666 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1888. 
on those of last year. It must be confessed, how- 
ever, that the industry has not grown in the pro- 
portions we anticipated, when freed from the 
restrictions which formerly hampered its prose- 
cution. It was chiefly owing to the forcible repre- 
sentations made to the Governor by this Chamber, 
In conjunction with the Suva Chamber, that the 
drawbacks attending the prosecution of fishing for 
beche-de-mer were removed. The prices in our 
local markets have been well maintained throughout 
the year. This should prove to be a very profitable 
occupation. 
Annexation to Victoria.— Our efforts to obtain 
the incorporation of this colony with Victoria have 
as you all know, proved fruitless ; the Government 
of Victoria, while giving us their sympathy, did 
not see their way to give us anything else ; they 
could not be induced to make representations to 
the Imperial Government on this subject, but they 
would favourably entertain the proposal for a 
reciprocity treaty that might prove to be of mutual 
advantage to both colonies. I am afraid if the 
question comes to be considered on the basis of 
present mutual advantage, we can have poor hopes 
of its accomplishment. Our reciprocity, I am afraid, 
for the first year or two would be like that of 
the Irishman — pretty well on one side. However, 
if Victoria would only act magnanimously with us 
a commercial agreement mights be entered into that 
would have a beneficial effect on both countries. 
No doubt this matter will not be lost sight of by 
Sir J. B. Thurston. 
Steam Communication. — Our steam services with 
the Australian colonies and New Zealand have 
been maintained during the past year with great 
regularity, while the Tongan and interinsular 
service has been kept up by the U. S. S. Co. 
The manager of the latter Company informs me 
that arrangements have been concluded with our 
Government for the mail service for the current 
year. We are fortunate in having our communi- 
cation with the outside world so regular ; and now, 
gentlemen, I have one more subject to touch upon, 
and I am done. 
We have just said good-bye to Sir Charles 
Mitchell, whose tenure of office as Governor of the 
Colony was barely twelve months. We shall soon 
be called upon to welcome his snccessor, Sir John 
Bates Thurston, a gentleman who has been identi- 
fied with Fiji in a private as well as in a public 
capacity for nearly a quarter of a century ; he has 
been the foremost figure in public affairs since the 
establishment of the Cakobau Government ; he has 
passed through different departments of the public 
service under the English Government, and now 
her Majesty has appointed him to the high office 
of Governor. Like his predecessors in that office, no 
doubt his appointment thereto will be highly 
gratifying to some, while to others it will be 
the reverse. Men occupying prominent public 
positiens are usually keenly criticised, and 
in these democratic days men do not hesitate 
to express their opinions freely. The Chamber 
has unfortunately had differences with our 
new Governor, but I feel sure that they will 
in no way affect us in according the Governor a 
most loyal welcome. His Excellency is thoroughly 
conversant with the difficulties under which the 
colony labours ; no man can be more so, and if 
he comes to his post unfettered, I am certain his 
administration will have a most beneficial influence 
on the destinies of this country. Every one will 
admit that he is an able and practical man. Let 
us then forget the differences and mistakes of 
the past ; let us loyally co-operate with his Excel- 
lency in all his measures for advanoing the in- 
tereeta 0! the country, May his coming be the 
advent of brighter days for Fiji ; may it be the 
province of the future historian of the colony to 
point to the administration of Sir J. B. Thurston 
as the period when, freed from the fadrf and 
follies of the past, the colony made a bound on 
the onward path of progress and prosperity. 
♦< 
CINCHONA CULTIVATION, CROPS, EX- 
PORTS AND PROSPECTS IN CEYLON 
AND JAVA. 
SHORT SUPPLIES, RATHER THAN EXCESS 
OF BARK, LIKELY AFTER 1889. 
[iS'For the letters referred to in this article see 
pages 673-76.] Cinchona Bark is a subject of 
very considerable importance still to a large 
number of planters and merchants in this colony 
as well as to not a few in Southern India 
and Java. And we are glad to say that the out- 
come of the large amount of information which 
we are enabled to lay before our readers today 
is, on the whole, reassuring to holders of bark in 
esse or in posse — to those ready to place their 
crops on the market during the present or next 
year, as well as to those who may be counting on 
a better market a few years hence. 
This reassurance arises mainly from the fact, 
that, while the available supply of bark in Ceylon 
is by no means the unlimited quantity that our 
exports of recent years led many to suppose, we 
have abundance of evidence to show that the possi- 
ble supply from Java has been greatly exaggerated. 
The two great factors to a proper understanding 
of the future course of the Bark and Quinine 
markets are undoubtedly the extent of the Ceylon 
and Java supplies. In respect of the former, we 
trust in a very few weeks now, to be able, from 
the information collected for our Directory, to give 
the best approximation that can be made of the 
number of trees and quantity of bark available in 
Ceylon. In the case of Java, the discrepancies in 
successive reports are so great that very many 
consider it will be impossible to make sure of the 
quantity of bark that can be sent from private 
plantations in that island until a competent and 
thoroughly trustworthy Ceylon Agent has been 
sent to travel over the cinchona plantations there 
and to draw up a reliable report. Mr. Wm. Mac- 
kenzie has been nominated to us as the kind 
of planting representative specially adapted for 
this duty; but unfortunately this gentleman has 
just gone to Europe. It is possible, however, 
that after all the information now available is 
digested, the necessity for a special mission 
may not be so apparent. In the first place, we 
take to ourselves blame for not more distinctly 
keeping before our readers during the past three 
years the great fact that everybody interested in 
the Java Cinchona Industry is specially inclined 
to exaggerate its importance — to magnify the ap- 
proaching and future exports both in quantity and 
value of bark, for the very simple reason that only 
by so doing can they imagine it possible to put 
a stop to the further development of the marvellous 
resources for cinchona production possessed by 
Ceylon. About three years ago, the Chairman of 
a Java Planters' Association, while on a visit to 
Ceylon, frightened well-nigh every holder of bark 
with a very exaggerated picture — to say the least — 
of the cinchona Ranted area in Java; he spoke of 
35,000 acres planted on private plantations (within 
his own ken), mainly covered with trees 5 to 7 years 
old, so far untouched, because the shaving process 
had not been understood, and he went on to anticipate 
that on his return everybody would begin shaving, with 
