FIJI EXPERIENCES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 75, 15 July 1870, Page 3

FIJI EXPERIENCES.

We are in lebted to Mr. Frater of this place for the »>erusnl of a -iettf dated Viti Levu Bay, April 1, lS7u, rrom which isf he following extract:—- ; ,: I have now 20 acres of cotton in out I to have had far more, Veto it n.)t for the old chief and the natives who put." every obstacle in my way they could. They even tried to stop* other •natives from working with me, bat I determined to put an; nd to their tricks, . and wrote a long letter to the Consul which had the effect of bringing the chief to his bearings, and I can now get plenty of labor, iou cannot depend upon Fiji labor, for if a settler displeases the chief he stops the work; therefore, no m:ui is except he has foreign labor of his own and be inde-pendent-of them. Messrs. Leveny and Strang, with myself, intend chartering a vessel to get our own labor, that being the only practical way of dealing with the subject.' Labe'r is higher in prue, and more difficult to get since you left. £ have not picked any (cotton) as yet, but expect to do so soon. The animosities of the rival chiefs keep the labor question very unsettled. Up the river 'will ultimately be the best place for a settlement, as the land is deeper in soil and better adapted for growing cotton, and more sheltered from the winds—• which latter is a great consideration to a planter, for my cotton suffered a great deal from the gales. Great changes are taking place owing to the new arrival?, and land is eagerly looked atter, and rising in price. You can't buy land on Taviuna now under £1 to £2 per acre. Tour land is in a good position, well adapted for cotton, deep rich soil, and far superior to that at the head of the bay of Messrs. Leefe, Shallow and Clay. lam trying to buy that block of land on the Ruku Ruku "river that Leveny and Strang bought from Kumby liumby. As the chief of the river is out of office, and away from the island at present. I will have some difficulty in making a purchase. Captain Leefe has bought that laud you missed at Raki. Kaki—l mean that fancy block on the river. If you had pushed you might have had it. Matthews the halfca*te gat it in exchange for his block, and it is the finest piece of land I have seen on the island. All the land round. | about is bought up since the Melbourne Company made a start on the opposite side of the bay. 'They have built a large Btore on the ground, and on the arrival of their Mr. Cook from Melbourne were to have done great things ; but I have heard that their funds are done, and the greut speculation may therefore fail. There has been a great meeting: or the wute population to try and form some kind of self-government, or have the islands anuexed to Victoria; but the people would not pull together—their self-interests and widely scattered isolated settlements will likely make the project end in smoke. There is more liklihood of the, Americans taking them over, for the case of Underwood and Burl—through whom the chiefs were fined £ i.o,ooo—gives the Yankees some claim on them. Misfortune still attends Mr. Kinross. He lost 4 tons cotton going from his place to Levuka. Mr. Leefe is the most successful man I know. He has sold his station on the mainland for £SOO, and leases the remainder to new arrivals. Mr. Thomson has not carried out his contract for plautiug your cocoa nuts the way he is in hostility with Lumba the mountaiu chief. Without foreign labor a man will not be successful in Fiji, because if you get native labor you have no power to make them work alone, but mix them with foreign labor and you will be successful