THE SALE OF CROWN LANDS IN FIJI.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5246, 16 January 1878, Page 3

THE SALE OF CROWN LANDS IN FIJI.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —As editor of one of. the leading journals in one of the chief towns in New Zealand, I send you the following statement of facts, thinking they may be. of interest to your readers, and trusting you will give them , publicity : In September last, I petitioned for a sale of Crown lauds containing upwards of 621 acres, in order to improve my adjoining estate of 930 acres, forthepurpose of erecting sugar machinery of the value of £16,000, which I have ordered from Glasgow. From conversation with certain Government officials, aud from one or two other matters which came to my knowledge, I gathered that I should not have fair play at the auction, which took place on Saturday last, and therefore I was hot present at it. At ! this auction, much to the disgust of our Governor, the land was knocked down for 30a. an acre to the bid of “ the Attorney-General, on behalf of the Crown ! ” This is the first sale of Crown lands that has taken place, aud we are told by the Attorney-General that on account of the ridiculously low price the land fetched, it will be the last. Nearly everyone in Fiji knows that my mill is ordered ; also, that I am a bona fide settler, having a coffee plantation of 350 acres started, with nearly 300 men and a manager and oversser at work, aud before the new year shall have 100 acres planted ; and yet, in the face of this, and with the approval ot the Governor, the AttorneyGeneral is put ou to run up the price, and was very surprised, annoyed, and excited, when it was knocked down to him. I enclose a leading article, published in the Fiji Times of this date, which bears out what I say, aud which contains the names of two gentlemen of undoubted standing and veracity, who were both present at the auction, in case my statement is denied, merely asking you if, in a colony where so many thousand acres have been given away to induce a settlement, the course pursued here meets with the approval of your colonists ? I publish this not so much as a matter of ■ personal complaint, but as au act of duty. A comparatively recent settler myself, aud bavin" invested a large amount of capital in the colony of Fiji, I deem it but right to warn others who may. also think of casting their lot here, what they may expect from this Government of a Crown colony of a severe type.— I am, &0., Wm. Filling-ham: Parr. Levuta, December 22, 1877.