FIJIAN AFFAIRS.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3776, 3 February 1881, Page 2

FIJIAN AFFAIRS.

(IfSOM OUB OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Levuka, January 24, 1881

"Mr Dcs VcemxrwilL-I-predict, have a pleasant time of it in"feji if he cahtifiu&H to extend the same courtesy to the settlors as he does at present, and there is ■ not ;fcbe remotesfrjreason for thinking that n? will not. t ,never coald understand Sir Arthur Grordoa. saying that. a G-over nor who made hiinself^popular cannot be doing his duty to.the native race," for I am sure everyone in Fiji is anxious that the'natives shall<be ruled by precisely the same laws as the .Europeans are, but Sir A. Gordon had onedaw-for the natives—' another for the whitbman. A man fires a gun—not at, bofosimply to frighten a native, and he receives h'vo years' penal servitude; a native lays a white'man's head open with a tomahawk, ajijrintended to kill him, and he receives twelve months imprisonment! Sir Arthur Gordon and Judge Gorrie ought never to be separated, but we hope the enquiries that are now taking place into the recent massacres in the South Seas will cause both of them to have all power taken out of their hands. Air De 3 "^osux caused a notification to be made in the Gazette that on important business he would be glad to see any settlers at any time, but those whose^ business was not pressing he would see on Mondays and Thursdays between 10 and 12.30. What a contrast to Sir A. Crordou, f ■ Sopn after thfc Governor arrived; in Levuka a deputation .waited upon him with respect to moving the capital, when

he told them that he would Jook into the matter himself and give them an answer as soon as possible. Accordingly he went to Suva and inspected the locality, but without expressing any opinion as to whether the change .was desirable, he ascertained that too much money had been already spent on Suva, and that to keep the capital now .in Levuka would cost the colony more than she could afford. We have therefore accepted the inevitable, and our merchants are erecting stores there forthwith. But the. deputation were informed of a very singular thing, viz., that the reply forwarded by the Secretary of State to the petition to the Queen in 1877 was in the pfgoon holes at Itfasova, and its contents had never been communicated to Ihe petitioners. This autocratic act,' to me, seems the greatest insult that could fiave been offered, not to the petitioners, but to the Queen, for the Colonial Office is most particular in replying courteously to every petition presented in a proper manner, and it is to be hoped'that Sir A. Gordon will.be compelled to Apologise for his conduct.

Assaults by natives oq white, men are becoming of every day occurrence, and if the " cat is not shortly called into requisition to stop them, blood will most certainly be shed ; but when the matter is laid plainly before His Excellency I have no doubt he will order to be done all that is needful

V. ■ . ( . . »ir Arthur Gotdon and Captain Bruce (of the Cormorant) have made themselvgg-Vk the laughing stock of the South Pacific. " The former, it is reported, telegraphed Home for a man-o'-war to be placed at his disposal, in order to send, after Mr • W. J. Hunt, the Chief Secretary and Minister for Lands of his late Majesty Malietoa, King of Samoa, as he had heard that he had returned to^Samoa. Accord- ' ingly Captain Bruce came down here to make enquiries, and then found that Mr Hunt had settled down as a peaceable - citizen, and was trying to earn an honest ' livelihood, although Sir A. Gordon has made that a most difficult thing for him to accomplish in this part of the world. •■-He* therefore, returned at once, to Sydriev. The High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, it appears, has power to order Her Majesty's ships about on his fool's errands at a cost to the country of at least £1000; but yet during the time that all these massacres have been taking place, and dozens of Englishmen being murdered, he could not send a ship to punish the murderers ! and if he did the only instr actions the, captain would receive would be to burn a few grass huts.or.levy a fine of a few pigs. Mo3t people here lay the blame for all the recent massacres on to Sir Arthur Gordqnfc inactivity,' and Judge. Gorrie-s. refusal „■. to punish-the > culprits combined, and I,;most certainly believe with reason.. . -As; soon as * w murder takes place now.jntJbe Solomons it is known from one end t of the Group tothe other in the~ courSeTof few days, Sand " they are never . puaislied for .killing Englishmen.; iChe sbqner^ihe High Commissionership is taken away from a protege of Exeter Hall, and the judicial Gommissionership from a monomaniac like Judge Gorrie, the better for the Englishmen irt the Pacific."': " ■ '"

The Criminal "Sittings in, the Supreme Court ended last week, and the list of native criminals was :of^« 'fearful' length, murder, rape, manslaughter, &c, &o. At the previous sittings, Judge Gorrie congratulated the bar on the absence of crime, but then Sir Arthur Gordpn_was leaving~atrtna6 time, and-so"Ke said it was due to his enlightened rule

The Clyde steamer which came down to Wiji about six weeks ago, is regularly employed now, and., must be more 'Mfc paying expenses, but she is not exjiisly: the style x>f boat required. Whajrt'is wanted is a paddle on a draught (lad«a),of two feet, steaming 8 knots, ani-aboujtS^ to 100 tons burden. j ,•■.";

Notwithstanding the depression caused by the capital question, everyone seem more hopeful, and fresh colonists are arriving in numbers by every mail. f;- If '^ we go on at this rate, in four or five^ years Fiji wilt be a place of someainpprtance; Looking about six or seven years ahead, when the Panama Canal is'opened, and -T [ that is the direct route from Sydney to "'. Liverpool, we shall be within 28 days of England by the large steamers that are now being built, and .which then make Fiji a place of call? : f.'%'\"