THE CONDITION OF FIJI.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5072, 26 June 1877, Page 3

THE CONDITION OF FIJI.

(From the Sydney Morning Herald.) Mr. J. B. Thurston, Colonial Secretary of Fiji, has prepared a very interesting report upon the trade and commerce of that colony for the year 1876. Xu this account he compares the commercial status of Fiji with its condition during the preceding three years. The vicissitudes, although great, are perhaps not more remarkable than might have been expected, considering the circumstances of the islands prior to their cession, and since they have become part and parcel of the British Empire. Among the chief products of the islands have been beche-de-msr, (dried cocoanut), cotton, and maize. In 1873, the value of the beche-de-mer exported from Levuka was £3352 ; in the following year it reached £15,478. In 1875 it fell to £3407 ; and last year it was £2491. But the figuresshow a rttUl greater decline in the production of cotton. In 1873 the cotton exported is s*t down at £73,395 ; in 1874 it was £68,020; in 1875 it fell to £25,106 ; and last year it was a little less than £12,000. The extraordinary increase in the production of beche-de-mer in 1874 was caused by the collapse of the cottongrowing industry. Upon this point Mr. Thurston says:—“During the year 1874 it became evident to a number of settlers that cotton growing, so long as freight, commission, and other charges remained so high, was nothing else than ruin made easy. With the determination, therefore, of struggling through their difficulties until the negotiations for cession were completed, many of them turned temporarily from the land, which, from the causes indicated, gave little return for their hard toil, to the coral reefs, which offered them a fairer prospect. Almost every settler who owned, or who could hire a boat, turned a fisher and curer of beche-de-mer, with which these seas abound. The I’esult was that over 15,000 pounds worth of this luxury was exported to China, against 3000 in the previous year,” Fortunately for this young colony, it has contrived to make up by increase in other industries for the great falling off in the export of beche-de-mer and cotton. The copra and cocoanut oil return stands thus: £11,116; in 1875, £36,784; and in 1876, £41,436. A considerable source of wealth is also found in the production of maize, the value of which increased from £l3O in 1873 to £llßs in 1874, and to nearly £II,OOO in 1875, falling again, however, in 1376 to £8464. It is expected that the export of maize will be greatly increased now that arrangements have been made for steam communication between the various islands of the group. The report speaks very hopefully of the future of Fiji. It says :—“ To a great degree the inactivity in all branches of trade and industry in the years 1873-4 was owing to the local disturbances and political unrest under which the country suffered from the end of 1871 to October, 1874, and the effects of which were keenly felt even in 1875. But to the complete failure of cotton planting, as a profitable occupation, consequent upon the great fall in. its value, the enormous expenses in shipping, and the increasing difficulty of obtaining labor, were the embarrassments and commercial stagnation of those years chiefly attributable.” The benefits which were expected to follow the annexation of Fiji to Great Britain were looked for with an unreasonable impatience, and the check to the acquisition of land in view of Imperial interests is said to have had a retarding influence upon the progress of the new colony. Summing up all these matters, Mr. Thurston observes : “If thus fettered, Fiji had retrograded commercially, general expectation would only have been realised. To hope that it would do more than ‘mark time’ appeared to be hoping against hope, and, therefore, it is a matter for general congratulation that at the close of 1870, with the lands still locked up, with a greatly diminished population—both European and native—we find that the exports of the country have not

fallen off, that our external trade, calculated at per head of population, has increased, and that business generally is upon a better and sounder footing than it has ever been since the settlemeut of Europeans in the group began.” The issuing of Crown grants to land lias not been very rapid, on account of the limited surveying staff, but we learn that a large number of claims have been inquired into and reported upon by the commissioners and confirmed by the Governor and Council, and it is reported in the Fiji Times that on the 3rd of April last his Excellency the Governor gave his assent to an Ordinance extending the powers of the commissioners appointed to investigate and report upon claims to land. It is expected that this new Ordinance, which gives to each member of the commission powers similar to those which previously could he exercised only by the whole body, will facilitate the settlement of land claims. Looking at the total exports of Fiji in each of the four years previously mentioned, we find that the colony has “ marked time" pretty well. In 1873 the total exports from Levuka amounted to £84,783; in 1874 they were £92,507; in 1875 they were 4:84,714; in 1870 they amounted to £82,890. In the articles of export for the lastmentioned year there are several which bid fair to add largely to the wealth of Fiji in future years. Among these are arrowroot, of which 281 pounds worth was exported ; coir fibre, the export of which increased from £Bl5 in 1873, to £2727 in 1876 ; caudle-nuts, of which the value exported last year was £1562 ; and last, sugar. The export of this commodity in 1574 was £lO5 ; in 1875 it was £3240 ; in 1876 it was £9036. The prospects of the sugar industry in Fiji appear to he promising, hut with the scarcity of labor and the slow progress of land survey, it will he some time before Fiji becomes to these colonies “ what the West Indies are to Europe.” In addition to the exports from Levuka, it appears that the exports from Suva amounted to £3300 ; that the exports from Loma Loraa amounted to £20,772 ; and that the exports from Gaioa were about £SOO, which, added to the £82,890 from Levuka, give a total of upwards of £107,000. Of this £36,000 went to Hamburg, £34,800 came to Sydney, £3600 went to Melbourne, £IB,OOO to London, £13,500 to Auckland, and small amounts to San Francisco, Noumea, and Samoa. Direct communication between this colony and Fiji is to he carried on by the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. Regular and rapid intercourse by steam must greatly promote the development of the resources of the islands, and there can be little doubt that our low tariff will secure to us a large portion of the trade.