FIJI.
To the Editor of Thb Tr&ißS. Nawi Plantation, Bua, Vanua Leva, Fiji, September 2, 1800. Sir, — Believing that Borne 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 influenced me in settling here, were the security which I found to exist for life and property, the healthiness of the locality, as testified by tna European residents, and the prospect: of having agreeable neighbors. This last desideratum is to me one of the mos.t important, as a great deal of out 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 persona whom you might wish at a greatefr distance. - My partner and myself are now engaged in trading with the natives- for cotton, cocoanut oil, tortoise shell*, <fee;, and in cotton planting, and we are very well satisfied with the results of our operations, so far. v 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 aland breeze by night. The range of the thermometer since I have been in, Bua has been from 60° at the coldest, to 87° at the hottest. At sunrise this morning it stood at 63°, and it now stands at 86 ° - The principal objection that I have to the climate is the. almost entire absence of rain during the greate* part of the year, but this is rather an advantage than otherwise to the cofctori planter, although it limits 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^whichilaafe 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 Fiji), we intend to bring our land under cultivation with the plough, instead of with native digging Bticks which, has Hitherto been the general practice ill 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 anything to induce those who are now settled in New Zealand to come to Fiji. What suits one person may n6fc 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 onlf real difficulty. ' I remain, &c, S. Beaton.
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Southland Times, Issue 1185, 20 December 1869, Page 3 (Supplement)
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541FIJI. Southland Times, Issue 1185, 20 December 1869, Page 3 (Supplement)
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