FIJI.

Southland Times, Issue 1178, 8 December 1869, Page 3

FIJI.

To ihe Editor of The TnrK3. Nawi Plantation, Bua, Yanua Levu, Fiji, September 2, 1869. Sir, — Believing that some of your readers would be interested to hear of my welfare, I write a few lines to assure them of the fact. After spending several months in travelling about the Islands in search of land, and to gain information, I finally settled in Bua in March, and as yet have seen no reason to regret the choice I then made of a locality. The principal inducements which iufluenced me in settling here, were . the security whirh I found to exist for life and property, the healthiness of the locality, as testified by tha European residents, and the prospect of having agreeable neighbors. This last desideratum is™ to me one of the most important, as a great deal of our happiness depends upon the persons with whom we are obliged to associate, and in a country like this it is no easy matter to be suited in this respect, for in many places otherwise very desirable for settlement, you may have no neighbors within twenty or thirty miles, and in other situations you may be thrown too much in contact with persons whom you might wish, at a greater distance. My partner and myself are now engaged in trading with the natives for cotton, cocoanut oil, tortoise shell, &c, and in cotton planting, and we are very well satisfied with the results of our operations, so far. The climate of Bua, though of course not so bracing as that of Southland, is much more agreeable and very healthy. There is nearly always a sea breeze by day and a land breeze by night. The range of the thermometer since I have been in Bua hns been from 60° at the coldest, to S7 °at the hottest. At sunrise this morning it stood at 63 ° , and it now stands afc SG °. The principal objection that I have to the climate is the almost entire absence of rain during the greater part of the year, but this is rather an advantage than otherwise to the cotton planter, although it linits the season, for planting to a few months. The greater part of our land is suitable for the plough, requiring very little clearing, the vegetation being mostly grass, reeds, fern, and balawas, which last are like the cabbage trees in New Zealand. As we have succeeded in buying a pair of horses (which, by the bye, are very rare animals in F.ji), we intend to bring our | land under cultivation with the ' plough, instead of with native ' digging sticks which, has hitherto been. °he general practice in Fiji. Although I greatly prefer the life of a planter in Fiji to that of a settler in Southland, I do not wish to write any thing to induce those who are now settled iv New Zealand to come to 3?iji. What suits one person may not suit another, and I would not advise any one to give up a certainty for an uncertainty. I

entertain no doubt, however, that cottonplanting in these islands is a very lucrative occupation, where a sufficient supply of labor can be obtained, and this is the only real difficulty.

I have just read with very great satisfaction 3Lr H. Armstrong's farewell letter to the Southland Xews. There is so much truth and so much nobility of sentiment expressed in the letter, that it ought to be a matter of sincere regret to the inhabitants oF the province that such men as the writer are leaving it. Some of the truths contained in Mr Armstrong's letter are perhaps not very fluttering to Southlanders ; they are, however, none the less worthy of serious consideration. I entirely agree with what he says about, the want of sympathy, of kindly feeling, and of fellowship one for another, which exists anvng the settlers. In very few communities is there such a want of public spirit, or of power of co-opeiution. Witness the futile attempts that have been made from time to time to organise various public institution-*, which in other countries are thriving and beneficial, but which in Southland can find no soil in which to grow.

Some excuse may possibly be found for petty rivalries and animosities among tradesmen and merchants ia a small community, where the prosperity of one may be at the expense of the rest, but no excuse whatever exists for _ such rivalries amou? the cultivators of the soil. Why Bhould it be a source of vexation to one that his neighbor has better crops, or has carried out greater improvements than himself ? He is sm'e)y none the worse off for his neighbor's success, and although that might reasonably st'mulate him to accomplish the more, it ought not to make him wish the success of his neighbor less. If a man wishes to lay himself out specially as a victim of the sort of feeling so strongly and justly condemned by Mr Armstrong, let him leave the beaten track, try experiments, advocate new theories, or iutroduce novelties, and if lie happen to have a little more brains than his neighbors, and especially if he be not one of the same class as themselves, they will be sure to prophesy failure, and I am sorry to say, some will even wish for his failure. "Why is it that those men who are moat respected ia the province are almost invariably spoken ill of by their nearest neighbors?

I shall always take an interest in the prosperity of Southland, and although some years may yet elapse before the full tide of prosperity returus, yet I entertain no doubt but that at some time in the future, Invercargill will be the commercial centre of a large and thriving agricultural population.

I entered the province as a very young man, spent nine of the besfc years of my life in it, and met with great success and great reverses, but through all was ever treated with the greatest respect, and have every reason to entertain the kindliest feelings towards the community. I remain, &c, S. Beaten.