Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1884. THE FIJI ISLANDS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 266, 7 October 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1884. THE FIJI ISLANDS.

Why people who are unsuccessful m this colony should almost invariably make for the Fiji Islands, is hard to say. Perhaps the fashion has something to do with it) for men are like a certain other class of animals m many respects, and what a few do, many will do. But the attraction which draws men to those remote parts may possibly be the thoughts of the seclusion which awaits them there, over the water ; seclusion m many cases from the constant and anxious enquiries of various friends which some people contrive to get about them, who are so interested m their welfare as to be reluctant to hear of their departure. Whether either of these has been the cause of the growth of the European population m Fiji it is not easy to say, but that those islands have made a great increase m their population of white people is an established fact. In a report furnished to the Government m -■1883, and since printed by them m a pamphlet containing much varied information on the question of federation and annexation, there are many interesting particulars to be found regarding the Fiji Group. The different islands and their capitals Are described, and their exports, position, population and other matters fully detailed. Thus we see that m the year 1860 there were over 200,000 natives, Whilst the permanent white residents only numbered 200. Eight years later the whites had increased to 1,288, and m the year 1870 their numbers i had actually increased to 4000 j whilst those of the natives were found to have suffered a corresponding decrease, there being only 170,000 left. The immigration that mnst have been going on during the two years '69 and '70 was by no means small, when 2712, persons settled m the islands m so short a time. The inducements m those days, however, must have been con-, siderably greater than they are now. The chief export being cotton, m various forms^ and cocoa-nut oil and the like productions, land was well worth acquiring, and was probably to be obtained at a small cost. But the times have altered since 1870. We are not told what the population oftheFiji Islands amounts to at the present day, but there must have been a considerable increase m the white population during 1 4 years. What then do young men do at the present day when they go to Fiji Surely there is more field for energy and industry m this colony than it is reasonable to expect exists m a small group of islands, like the Fiji which must be fairly well populated already. Taking the difference of climate and : everything else into consideration, it seems more likely that a move to Fiji will prove one for the worse rather than for the better.