Annexation to Victoria. Suva, September 2nd. FIJI NEWS.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 220, 17 September 1887, Page 2

Annexation to Victoria. Suva, September 2nd.

FIJI NEWS.

The movement having this object in t view which 1 reported in my last, is in actual and energetic -progress. Meetings have now been held in the three chief centres of European population, and in each the same lino <,f action has been unanimously adopted. Memorials have been drawn up for presentation to both Hoimes of the Victorian parliament praying for consent and co-operation, and a petition to the Secretary of State for the Colonies has also been prepared. All are now in course of public signature, and. hardly a name has been withheld. The petition to the Secretary, of State will be presented to the OJoA'ernor by the unofficial member* of Council, at a meeting of the Council, with a request that it may be transmitted. As soon a? the memorials are fully signed they will be forwarded for presentation, and it lias been decided to despatch Mi- T .H. Priohard, the editor of the Fiji "Times," with them to Melbourne, to assist the local committee in that city with his special knowledge of local detail. He will be leaving within the next fortnight, and he will take with him the earnest wMieo of everyone for the success of his minion.

The Mills. There is not much to report from the vaiiouo mills beyond that lust noted. All aio at work, the Leewaid mills with fair i exults, while those at Ba, Pcnnnjr, Ellington, and Maj»o are getting excellent returns. The yield from the mill last named is exceeding any former output, and as heavy rains, have fallen at intervals during the month, renewing the moisture of the soil, the stand of young cane is in splendid ouler. The C.S.li. Company's big Rewa mill -will stop in a day or so for about six weeks, as the spell will benefit the cane yet to be crushed, and w ill give the planters time to look to the ne\t ratoon crop. At Mavuaand Deubathemill-aresteadilycrubh-ing and the manager-,are thoi oughly satisfied with the prospect. All the saehrocrats, and in fact the colonists generally, are more than satisfied -with the alteration in the Victorian sug-u- duties, i>articiilavly as the Fijian white prepared by the lceiy process will go in as unrefined sugar, at the rate of Z2 10s per ton. It will be of immense assistance to the industry in Fiji, and it is accepted as a good augury for the future, when, through tho incorporation of Fiji with Victoiia, the product will go in free.

Minor Products. Tea is doing well, as the shipments to your colony by the Union Company's learner* testify. The growers are confident about it-> success on any scale, and an ob.-er\er only wants to look at Fiji to conclude that if it can grow nothing 1 else it can gnrv\ leaf. jNlr Barrett, of Wainumi, an old Indian grower, declares th.it the yield ih at least 25 per cent, ahead ot that obtained in Assam, or on the Darjeeling hilN, and the only question m Fiji is that of labour. This the Governor i-. beginning to see, and it i.s baid that infuture fewer dilh'culties -\\ ill be met in obtaining native labourers. At Mago, the cotton crop is looking well, and the cocoanuts are recoveiing trom the enVeto of the 3886 hurricane. The damage done by that \ imitation was only imperfectly estimated at the time, but as the months go on, and s ill the copra only comes to market in driblets, it is better known what injury the colony actually sustained. It will be far into next year before the normal yield is restored.

General Items. H.M S. Nelson left Levuka for Havannab Harbour, Sandwich, on the 12th ult. There she was to be met by the Diamond, the Admiral was to hoist his flag on the latter for a cruise through the islands, and the Nelson was to go back to Sydney. H.M.S. Swinger has been on a crui&e ot 10 day>s with the Governor to Kadavu, ! and 101 l yesterday morning for Noumea. The material ior the Solo lighthouse is being com eyed to its site by the Government steamer, and the work of erection is going .slowly forward. A new labour regulation requites that the agent shall sign a consent to piy the labourer wages if the employer fails to dono. And all lor 5 per cent. ! The sentence of death passed on the Polynesian who murdered his mate afc Taviuni lias been commuted into penal sen itude for life. The " Polynesian Gazette " has made another start 'in Levuka. The proprietor is, Mr Whith'eld, who aforetime represented! tho typographical department. The Government has taken the first step towaids bolving the present financial difficulty. The two European typos have been discharged from the Government printing office, and their places .supplied by specially-imported Singalese.. "We are now looking for some Coolie clerks,, and a Eurasian Governor. Rumours of gold discoveries aro againt\ rife. It i.s said that a Victorian miner who, has been prospecting in the Serua district), has found good stone, A specimen about the size of a large pea, studded with fine gold, is shown as having been found on the. Avindward side of Viti Levu. I would nod like to hold shares in the company. Foreign arrivals during the month have been : — The Sharpshooter, barque, and Spiukie, brigantine, at Levuka, both cosih laden ; and the Rosenberg, barque, afr Suva. The barque Florence Trent is loading it Laucold. The departures have been the William Turner, barque, the Gazelle, brigantine, and the three-master Thistle. " Star" correspondents