FAREWELL INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE GOVERNOR AND CHIEFS OF FIJI.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 396, 26 November 1874, Page 2

FAREWELL INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE GOVERNOR AND CHIEFS OF FIJI.

We extract the following notes of a meeting between His Excellency Sir Hercules Robinson and the Vuni Valu and Chiefs, at Dryiinba, from the Town and Comit/y: — At 3 p.m., on the Ifith ult, his Excellency Sir Hercules Robinson, accompanied by Commodore Goodenough, and the Hon J. G. L. Innes, and by Mr Wilkinson, the chiof interpreter of the Government, proceeded by appointment to pay a farewell visit to Thakombau and the other chiefs. Sir Hercules Robinson was received by the Vuni Valu, Maafu, and all the other chiefs who signed the cession, except Ratu Epeli, who had been obliged to leave for Ban, and Isikeli, who was absent on duty. Upon being .seated, Sir Hercules Robinson said : Vuni Valu and chiefs, as I leave to-morrow morning for Sydney, I have come here to-day to bid you farewell. I have been greatly pleased with my vi.sit to this country. I have been much struck by the beauty and fertility of the islands, and I trust I may have an opportunity of revisiting you on some future occasion. When you return to yoar respective provinces, I hope you will explain fully, to those who are under you, what lias tnken place between us in Levuka, and that you will, both by precept and example, impress upon your people the advantages of industry and good order. Having had expedience of nati\e races elsewhere, I know that, with them, hasty changes are difficult and undesirable. They must be led forward step by step ; and in framing a new system for the Government of this country under the Queen, I have accoulingly tried to carry out, as far as possible, what 1 understand to be your wishes, and to adhere for the present as closely as practicable to native official customs, boundaries, and traditions. My object is, that the provisional British Government which I have established should gain the respect, the coniidenco, and the affection of both chiefs and people; and I trust you will all co-operate wii.h me in giving effect to this policy. Although I am leaving Fiji, I shall continue until Her Majesty can make some permanent appointment, to watch over the interests of the country. If any chief, or oi-her Fijian, should feel that he is aggrieved, he has only to communicate with me by a petition, w) ensure for his complaint prompt attention and investigation. I will only, in conclusion, say one word as to the past and the future. As regards the past, I hope that all differences and animosities will be forgotten and subdued. The Vuni Valu's (Root of War) war-club lms been sent with a dutiful and loving message to our Queen. I hope all other weapons of strife have, in like manner, been buried at the foot of the staff upon which we have raised the Union Jack. As regards the future —it is in your own hands. As the Vuni Valu said to mo the other day, the future of Fiji is Britain, and you must all remember that whilst British rule is mild, it is at the same time firm and all-powerful. You are now servants of the Queen ; and if you cannot, each of you, in your respective provinces, govern the people in accordance with what her Majesty's Government may think just and right, you will have to give place to those who can more correctly appreciiite the obligations of the position. I trust no such necessity may arise ; but in these matters, it is true kindness to be frank and explicit. Thaakambau spoke as follows : lam glad to hear what the Governor has said on his coming to say good-bye, and I am pleased to bo able to say, that from the Governor's first arrival up to the present time, we have understood all that is said ;nd desired. I am glad on this occasion to hear buch words of counsel, consideration,, and goodness, and I hope that all present will now understand that thoy are her Majesty's subjects and servants ; and that, as the governor has said, their future is in their own hands. They will be judged according to their behaviour and their deserts, and according to such judgment they will stand or fall. We know that we are not met here now simply as an independent body of Fijian chiefs, but as subordinate agents of the British Crown j and being bound together by strength and power, that strengli and power will bo able to overcome anything which tends to interfere or interrupt the present unity. Any chief attempting to pursue a course of disloyalty must expect to be dealt with on his own merits, and not to escape by any subterfuge or by relying upon any Fijian customs or upon his high family connections.

The Nelson Colonist (the writer in ons of our hard-working unobtrusive meuihei-s of Parliament) proposm the following scheme for tbe rendjustment of representation :—": — " We linil (or oiery soul in tho colony there nre about 200 acres of surface; we would therefore tako that as an eltcthe unit find each indiridual as another, and proportionate to the number ol umtu in each electorate allot representatives. Such a plan would not. efli ct any violent rhaugp if npplied to the provinces. Thus, Auckland would grt 17 members inaload ol 16, Uawki'» Pay 3 nibtead of 2, Wellington and Taranuki on the other hand would each lose one, Canterbury would be unaltered, Otago would gum one member, and Nelson, MarJborough, and Webtland together would lose one." ]-jici--

A case just decided at Liveipool witu regard to the recovery of racing debts in like to cause some consternation among that rather numerous class who consider it a great weakness t!o pay their debts when thoy lose, and a great bore to be asked for the money. A forgeman, who, as a customary in the noi'th, executes buuU commissions at BaiTow for his fellow workmen, had lot a long time beon in the habit of telegraphing to a bookmaker in Manchester, to cover or otherwise in\ est for him ; but getting during the Spring of the presant year £80 in debt, this backer thought it a very good opportunity for cutting the connection, never dreaming lie could be made to pay. It seems he had some grievance, real or fancied, about the bookmaker's not having invested as desired upon Westminster labt year for the Lincoln Handicap, and considered , that his evasion of payment would make the matter j quits. After hearing the case, however, the J^BP despite the acts which were cited in the defendant 8 behalf, returned a verdict at once for the whole of the amount claimed. This will be a cruel blow to those who have considered themnelves privileged by Act of Parliament to plunder bookmakers by drawing when lucky and ignoring transactions when the reverse. The present uncertain state of the betting laws seems to have one good effect if no other — that of putting a stopper on one set of the thieves and swindlers who have for so long been ' protected by Parliament -.—Leader. In Victoria the weather, the farmers' topic in general, is this season, inexplicable ; summer's heat has come upon us fully six weeks before it was duo; had the heat of the 11th, and the following days, been immediately followed by rain, and which many weather-wise people predicted the injury done would ha-ve been quickly remedied; but day after day continued hot, dry, and destructive, and the crops round Melbourne to-day look most deplorable. The nine days' heat which they have recently withstood has made a serious difference in the estimated yield of last month. The oat plants appear to have become all at once stunted iv their growth, their sap stationary, and their appearance far from promising. The fanners on all sides arc anxiously looking for a change ; for, if one does not take place very quickly, the crops, particularly the late ones, must suffer very materially. The early sown wheats look well up te the present, but they will stand almost any amount of drought. — S. k Jk/aiL Two cases of " morbid impulse " in cbilciren have recently attracted attention in tlio United Slates, in OHe, which transpired in New York, a nurse-girl, very quiet, pood-n*- ' tured, and at ti active in appearance, con'essed tliat although elie watched any child die liked very placidly, she lelfe obliged to burn any oluld she did not like alive. Sbe had done this in two instances, and attempted in more, b»r plan being to lay tlio baby on its bed, heap clotbci or p»per«under it, and fire them. In the stcond caw. in Boston, • boy named Pomeroy, only fourteen years old, was found guilty of maiming scvui children, ond condemned to the Penitential}. He was oi iouree " j aidoned out," aid raimediulely cut tin- tlnoai ot a little girl, named Katie Curnn, who had come to Ihb mother's store lor papers. Tins was on the 18th i.aic-h. Bid on the 22nd April he decoyed * little boy, named Millan, to the marshes, under pretence of showing him a steumer. Once in tbe marshes, he told the bop to lie down, and stabbed him to death with a Jack knife. In both instances, the murderers tay they could not belp themselves, though tlie girl only killed children die did not like ; in bojh, insanity is aesauntd ; «nd in mitlit rip their the faintest tvrifta-e of n.sanily beyond tbc cranes themselves. It is woie than lilcly tbat tbe .nurie girl is mtitly a supreme rumple of callous eelfithneii, lil»e CoiirUmo Kent ; and that lh.. hid i ills children as, be wou.d kill eats, lor the pleasuie of destroying lile. Both couletbed quite readily. The Timaru Herald, in describing an Auckland mob,, says :—": — " It is n verj senlumntal mob. alwins getting into n state ol passionate 'excitement over mattei* which do not affect it practically lit all. It reads m-wtpipeu. arcl lutenato orators. Its idols aie rag, bone, and bottle merchants,, gentlemen who have ' been in troubl* on tho other side,' and anybody who bawn ye ry loud, and. looks wry dirl.y. It doet not object to wealth so long as it b«s btcu rained by tho ' -weat of tbe brow,' and its possessors hate taken no tteps to remove the proofs. Many ot its favorites are very tich^ but, iliey never wash the lilt li off their lucre ol tin nuelves. These are the people who u»ed to throw stones and mud at Sir George Grey in the streets." Cross-examining a witnew, a barrister asked, "Were you. not , on the night on winch jou were robbed, in snch » mate of vinous excitement as to preclude the possibility of jour sit ualion with that accuracy «nd precision necessary to 5 delineation of the truth? A couple of neighbours became so inimical that they would 'not speak t« each other; but oneol them, having, been converted at a camp meeting, on seeing bis former enemy held out his hand, saying, " How Ho joudo, Kemp? I am humble enough to shake bands with a dog." ,