A TRIP TO THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS, THE NAVIGATORS' AND THE FIJIS.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 730, 29 October 1870, Page 2

A TRIP TO THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS, THE NAVIGATORS' AND THE FIJIS.

CHAPTER 111

PUIS

(FKOM OUR SPECIAL CO3EESPOXDES-T.) I imagine I can hear those of your readers who have had patience to follow me thus far, say—" We will forgive this fellow if he will only give us a good description of the Eijis," and I know that, if I have disappointed you in my former letters, I shall do so more than ever, in this, because my stay in the group did not extend over a week ■ indeed, I do not intend to give you more than an account of my own trip through these islands, for I have observed, since my return, that the Australian and New Zealand newspapers are teeming with correspondence from that quarter. So to those who intend to settle in the islands, I cannot do better than recommend ii most useful little book, written by Mr Frederick J. Moss, (formerly Provincial Treasurer of Otago,) published in Auckland, in which he gives his experiences as a planter during a twoyears' residence at the Kewa River. "We sailed from Samoa on the Bth September for the Fiji Islands, and being favored with strong trade winds from the North-east, we sighted the windward islands of the group on the fourth day out. On the previous evening we knew our position to be not many miles distant from the Nanuku Passage—one of the gateways by which we gain an entrance into the Archipelago ; and, although we made the position during the night time, so exactly had our course been laid, that, at daylight, we found ourselves quite inside the group, and surrounded by islands on every side. AVhilo I am on the subject of navigation I must not omit to refer—in passing—to the mysterious 180 th meridian which we crossed while amongst these windward islands, and, on crossing which, we were obliged to alter our time 24 hours

to suit the terms of our nautical almanac. Fortunately this meridian intersects but little dry land, and so it is chiefly at sea that the change of the day comes under our notice, but here injthe territory of the great "windward " chief Maafu, it is left to the powers that be to decide whether they shall call the day Sunday or Saturday. In other words, if they reckon their time from Greenwich, it is midnight on Saturday on one side of this line while it is midnight on Sunday, on the other side. It seems, however, that the settlers have agreed to keep eastern or Australian time in all these islands, even when beyond the ISOth degree; and, by this means, some amusing disputes occur between the captains of calling ships and the good folks on shore. While I was at Apia an American ship called in for water and supplies, and the captain, being in a particular hurrj', engaged a contractor to begin the work on Monday morning, and having done so he quietly smoked his Sunday cheroot on board. Next morning, which was Monday by Greenwich time, there being no appearance of the water, ho went ashore to enquire wnat was the cause of the delay, when he was informed that no work could be done on Sunday, but that on Monday morning he would get air that was promised. So enraged was he when he found that the townspeople were keeping the Sydney '■ or eastern day, and that he must necessarily give his men another Sunday, that he could hardly be restrained from firing upon the place by way of making an example of such ultrasabbatarians. Having made a short stay at the island of Naitainba we proceeded to Taviuna, and came to anchor in front of the plantations at Vuna Point. "We had a very fair example here of the real progress already made by planters from the colonies. As we remained for a couple of days we had time to make an inspection of two of the largest plantations, each having 150 to 200 acres in crops, and each with about 120 head of labor engaged in picking the sea-island cotton. Steam cotton-gins were busy prepar ing the pods for market, while about 40 little black boys were engaged in sorting and cleaning the cotton in the cotton shed. "We observed that cotton was not • the only crop on these plantations, there being a proportion of the land under rice, maize, &c, and we were informed that sugar and coffee would probably be added at no very distant date. The planters here are thoroughly satisfied with their prospects, and hope, in two or three years, with cotton at the same price, and favorable si-asons, to clear some- \ thing handsome from their investments, which, until now, have involved a kr<*e outlay of capital. Other plantations wo visited of smaller oxtonr, but on all of these we saw evidence of much work having been done, and the planters carefully supeiintending further improvements. Some of them, lately at work, had provided themselves with only a native-built house of reeds and thatch, but others had good weatherboarded houses, well furnished with English-made furniture, not omitting the piano-forte. The planters in Fiji, so far as I saw of them, are a vci-y superior class of men, and hospitable ; resembling, in this respect, the Australian squatters, many of whom are now amongst the ranks of the planters. The island of Taviuna is hilly, one volcanic peak rising to a considerable height, and it is consequently rather wet, at least so I experienced it, for the only rain I saw for two mouths, fell during my visit to this place, and I was informed that the weather had been showery there for some time previously. Still, the settlers agree in calling it the " Garden of Fiji," and have a very high opinion of the value of their land. Coming, as I did, from groups equally fertile, and containing thousands of acres, on which the white man has not yet set his foot, it seemed to me not a little amusing to hear the Fiji settlers talking of their land speculations, and valuing their waterfrontages at so many pounds per acre. I must", however, do the Taviuna settlers this much justice, that they were not singular in forming this fancyestimate of the value of their own particular island; for at Lama Lama, at Goro, and other places in the Fiji group, the same poetical remark was made, " This is the garden of Fiji." It reminded me forcibly of Dickens's American citizen, to whom he was confidentially introduced in every little township as " perhaps one of the most remarkable men in our country." After all, it is quite colonial for the inhabitants of each district to form a good opinion of the place, and to put its merits in a favorable light before strangers, and it only remaius for the stranger to remember that " there is a world elsewhere," before he is carried away with the speculative mania which is certainly showing signs of vitality in this group. On the 14th September we sailed for Levuka, and arrived after a smart run of ten hours. I had reserved all my energies for this visit to the capital °L Pol -I° esla ' but I must express the utter disappointment I lmd iu fiudiu» it to be such a dull little place. It consists of thirty or forty buildings, and is said to contain about 200 or 300 white inhabitants, the greater proportion of whom are only temporary residents. There are three large hotels, well furnished and well patronised, and' about half a dozen smaller public houses, including one or two billiard tables, and a bowling alley. As there is no license or duty to pay, the occu- i pation of publican is easily undertaken, but, as well as I Jcould observe, there i

are now more than enough in Levuka. In addition to the English and Catholic churches, and a useful public reading room, there are three or four wholesale stores for supplying the wants of the planters. Two of the storekeepers have built private wharves, and are also owners of ginning mills, and do a large business, almost entirely on credit, for, as yet, there is a great scarcity of cash amongst the settlers. The site on which Levuka stands ia one of the worst that could be choseu for tho capital of the islands. The harbor has no shelter beyond that afforded by the coral reef, and the town being situated at the base of precipitous hills, has almost no room for extension, while it is altogether separated from the planting population, who have chosen other more fertile islands as the seats of their enterprise. From what I saw of the sheltered harbors of Suva, I should say it has mauy advantages over Levuka as the site for a town, but it is the opinion of many of the residents that each district will, by-and-bye, support a township of its own, aud that Levuka is now as large as it has any necessity to be. This argument is borne out by the fact of two new business establishments being opened, lately, in different parts of the group, without any branch at Levuka. I refer to a Sydney House at VanuaBalavu, and the Auckland Company's stores at Nandi. As I took some notice of the business being done in Levuka, I shall enumerate, from memory, what the inhabitants are chiefly engaged in doing. In addition to the publicans and store-keepers, there is a newspaper-publisher who succeeded, during my stay, in producing a weekly issue of one sheet of demy at about eight o'clock on Saturday evening. There were two " sticksfull " of news; tli3 balance being advertisements. There are two Consulates, at which the English and American subjects are expected to report themselves. About 20 men were engaged as carpenters, aud were receiving 14a per day wages. One photographer has established himself in business. One manufacturer of sodawater was busily employed, and another was making arrangements to start. A boat-builder appeared to have constant employment. Two auctioneers, a waterman, a pilot, four doctors, one druggist and newsagent, one or two land-surveyors, aud one or two venturesome ship-captains, who had brought t>oods down from Sydney, to be sold at a loss, made up the bulk of tho white residents. Then we must not omit King Thackambau and his sous, who were on a visit to the town, settling disputes, and flogging one or two natives who had been i convicted of crimes. The king has brought with him two cutters° with throe liundrt-a ua.tlves wno na<l been hired out to a planter for twelve • months, and whose time had expired. They received their wages at one of the stores in Levuka, the wage 3 consisting of an axe, a knife, and two yards of calico to each; Seeing that these men "fossick" for their own : food, in the vicinity of the plantations, , it is not to be wondered if a planter makes money with labor at such a price, even allowing that he does pay a premium to the king or chief. My next journey was to Suva harbor, the supposed head quarters and sea-port of the Melbourne Polynesian Company. This harbor is sheltered by the land on three sides, and by the reef to seaward, and as it is half-a-day's journey nearer to the Australian Colonies,it has considerable advantages over Levuka as a sea-uort, bat notwithstanding that the Company has been in existance for nearly two years, the only sign of progress we saw was a small plantation of ten acres, and a public-house. Tho " Alhambra" had been there a few days previously, and had landed a number of shareholders, who intend to commence operations as planters, but they had no labor, and there was so much dissatisfaction expressed respecting the management of the Company, that their prospects at that time did not appear very bright. One gentleman intended to begin business as a storekeeper, and judging from the goods which were Iving on the beach, Melbourne expects to have a finger in the pie at this place, for, instead of the Sydney goods, common in the other island, we noticed here the more familiar brands of M'Callum, Neill, and Co., and Bligh and Harbottle of Melbourne. The " chief" of Suva, Ambrose, is a smart youug lad of about sixteen years of age, and he seems very willing to do his best for the interests and safety of the Europeans. t Like all natives he generally wears no clothes beyond the kilt of calico, but on the occasion of visiting our ship, he came rigged out in a fashionable suit of European clothes, surmounted by a neat straw hat and poggerie. He also wore in his tie a handsome pin, which he said had been presented to him by Captain M'Lean of the Alhambra He was accompanied by his sister, a good-looking girl; but of her clothing, the less we say, the nearer we shall be to the truth. Wo opcul two or three very pleasant days here, and at last made sail for the bay of Islands, ia New Zealand, where we arrived after a voyage of five and a half days. The change of climate came upon us very suddenly, after the perpetual sunshine of the islands, and we iound.it necessary to look out our woollen under-clothing and top coats on the third day out. I dare say some of your readers will expect me to give an opinion as to the prospects of these islands as a I

field for settlement, but that I am unable to give as my stay was too short. I can say this much, that tho planters themselves, with a few exceptions, are well satisfied with their nrospeiits. The exceptions are composed of a few who are suffering from bad health, aud others who have not had sufficient capital to procure a supply of labor. I found dysentery to be a very prevalent complaint, in some cases do seriously that the patients had to be removed to Syduoy or Auckland. It must also bo borne in mind that there is no government, and consequently no security for life or property be3 r ond the precautions taken by the settlers themselves. For business men there is no openiug. There may be some opening in two or three years hence, when the planters have got some money. At present there is a great deal of credit given, although there is no legal means of recovering a debt; and there is no such thing as insurance for a storekeeper's stock. It is also necessary to remember that the whole white population ©f the group amounts to only eighteen hundred people. As regards the most suitable place for settlement, intending settlers inuafc spend some time in examining the country for themselves. The European is a gregarious animal, and he may see advantages in beiug amongst his friends in the Fiji goup; but the protection of the Friendly Islauds with land at Is per acre per annum, ought to have inducements for some, while the cheaper land of the New Hebrides aui the Navigators will present advantages to those who want a large tract of country, and who are not unwilling "To herd with narrow foreheads, vacant of our glorious gains," provided the gains have a reasonable chance of being realized.