THE FIJI MISSIONS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 20, 14 May 1903, Page 2

THE FIJI MISSIONS

REPLY TO REV. W. SLADE.

From a reliable and well-informed source in Fiji we have received the following communication, under date April 4 :—: — ' 1 was greatly surprised at reading in the Christchurch " Press " of March 7, an address by the Rev. W. Slade, exalting the " wonderful success " of Methodism i n Fiji and containing an attack upon the Catholic missions m these islands. ' The " wonderful success of the Fiji Methodist mission " is not by any means so manifest in these islands as it is made to appear abroad^ Your readers, for instance, will remember the speech made a short time ago in Melbourne by Mr. Duncan— Mayor of Su\a and a nonCathohc— to the effect that the Fijians aie still savages under their Methodist skin. For the rest the " Wonderful Success " claimed for the Methodist missions in Fiji may be estimated from the following facts • — ' Sixty-eight yeais of work by an a\erage of ten white missionaries has, indeed, resulted in the greater part of a whole people giving at least a nominal adherence to Methodism ; but the last half century has witnessed, side by hide with that fact, the melancholy spectacle of the same people vanishing almost ofl the "face of the earth in a manner that is unexampled in history, except, perhaps, in the sad story of the Methodist missions in the Hawaiian group. The Fijian race is doomed, and the story of their decay makes sad reading. In 1844 the Rev. Mr Hunt, a Wesleyan missionary, estimated the population of Fiji at 300,000 So did the Rev. W. Lawry m 1847, and Captain ErsLine of the Royal Navy j n 1858 the Re\ T Williams (in his 'Fiji and the Fijians,' page 102) also estimated their number to bo .'300,000 This was m 1858 A few years later Fiji was advertised to the world to be as "all Wesleyan and Christian " Three hundred thousand converts were churned in dark Fiji In 1874. when Fin became Bri-ti-h, the Methodist missionaries claimed 200 000 adherents In 1870 their number had dwindled to 130,000, as against 7000 Catholics In the present j ear of grace they have only 90,000. while The Catholic Population has risen to let ween 11 000 and 12,000— and, In at- in miml, 11 000 to 12,000 who are not toj-sed about by e\eiv wind of doctime.' but know what they ate to tk>lie\o, ,>nd, as a rule, lne up to the faith that is in them Fuiopean Catholics in Fiji are proud ot truir i'liian co-religionists, and it is a happ\ -ight to see them and thju coloied ti llow-Catholu s met ting together to assist at the san.e august m\ stories and paitako of the same Sac laments The Catholic Chuich is advancing ste.uhK m Km The Methodist mission, according to then own u-tuins, ha\ i' dwindled fi om a following of Mi >o 000 to 90,0i>0 U the Rev Mr Slade considers this a " wondeiiul success." all 1 can say is this, that he ,s easy to pleas \ and that it is about time that he should begin a lelorm m the dictionary meaning of plain Kngnsh words ' In tact, on reading the story of the decay of the Fman people, it would almost i oom as il the iiioie A\esle\ an a p,ro\imo is the more rapidly its people appear to die out '1 he Weslex an Report, for instance, Rives the population ol the v er.v Methodist island of Kaduvu in ISS(> as 12089 --ouls In 1889 according to the same Report, it h.ul (alien to 7 I<)ti r Qho Ke\ Mr Young, in 1881, gave the population of I'au as 1500 To-day they are loss than .">( )( I r \ he island of \iu,i was foi \ oars the V\esle\an hea dciuart ei s in Fin Their missionaries were theie fi om 1839 to 1891 The Re\ Mr Calvert had 180 natives m the town of Yiwa. on that island They, ol all others, wei c undei the immediate eye and Postering cue of the missionaries Yet, when the missionaries lilt there, there Were only 8O natnes m the wretched plate Is all this a part and parcel of the " wonderful success of the Fin Methodist mission "> " There lemams the question of Spnitual Success 'Ihis is obviously a more chfhcult matter to deal with than that of counting heads But it lends itsolt, nevertheless, 1o treatment and h< re, as before I shall not tollnw the Rev Mi Slade's method of dealing in vague gi neralit les, but will tall back upon public and notorious tacts 'In 1892, about <100 Fij'ans ft om Prnunmi (Viti* 1-ovu) were depot ted to Kaciavu by order of the Government for gross disobedience to the constituted authorities They were all \\ esle\ ans They had preachers, teacheis, and Bibles And the Bibles they were able to

expound quite glibly — by •" private judgment " of course — in accordance with the old pagan traditions — pointing) out to me, for instance, the house of Jehovah, the grotto where the Saviour was born, the places in the forest that bear witness to Noah's work, etc. Such, is their method of " interpreting " the Sacred Word ! In 1894 part of the Macuata Province broke out in open rebellion against the Government. According to the Wesley an Report, the Rev. W. Slade was in charge of that district (the Macuata circuit) when he wrote as follows in the Report for 1891 : " The materials for report are of a more cheering character. . . . The Chiefs manifest a praiseworthy interest in Church affairs, the schools are well attended, and the position of ministers and teachers is gatisfactory for all concerned. The youths of the villages are coming forward in greater numbers to be employed in Church duties, the quality of the educational work is improving, and the province generally gives evidence of progress " (Report, p. xxxv.). Such was the Rev. W. Slade's statement in 1891. Only three year later, in 1894, A Rebellion was in full swing in that Province. The rebels were Wesleyans to .a man. Not a single Catholic was among them. The insurgents performed all their old pagan rites, and even fell back into savage practices which I do not care to describe. Bear in mind that all this took place only nine years ago, and after 50 years of the " wonderful success " of Methodist missionary effort. The rebellion of 1894 furnishes a curious confirmation of Mr. Duncan's speech in Melbourne as to skin-deep civilisation in Fiji. Does this furnish a reason why European Wesleyans will not worship with their Fijian coreligionists ? And is it a sign of " wonderful success " that (as the Rev. Mr. Slade says) there is a danger that " the younger people " in Fiji may not •' cling to their religion as their fathers have done " ? ' The Rev. Mr. Slade attacks " the unchristian rivalry of other religious organisations." He uses the plural, but singles out " the Church of Rome " for a special flagellation. His attack upon the Catholic mission is unfair and unsupported by fact. Has he read the " Reminiscences "of Consul Pritchard ? Or can it be possible that he is unacquainted with the story of missionary work in Fiji ?— of the Whippings, Fines, Etc., inflicted upon Catholic natives to copipel them to abjure Catholicism and embrace the " true faith " ? The Rev. Mr. Slade refers to the communal policy which was introduced in Fiji in 1875, and deprecates, among other things, the operation of "an ordinance for causing trouble." And it is, in good faith, a disgraceful system. But he might have informed his hearers that it was passed with the concurrence of the Wesleyan leaders at a time when the Wesleyan mission and the Government were hand and glove. The missionaries had converted Fiji to Methodism through the chiefs, and the object of the new policy was to place all power in tho hands of the chiefs. Fijian Catholics feel that the new laws and ordinances were specially directed against them. If, for instance, a Fijian in a Wesleyan town or district desired to become a Catholic he was deemed to " cause trouble," and was lined in cash or hard labor. Rev. Mr Slade also inveighs against the " very galling ordinance of disobedience." It smote Catholics hardest and deepest. Native Catholics were, for instance, ordered by a non-Catholic chief to aid the Wesleyan cause with food or money. If they failed or refused to obey their chief they were fined two or four shillings, or fourteen days' hard work. A repetition of the " disobedience " cost them £1 or 30 days' labor. This power was given to the chiefs with the consent of the Wesleyan leaders. It is difficult, in the circumstances, to understand how the Rev. Mr. Slade could have the courage of talking, even to a New Zealand audience, of " unchristian rivalry " in the Fijian mission-field It may interest your readers to know that the Rev. Mr Langham, a Wesleyan missionajr.v, was in the Legislative Council of the colony. ' The Rev. Mr. Slade also complains of " the Fijian Poll-tax of 24s per head, from the age of 16 years." This, by tho way, is another of the disabilities inflicted upon the natives at a time when the government of the country was practically in the hands of the Wesleyan missionaries. But why does the Rev. Mr Slade stop at the poll-tax ? Let mo give an example of how things work out for the hapless Fiiian : The Lav Province counts a native population of 7000 souls. About 2000 of these are males above the age of 16 years, and, therefore, subject to the Government taxes. In 1894 they paid in taxation £2100 In the same year they paid £2400 in taxes to the Wesleyan Church (I use the word " taxes " because in the Fijian tongue the same expression — " na soli " — is used for levies made both for Government and religious purposes.) Bear this in mind : the officials gave orders for the payment of both " taxes " (or " soli ") ; and they do so to the present day. The Rev. Mr. Slade inveighs against the poll-tax, but he has not a word of condemnation for the more serious taxation which is extracted from the islanders for the purposes of tho Methodist mission. ' I ask your readers to boar in mind what I have said regarding the thin Veneer of Civilisation which lies upon the Fiji native, his ready return, a few years ago, to pagan and savape practices, his superstitious use of the Bible, and the woful rate at which he is perishing off the face of the earth. I might — in connection with the supposed " elevation of women " in

Fiji— cite facts as to the low state of morals which is one of the root-causes of the rapid disappearance of this fine race. But I refrain. When a physician finds himself unable to check, the progress of a deadly, but curable disease in a patient, he certainly has no right to oppose the calling in of another doctor. But this sensible course is just what the Rev. Mr. Slade strongly objects to. He objects to Catholic or other missionaries interfering with the Wesleyans' monopoly in Fiji. These came to the islands in 1844. The Catholic missionaries came eight years later, and (as already pointed out) they carried on their work amidst trials and dangers that made it indeed a " wonderful success " that Catholicism survived at all in Fiji The Rev Mr. Slade has words of commendation for Father Breheret, whose great age-^he was nearly 90 years old—forbade the possibility of much missionary activity. He has only words of vitriol for Bishop Vidal, whose " New System " was simply to introduce young and active priests, Brothers, Sisters, and to set about building churches, schools, etc., at a merry rate. That was the head and front of Bishop Vidal'e offending. It led, however, to restrictions being placed upon the Catholic missionaries. The only official grounds of complaint against! our missionaries were, however, what are known as "the flag affair " and " the photo affair." The " flag affair " was simply this : Bishop Vidal used to fly a flag, on his boat when going from place to place. Sir J. B. Thurston, the then Governor — who was a strong friend of the Wesleyan missions— remonstrated with the Bishop for carrying the flag, on the plea that, not being a fullblown Bishop, but only a Vicar-Apostolic, he was not entitled to do so ! Risum teneatis amici ! " The photo affair " was this : A photograph of an alleged cannibal feast was published in a European Catholic magazine. And the Rev. Mr. Slade informed his audience that the magazine stated that it was " taken by a Manst Father." As a matter of fact, no such statement was made. It was merely said to have bfeen " communicated " by a Marist Father, which is quite a different thing. The photograph in question was taken by a photographer, purchased from him as a curiosity, and only Wesleyan natives figure in it. Much more might be said in reference to 'the Rev. Mr. Slade's address, but it is about time that I should draw this lengthly communication to a close.'