name of native taxes. So you see, if you were to cease to pay that rent you would also cease to own those lands, and they would be taken from you, aa the lands have been taken from the owners in New Zealand and other countries that are under the same kind of government. And what you have to think of is this ; Would you rather go on pay«

ing your rent to this Government under the Queen, or have your rent remitted by the New Zealand Government, or lose your lands? I know what your answer is: You would rather pay your rent and keep your lands. If any of you were to give trouble, that would only make it easy for New Zealand to get your country, and for you to lose your lands. What there is to be said on your behalf I have already said to the Queen, and shall, if necessary, say it again. But, in the meanwhile, I repeat to you and I charge you all to remain quiet and peaceable, and to give no trouble either to white men or to any others, but to go about your own business and attend to your own affairs just aa if you had never heard any question of New Zealand wanting to get this country. That is what you have got to do ; and I, as your principal and head Chief, order you to do it." We shall take another opportunity of comparing the treatment of the Maoris even with the treatment already meted out to the Fijians under the government Sir G. O'Brien extols. If he knew anything of the history of this colony he would have refrained from admitting that the Fijian government took all the lands not actually occupied, and leased it back to the original owners. Its counterpart cannot be found in Maori transactions here.