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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Jttlt 2, 1883. 



FIJI AS A SCENE OF PLANTIXG 



ENTERPRIZE. 

 We do not think any of our readers interested in 

 planting will justify the api^rehension of our cor- 

 respondent. A. .T. S. , that his letter (page 62) is too long. 

 From it we gather that sugar, tea aud the products 

 of the coconut palm are likely to be the staples of 

 the Fijian group. Cacao does not seem to have been, 

 as yet, tried. For coffee, curiously enough, the climate 

 of Taviuni, at least, seems to be too wet, even at 

 1,000 feet above sea-level. At that altitude the rain- 

 fall is equivalent to. that of Upper Dimbula at 5,000 

 to 6,000 feet, viz., 110 inches. Kot only is the ab- 

 solute rainfall thus heavy, but it is spread more 

 uniformly over the months. The result is that coffee 

 suffers severely from "black I'ot." HemUeia rwstatrix 

 seems to have temporarily abated its virulence, although 

 Mr. Storck's carbolic acid cure does not get the 

 credit of this result. Our correspondent at one time 

 tried a series of experiments on behalf of Govern- 

 ment, and he retains his preference for hyposulphite 

 of soda, a substance which, we think, has found 

 some fa\ our in combating the insect plague, phylloxera. 

 In Fiji (south latitude 15° 30' to 20° 30'), the best 

 coffee and the best coffee crops are to be found 

 bdoio 1,000 feet altitude, wliich is not ti-ue of Cey- 

 lon uor of Jamaica. At all altitudes, however, 

 crops of all kinds ai'e liable to suffer in Fiji 

 from hunicanes, which are practically unknown in 

 Ceylon, although cultivation here suffers much from 

 steady, strung, monsoon ■winds. Tea grows readily in 

 J^'iji, aud, unless it should turn out to be true that 

 here as -in .Java, volcanic soil should not be favour- 

 able to fine flavour, the Fijian gi-oup may yet be 

 the great tea as well as sugar gardens of the Aus- 

 tralian colonies. What our correspondent saj'S about 

 the quality of Fijian coffee and its standing in the 

 Australian markets, is a curious commentary on the 

 savage attacks made by the Fiji Tbm-s and its cor- 

 respondents on the Oejdon Commissioner to Mel- 

 bourne, for venturing to question the picked beans, 

 packed in blue-green bottles, exhibited in the Fiji 

 . ourt, as at aU representati ve of average Fiji coffee. 

 Now a curing establishment has been set up, and 

 Fiji coffee may improve even more rapidly than was 

 the case with the Ceylon product, after science aud 

 skill had been applied to its preparation. Of cin- 

 chona, it will be observed, our correspondent does 

 not speak very hopefully. Sugar is the gi-eat and 

 gi-owing industi-y, but e^-en in the sugai-cane field 

 disease has claimed its prey. The sugar planter, 

 however, has the great advantages of being able to 

 eradicate canes attacked by fungus or insect, and to 

 replace them by any one found most suitable out 

 of scores of varieties. The great difficulty, in regard 

 to sugar as to everj-thing else, is that connected with 

 an adequate labour supply. Although there may not 

 necessarily be neglect on the planter's part in regai'd 

 to lodging, food and sanitary precautions, the mere 

 change of conditions of living and diet aflect the 

 Polynesians, including tlie Fijians, most unfavourably, 

 and the mortality amongst these people is occasionally 

 so appalling, that we cannot wonder at tlie threats 

 held out to stop the labour traffic, and the tendency 

 of Fiji legislation to keep the people in their birth 

 localities. The evil in Fiji seems to be the pressure 

 of labour to pay the Government tax in kind. The 

 (Government, however, claim that their measures liave 

 stopped a decrease — led, indeed, to a small increase — 

 in tlie native population. Island labour being thus 



so difficult to procure, our correspondent does not 

 give a bright picture of the coolies introduced. Our 

 correspondent himself was the subject of complaint 

 by one of those litigious people for calling him " a 

 bloody fool." Perhaps our good friend will not be 

 so blunt next time, but use the periphrasis, " You 

 sanguinarji individual of indifferent intellectual cap- 

 acity." Or he might imitate the t'eylon planter who 

 spouted passages from the InijoltUby Lcr/eiuls at re- 

 cusant coolies, thus : — 

 " O ! turpissime '. 



Vir nequissime ! 



Sceleratissime ! tissime I issime ! 



■What ! cut off the head of a holy prior, 



And say it was on/i/ a bare-footed friar," 

 The relations of the planters in Fiji to each other, 

 to the Government, and to their coolies, seem cap- 

 able of improvement. Coolies who brought false 

 charges of manslaughter and other crunes ought 

 certainly to have met with severe punishment ; but 

 we confess to liaving no sympathy to throw away 

 on the planter who got imprisonment with hard la- 

 bom- for putting four mustard poultices on a cooly's 

 chest and then tying the tortured wretch in a sack. 

 Malingering may be very annoying, but human beings 

 are, at least, as much entitled^ to protection from 

 cruelty as the brutes. As is the case in all large 

 bodies of planters, the good amongst tliem in Fiji 

 no doubt suffer from -the misdeeds of a few mauvais 

 sujets. That the policy of the Fijian Government is 

 approved of at home, is shown by the recent honours 

 bestowed on Governor des Voeux. 



It may be well, too, to note the other side of 

 the shield displayed by a correspondent of the 

 Colonies and jndia who seems to be lar more sanguine 

 than " A. J. S." — probably because he has less ex- 

 perience. We quote as follows : — 



A correspondent, writing from Levuka date March 17th 

 says :— " The Message of His Excellency the Governor is in 

 many respects a most encouraging document, and will make 

 those fiiends at home who ever give a thought to us here iu 

 the South Pacific more sauguine than ever of the great future 

 that belongs to the gioup. The estimate of receipts for 1S83 

 is 90,67.3/. In ISSl the sum actually received was only 

 73,C7S/.; while in 1SS2 it amountet to over 82,000/. The 

 principal items in which this increase is expected are import 

 duties and other dues levied by the Customs. The Governor 

 thinks that the retm-ns of sugai' export iu the past year will 

 exaeed 1,800 ton, and anticipates that this total — a large one 

 for a young sugar colony hso Fiji — will be doubled in 1S83 

 and more than quadrupled in 1884. If such is the case the 

 exports, which up to 1880 had never exceeded 177,000/., ivill 

 in 1884 approach very closely to half a niiUion sterling. 



" The high price at which copra still stands iu the 

 English market has made a wonderful deal of difference 

 to us. The rise of the past six mouths has put 20,000/ 

 into our pockets. Of course the export retm-ns for 1882 

 are not yet to haul, but I .should .say that the copra ex- 

 portsof last year will exceed those of preceding years by 

 at least 1,000 tons. Cincboua is doing remarkably well, and 

 tea and coffee are ' gradually forging ahead.' The pineapple 

 and banana trade to Australia — though not with .New Zea- 

 land — is as brisk as ever, I append a short summary of the 

 manifest of the s.s, 'Eockton' on her last trip to Sydney. She 

 had 7,000 bunches of baffanas, about 800 bags of copra 

 200 bales of fibre, ic, a large number of pineapples iu 

 boxes, cotton iu bales, and other produce. Some attention 

 is being given to thr pearl-shell deposits lying to the 

 east of this group, nutably in the Marquesas, which were 

 till lately thought to be fiished out. At least, this is 

 the gossip here ; aud advices from Sydney say that a pearl- 

 shell expedition mil be ready to start from that city 

 before June or Jidy." 



Om- readeis wiU see that in one important respect, 

 that of a good lahotu- supply, Ceylon has great ad- 

 vantages over Fiji aud most other sites of tropical cul- 

 ture. Let us keep up courage, therefore, and persevere 

 in efforts to retrieve om- position by the cultivation of 

 "new products. " 



