BRITISH NATIVE POLICY FIAT JUSTITIA. 123 



must sow. The British Government had accepted the sove- 

 reignty of the Fiji Group, and in doing so, had accepted 

 the responsibility of caring for all its inhabitants, white or 

 coloured. The British Government has a higher mission than 

 to augment the fortunes of people who, born in the United 

 Kingdom, settle in every part of the world. It has very 

 serious duties towards the inferior races owning its sway, and 

 the laws that apply to other possessions must affect Fiji 

 with equal force. The Fijian knew nothing of the capa- 

 bilities of his native soil : he was susceptible to instruction, 

 but there was no one to teach him. If properly taught, 

 he could grow coffee and tobacco, and plant sugar-cane with 

 the same ease as he attended to his taro-beds, or cultivated 

 his yams. 



Supplied with the proper materials and carefully taught, the 

 Fijian would advance steadily towards a higher civilisation, 

 increase his own wealth and that of his country, and accom- 

 plish all this in his own fashion. 



If the main object of the British Government had been to 

 supply cheap labour for the settlers, perhaps the best plan 

 would have been to impose a heavy poll-tax, and get the 

 money from the Europeans ; but this would have constituted 

 slavery under the guise of ' labour ;' and it would sooner or 

 later end in the destruction of the natives. 



As Sir Arthur Gordon happily put it in his lecture, the 

 Fijian has more affinity with the acute and cultivated Hindoo 

 or Cingalese than the wandering and naked savages of the 

 Australian bush. The Fijian has not, it is true, the arts, culture, 

 literature, and luxury of Eastern civilisation ; but he has in 

 many ways advanced beyond the ruder stages of savage life, 

 and possesses those receptive powers which fit him for a far 

 higher social and intellectual life. The preservation and 



