SOCIAL LIFE IN THE FIJIS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 218, 14 September 1871, Page 4

SOCIAL LIFE IN THE FIJIS.

Aa ! to the social condition of Levuka, tli© jelBS said 1 the >6tter. The license and impropriety daily -exhibited by so-called gentlemen is hardly conceivable by those who have not seen it.. This license has not the same tendency as in Sydney,, or Melbourne. In Levuka there is.no demimonds, no Favoritas ; ladies are quite at a premium, and a tolelably well behaved andirea'socably/good-lookiDg { young lady,' who can attend a bar, has no difficulty in obtaining 50s. a week for very easy work; and it is ten to one she gets half-a-dozen oilers of marriage during her first halfyear in the place. The license which to a very great extent, disgraces the Levuka community is this, .that might is right, and that he who happens to know most of the 'noble science* of the prize ring is cock of the walk. A certain taint of communism, or give and take rowdyism, has insinuated, itself, in the manner in which quarrels are settled, and unless some sort of lawful authority is established, this might is right kind of policy and practice will rapidly spread. Suppose, for instance (and the example is only one out of a hundred, perfectly' true, and wholly unvarnished) that you have occasion to leave your bedroom door open, for two very good reasons: first, that the atmosphere would be unbearable if it wns closed; aud,r secondly, because very few doors can be locked— having been forced in times past. Say that, during your absence, your washerwoman deposits your clean; linen, &c, on the bed, or that you, in your innocence, leave your eau de cologne or other trifles on the dressing-table, and coming home for a refreshing wash and change of linen, after exposure to a broiling sun, you find a stranger in the act of bathing his face with your scented waters, after having ddniied the very best of your shirts, you exclaim as I did once— "What the deuce are you doing here, air?" " Doing here ! " answers a hoarse voice from a powerful frame. "Doing here —dressing myself up, as you see." * But this is my room.' M know it, but as my washerwoman did not bring my togs, I thought I might as well have a 'shirt of yours, and so I took . the loan of this. r You can have one of mine as 1 soon as they come home. 'Tis all right.' * I will be obliged if you will; leave, my room.' This with. some rising anger, or at least asperity. „ * Ob, certainly, as soon as I have combed out my beard. Fine weather to-day, though rather hot. Will you Lave a nip ? No ! Ah, well, good morning. I'll see you again.' * Now, what can be done with such men ? If a quarrel ensues it is purely a matter of might or * science,' and even in the event of a victory over such a scoundrel, what is gained ? A very negative victory indeed, since the whole beach within an hour would ring with most exaggerated reports. of the new • row ' between Mr and Scotch Jack, or Blackguard Joe, &c. The most impudent thefts — I call them by no other name— -are "committed in this fashion, and the more readily because, in consequence of the'ljrleat heat, people are almost necessitatedto leave their doors open even at night. .. . , , More serious offences in the appropriation of the property of others are by no means rare, and the skill, displayed is often of the highest kind. There are strong suspicions, too, that the help of drugs is often resorted to in plundering the victims. I will mention; two flagrant, cases. In one room of the largest hotel two persons slept one night in February last. The one was a traveller, the other owner and master of a small ketch. The former retired to bed about 11, but was occupied in reading till; 12 o'clock, when the| latter arrived, perfectly sober. He made remarks about rogues being about, and pat' 'his'' purse and belt,, not under the head as is usually (lone, but under the mattrass, in the middle of the bed, so that his whole body should coyer it. The door was left open,;, andvin the morning it was found that the .mattrass had, been? dragged more than one-third over the edge of the bedstead, and the purse and belt gone, together with the contents, eleven sovereigns, two halfrsovereigns,; and some silver. ■ The robbed 'man) declared that he 'neveWfelt disturbed- - d uring, , the night,; : thought generally a light sleeper, but lie had a heavy. next day., 3 No one, but his bedroom comrade and the landlord were made^apgu^{p%d,jw|th' v tUe fact of r his being robbed, and ajao'jthJß— ihaVoue of the hal£soyjereignßi /ha^;- a • ;' ..bUe//.in :it -#n the edge. Four days after this I happened tq-tt#3itftt&*! bafAoP' l tne^H6«el/owneßt'aU^ present were startled :bjr^e expression-— * You stole my money,- Joe ; I thought it was you/ the epeaker at the same time triumphanily Holding up half a. stiveWign, j which he had .BDatchedJrom^Jpe's band,

and exhibiting to everyone a * bite ' in the rim. * I thought it waa you, for there were but two others who knew I had drawn the cash that day.'