FIJI AS A FIELD FOR SETTLEMENT.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 909, 4 January 1872, Page 3

FIJI AS A FIELD FOR SETTLEMENT.

The special correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes : It cannot be too strongly impressed upon persons who may feel inclined to settle at Fiji, that it will be madness for ftny one to think of doing so without capital. Tradesmen may sometimes get profitable employment if they happen to arrive just at a time when there is an especial demand for skilled workmen of their particular trade; but no working man who can get a crust of bread in the Colonies ought to dream of going to Fiji unless under some special engagement, or on the invitation of some friend or fellow workman who has preceded him and on whoso guarantee of employment he can depend. Fiji is no place for loafers. There are far too many there already, and how they manage to get a living it is hard to say—not very honestly I am afraid, in some cases. No sooner had it become known that efforts were being made to establish a constitutional Government for the archipelago than there was a rush to the spot in the hope of obtaining u billets," of about ten times as many 'aa could, under any circumstance?, have been required for the " Civil Service " of the new kingdom. To go to Eovuka in the expectation of getting some " snug little thing" of this kind is about as hopeless a speculation as can well bo indulged in. Neither is there any opening in private employment for clerks, accountants, or business men without capital. There are more than enough of this class on the spot to meet all requirements for a long time to come. The demand oven for assistants in stores, barmen, and the like, is very limited indeed, and is confined to Levuka. Many who, in spite of all warnings, have gone to Fiji in the hope that they at all events, would succeed in getting something or other to do—although they had no capital to make any opening for themselves—have been bitterly disappointed, and have given the place an undeserved bad name; quite forgetting that their disappointment has been the result of their own folly. There are situations to be occasionally obtained as plantation overseers, but new comers who know nothing of the work to be done or the men to be dealt with, are af little use until they have served something like an apprenticeship. Such as get any employment of this kind only calculate therefore, upon earning a bare subsistence >; although some, old hands may do better. To men with capital, on the other hand, Fiji offers a very hopeful field. But even men with capital must not go there in the expectation of leading an indolent 1 ife, surrounded by tropical luxuries and of making an almost immediate fortune. Tbey must be prepared to* " rough it" a good deal when necessary, both as to lodging and food, especially at first, and to labor steadily for at least seven or eight years ere they can feel themselves perfectly at ease and independent. Of course that will depend upon 'what income a man may consider necessary to ensure independence ; and what amount of capital he may have started with. The magnitude of the result will be generally proportioned to the amount of the investment, but not always so; for a person of steady habit who adapts himself to the life of a planter, and acquires a thorough knowledge of the people whom he employs, will do twice as well as one who has none of these qualities or acquirements. As a general rule, a man ought to have from £ISOO to £2OOO in hand to settle in Fiji now, in order to succeed well as a planter. Comfortable homes' have been obtained, and good incomes secured by men who started in former times with very much less than this : but these times are gone by.

mitted by wire from London, aud posted in tho usual fashion at Galle. It contained an urgent request from the London house for the presence of Mr at home, in consequence of business of importance, which required bis attention. The Hong Kong merchant lost not a mail; but his surprise on reaching homo may bo imagined when ho found that no such telogram had been despatched thence at all. Investigation proved that the fraud must have been perpetrated at Galle, the writer of tho forgery posting it there. Tho Imperial Government called for an inquiry, and tho result proves that one of the Galle telegram forms was used by tho writer, and that he forged some other marks always found on messages issued from that office ; but he omitted registering the letter, as is usually done in the case of telegraphic messages. There is, therefore, no means of tracing the author of the hoax ; but most likely he was a passenger en route from China passing through Galle, and if Mr diligently compared the passenger lists about the date of the occurrence, he at least ought to form some idea of the identity of his friend. It ia possible that he feels indebted rather than otherwise for a pleasant trip home.

Lord John Eussell, in a speech made at the conference of the National Union for the Suppression of Intemperance, over which he presided, said that during the five years ending with 1870, the British people spent for intoxicating liquors the sum of £514,842,345. This amount is about three times as large as the annual income of all the railways of the United Kingdom ; twice as large as the capital of all the savings banks ; half as large|again as the national revenues for the whole time, and fifty times as large as the collective incomes of all the religious and philanthropic societies in the country.