THE CABLE AND CIVILISATION.

North Otago Times, Volume CVII, Issue 17748, 11 March 1927, Page 3

THE CABLE AND CIVILISATION.

the Christchurch Sun).

(From

The Pacific Gable Board has hnally taken over the new cable between Suva and Fanning Island, thus complcting the ddupncation of the cable between Bamfield, British Columbia, and Suva, and inferentially between Bamfield and Sydney and Auckland. Tliis iteni of news was pcssibly of little interest to a majority of the residents of New Zealand, because (1) thc Pacillc cablc in these days is accepied as a matter of , course, and (2) only a comparative- I Iv few people have occasion con- i stantly to utilisc its serviccs. Rut ' to tbose who knew the conditions in the Western Pacillc in pre- cable , days, ihe item gave a fillip to memo ry.

Less than 30 years ago Fiji was almost terra incognita, because of the lack of frequent overseas communication by steamers and sailing vessels, of the absence of a cable service, and of the consequent slow progress of internal development. It is probably true that 50 years ago the adjunct of civilisation least desired by quite a number of the population was a cable. The Yanlcee sailing ships that made occasional visits to the group in search of whales or To collect cargoes of turtlesliell, brought m'any doubtful characters for Fiji had beeome known as an oasis for criminals of all degrees. It was, in fact, prior to the cession in 1874 a No Man's Land where extradition laws were inoperativc. An occasional sloop-of-war from Australia or the Homeland poked her nose through. the reef at Levuka, the ' old capital; but these never hunted for trouble. The Fijians themselves needed no tutoring savagery, for history has no records to outvie in horror tbe daily practices of some of the old- j time chiefs. Thc author of "King i and People of Fiji" records that. j "The mcn ,doomed to death were order'ed to dig a hple in the earth for the purpose of niaking a native oven, and were even made to cut firewood to roast their own bodies

They were directed to go and wasli, and then to make a cup from a banana leaf; a vein in their bodies was opened, and the cup filled with the bloocl, which was drunk in tlie victims' presence. Serif (who afterwards became known as Bloody King Cakobau) then had their arms and legs cut off, cooked, and eaten, some of the food being presented to the writhing victims. Seru then ordered a fish-hook to be inserted in their tongues, which were drawn out as far as possible and cut off: these were roasted and eaten. If life was not then extinct, an incision w.as made in the side of the bodies and the bowels torn out." Fruitful soil, this, for tfie cutthroat and garrotters of civilised j countries seelcing new records of i crime. And when Charles Savage, j the ill^omened but aptly-named New ! Bedford whaler, landed at Bau with a cargo of muskets and ammunition j and a crew 6f rutliles desperadoes, : he was able to join Cakobau in an j crgy of murder and lust and rapine unparalleled since Attila.

It js almost incredible that these practices continued in " Fiji until aiiout 50 years ago — contemporane- i ous, indeed, with The birth and : growth to immaculate civilisation of ' the two adjacent, island outposts— Australia and New Zealand — only a ' few days' sail away. ! But with the signing of the Deecl ; of Cession on October 10, 1874, Fiji ! became a Crown Colony, and an • era of prosperity began that has ; been one of the most splendid tri- j butes to Britain's colonising genius j in tbe World's history. And in this j ,great transformation the- cable has ' played a conspicuous part. i The fact that in less-, than a quar- j -tre of a century of the laying of ! the cable it has become necesary i to duplicate the line is evidence j of the growth of - the business activities in The group, and surely there is in this fact a lesson for New Zealand, whose mercliants are permitting Australia and America— and Japan— -to appropriate far* too great a proportion of the trade.