STATE OF TRADE IN FIJI.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 17, 20 May 1871, Page 8

STATE OF TRADE IN FIJI.

A special correspondent of a Sydney journal writes: —Trade at present at Levuka is at a very low ebb, and money exceedingly scarce. Both these circumstances may he easily accounted for. With regard to the first, the accursed war that has been raging in Europe has, by stopping the outlet, brought down the price of cotton, copra, &c, to a low price, so much so that with the scarcity and expense of labor, the planters find the production of their commodities no such lucrative pursuit. Those who have cotton in stock decline to send it away, pending the termination of the war, which they hope may soon be announced, and considerable quantities remain on hand. This is one great cause of the scarcity of money. Another is the large amounts that have been absorbed in procuring labor; and a third is the traders draining away every available dollar.

You would be surprised at the heaps of merchandise that are piled up in the stores upon the beach, far, very far in in excess of the demand. Importers to Australia and New Zealand of wines, spirits, beer, hardware, dry goods, provisions, &c, have evidently looked upon Fiji as a certain outlet for their surplus stock. And here such stock is held, considering the population, in prodigious quantities. Much of it is as dead at though buried in the cemetry at Haslam’s Creek. In vain those gifted auctioneers, Messrs Burt and Cudlip, at their respective stores, offer, with eloquence that would do honor to your assembly, and with persuasive powers that you would think nothing could resist, goods that I am certain would be

briskly competed for in any of your Sydney auction marts. All have abundance for many months to come—there is no money on “ the beach,” and no buyers for anything. I am concerned to think that there will be many sufferers in Sydney by this flood of merchandise to Fiji, although, with the cessation of war, and the coming abundant crops of cotton, I think there will be a great rection, and prosperity resume her sway. Yet with all the scarcity of money and depression in trade I have mentioned, there is one line of business that seems to flourish like a green bay tree, and that is the public houses. Last June, Levuka boasted only three hotels —Turner’s Perkin’s, and Unwin and Nieman’s. Now there are forty-two! Every second house, and in many instances adjoining houses, are open for the sale of drink. There is a square which consists wholly of public houses, all recent erections, built of timber, and most conveniently fitted up, having bar and stock quite equal to the majority of houses in Sydney, with liquids retailed at very low prices, a glass of brandy or other spirits threepence, and so on in proportion. The pretty barmaid is becoming an institution at these houses, and there have been importations of young ladies from all the colonies whose winning and attractive smiles would induce anyone to imbibe their “spiders,” “ cock-tails,” sodas and brandies, &c. These young ladies obtain very heavy salaries. In Levuka £l5O a year is thought not at all inadequate to their services, and they are regarded as indispensable accessories to the grog-seller’s calling. Besides the public houses there is a free trade in liquor : no small shop but will sell you a bottle of grog, and as spirits pay no duty and publicans no license fee, you may understand at how low a rate with the competition that exists.