SOME FACTS ABOUT FIJI

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 65, 7 September 1911, Page 7

SOME FACTS ABOUT FIJI

A COUNTRY WITH POSSIBILITIES. Mr. Milton Craig, who will be remembered by many residents as having been on the stall' of Messrs. H. Collier and Co. at New Plymouth some years ago, and who has since spent some fifteen years in Fiji, told a .Daily News reporter yesterday some facts about our little neighboring Crown colony. Mr. Craig was engiiged iii planting there, and had a fairly large estate, lie was-' chairman. of the only road board in the island' presided over by other than a stipendiary magistrate. lie is also commissioned as a justice of the peace, and was thus brought into frequent contact with the in an official as well as his private capacity. Mr. Craig remarked at the outset that though Fiji is one of the most fertile and healthy possessions of the Empire, it is also apparently one of the least known. Tts capabilities and resources are wonderful, but these have 'so far not been thoroughly exploited. There arc splendid opportunities there for young men desirous of establishing j homes for themselves, for at the commencement the land needs no expensive I or intense cultivation;, and the Government gives such great facilities for the acquiring of labor for working the plantations that any man with ordinary com--1 monsense and a fair amount of grit has no excuse for not making a success of i his enterprise. ■' "The'principal products, irrespective of cocoanuts, are sugar-cane, bananas, maize, and pea-nuts. Formerly there \vaA difficulty and delay in obtaining land, mainly due to the holding back of very large areas by the natives. The difficulties were such as have to be faced in dealing with Maori lands and with' native-owned lands everywhere. But the Native Department officials exerted themselves in their endeavors to remove some of these obstacles, and their, efforts were rewarded with success., Large tracts of country were handed over to the Government by the native .owners unconditionally, and the Government leases these to the settlers f at a fair rental.. The rents arc payable i to. the Native Office, which disburses j ..them, to the owners, retaining a very j Small. percentage as a charge for administration. The richest flat land can b,e acquired for five shillings an acre ' per annum, -hilly land at from Gd to _!s, an.fl.cre, and country that is suitable only,.for .sheep is obtainable for a rental of ; threepence >an .{tore., Sheep and cattle !.,4q, very . well. The tenure is leasehold ..pure, and pimple. The freehold is not 1 obtainable, except in such cases 4s where, the-Government sees fit. From his experience in the country, and from haying .at.various times been-associated with the trown officers in the-selection' of land for intending settlers, Mr. Craig assured the reporter that they, do all in ; | their power for the settlers in every I. way. Simje he left Fiji he has learned"! : . that.the ivew,Gbv'ernor,'Sir Henry May, ;isjnterefiti;ig huns'-df largely iiv'this'rnat.ter,,iiml tjiere'seems reason to'hope that .vcrv fill' tlie land not naturally .iiy.ihe otailphtio'n of the nntiyes will be ' thrpWjij open for settliirfieht. ' ' 11 . With or/lj'niiy: luck, and, management | . average, sAi riscd iii' banana cultivation will return a profijt of. .£2O a"..acre. Maize averages abrti'lt 40 bushels to t)ic acre, and -pea-nuts do exceedingly well in "sandy soils, and tii'erfc a gfflsit mfiVkei-for them." It is, in fatt„ •Says'fSWr't'rdig;-" difficult: to say. what' Will -not (in welf there with ordinary ' tfafe and a'tielitioir and with the exercise' ''of''good' l jiuJgment in ''th& selection of ldchlity'TiniF'A'oll, |

employed generally is Fijian fTaSsri aiM'-'fftriri -'servants -arc' paid frqm ' £'12'l;o : ; £fo a year _ !i aml found;" Their 'Tfiod consists''of yams, "(lalosr rice.'and tftiiiM'-totals—Very "little (if Uie latter _as a' rule, 'although they are voracious! ' meat-eaters'.' 'Tfie natives are good ,it | their w<)tk,"Aml' if" fairly treated give no troulile to' their 'empfoyers. They Itye 'iii-'Fijiaii' bouses erected on the 'estafe.* The natives, owing to the treatment,' received at' the hands of : a eou- | sidcrkW O'ovcrnmeii't ' anil" to tlte in-" flulhice of- the Methodist 1 aiid Maris'.t" Brothers • mission*, prove'arifenable to' ''oriiei-:.' 'iiv.Kll 'itanibtes ecbiisionaAly • mrise, ■<* they arc ! f «ch{* «irK>lio»vas-i#i> j»e very: difficult "otraettFenranfci Mrs ©km#! neticedi par- ' trculiahi' tliafcvthi Ga-MMlie- MiisSionarics SaVuv imfeilledr riii-to 'tli'a-; -naitiVes- a' desire i'fdi!ithtift: ami 'fof a! butter, knowledge of the .cultivation ..of the land. Wfcit struck him as.lUflinimoirts to thpir efl>ut on, the part. ( of jfijwns t hemWJM! #o i -flirestipn,,. of : the •VfVCirQJjd, fajfhpfp. , ; . ; J

*? -JC-Hi carriage, is by ehtbetwqe« , •? Tlift• priwipal markets arc .'Suvai mill ■Leyttka:, whence, the fruit, etc., . :• is»ejjiftjtf& (Oyer^tja. '."llokois,'' or coiij-. . •iji.i.sfti <>ji<y^v ; J> > > - iiflttCftt t<r»feudy. tbp.}vejkr(ijeif-tlie- various !'<Jistrittfli ,/Tlu> naiii\rs. -fapptaralftKbG ,asat*}lji}d<. -geneva llvv with the.anetliorii.-nfdoivel'nnK'nt.-This is bv.s) six .meni■tters ,%i<v frlectivu and ei<{ht -nominated, "thevOowmni" beiliS' tlB; president. 'The Httbrk-rAoiia lift* |{retty : thwotfglu' and farit«; cll'C'ets. :>•) ' , tI '■•v^Yowlike-'thcilift' 'ifr JFijif" asked tlic ■ pressmdn.! "I ' ••

pleasant," ; 'sai'(|; Mir. Oraig'ie. *'flk! climate-is a• very fiipaltlvynw'. 1 ' Tt 1 ;fmivsc'. about ' midday,- b'ut the ' people- wear white 'Mot:Mn£. anil-doTrt'fecl'it'so -much. There 'W ! lil\vAy3 a Wowing, and tin? beat is^not 1 ' so oppressive-as' it Is in llie"siritmifr : lime'iii many parts of Xew Zealand, " During li'iy fifteen years' resi-. 'tfttte# fjiW I"haWV no siok"Jicsif 'siielr n!f 'one Wight ' expect ill a 'ti'bpW'U'' ei'rtiiiiti', lVnt!, as 'in 1 In- ease of 'iho'st''of i'rs| T Ml a 'l'ouging fur "the w'liFte iiuuS's' pa'lhve'r,' and for'-a change f>f 'l'fiV!r«iihieii i t., After it reasonable heh f 'T lioji'e'tif reliirn to Fiji, renewed nn(l''}'efreslied, to continue work ' "t'lierc^

of tlio climate,, "Mr. Craig riientioited' jliaf hurricanes visited the islands the months of December' an.! April, btit were productive really of niore good than harm. Fiji, he said, .is a. country which requires no booming. I lull, a visit, will, convince anyone of lis possibilities' for any man of ordinitry enterprise. There is no doubt, that the completion of the Panama Canal will push the country forward by leaps and bounds. li this progress the State ..officials would loyally do their part, as they had done, often overstepping the • bpumls .pf their oflicial duties in order to see a. settler properly established on 1 the land lie lias selected.