The Hawaiian gazette., 1898-08-09

similar indiscretions were avoided
through the influence of fear. When
there was no longer any risk OF being
knocked on the head or being poison
ed, the highly moral atmosphere in
which the Fijian lived melted away
and all the best efforts OF the mission
airy and Of the magistrate could not
restore It. The statistician In record
ing the diminution in the population
noted the falling off In the number OF
marriages and the small size OF the
families and found in them sufficient
token of the decrease In the census.
There are of course very different
lines of policy open to the Govern
ment. They may let things Slide
the result OF which will be the dis
appearance, within a couple OF gene
rations, OF the aborigines, whilst the
Indian coolies in their tens OF thou
sands will with the sugar-planters
possess the lands. They may drop the
native policy altogether and gradually
place white men in the room OF the
chiefs. They would then be happily
quit Of that wretched system OF the
Lala, purely Melansian In its nature,
which gives a chief a large share in
the belongings and persons of his peo-
pie, and which strikes at the root OF
all individual efforts of improvement.
The Fijian should be induced to learn
trade and TO save as well as make
money, things quite beyond his reach
now, since that which his chief leaves
untouched his affectionate relatives
walk off with. The system OF com
munalism Is deeply rooted in the lives
of the people, and yet all this would
have to be eradicated AT the COM
mencement. Such a change in the
method of dealing with the natives
would probably be ushered in by up
risings and disturbances. A single re-
bellious chief would be compelled to
navigate a very stormy sea before
they arrived at the haven.
There is another road open to the
rulers of this colony, and that Is 10
hand the native population over to the
missionaries, or, in other words, 10 es-
tablish a theocracy where though the
chief may be the head the missionary
will pull the wires. IL may be urged
that this would bring about dual
form of government, but there is SUI
fiCient of duality in the present ad-
ministration of the laws affecting the
COolie and the native. This policy Is
not so impractiCable as IL may at first
appear. In the only island in the Pa
cinc where the aborigines have mark
eddy increased since their contact with
the white man, the government Is es-
sentially theoCratic. The Fathers OF
the Society of Mary are the practical
rulers of Wallis Island, and although
there are a native King and French
Resident. the former is guided by the
priests, whilst the latter finds his po-
sition a sinecure except in the matter
of imposing taxes on the white trad
ers. In Fiji all measures tending to
limit the freedom of action of the mis-
siOnaries should be rescinded, and
both for Wesleyan and Roman Cath
Ollie there should be fair field and
no favor. They might receive half of
! the revenue arising from the native
taxes, and indeed the collecting of this
tax might be imposed upon them. This
! appears to be the only way Of presery-
/ ing the Fijian people: but whether
such system would work smoothly
, side by side with that concerned with
/ the sugar industry and the Indian
cOOlie Is a problem that must be left
| to the future.
! Yet 1t is very easy for an outsider
| like myself to sit down and prescribe
remedies. all of which are very difficult
to put into operation. At present one
roams over these islands noting the
sites of abandoned towns and villages
and wondering whether the F'ijians
are going the way OF all their kin. Had
| been cartoonist, ii would be posi-
BILE to make a suggestive picture illus
trating the situation In the fore
ground would be dying Fijian. with
Il Wesleyan minister and a Catholic
priest bending over him ON either
side Near by, and looking sadly on
would stand the little group OF refined
English gentlemen whose reputation
was staked on the native policy. Keep
ing aloof, we would observe, small
number of white settlers. broken in
fortune and spirits, whose suiferngs
may perhaps excuse their scowls. Tow
ering over all in Herculean dimensions
would raise the form of the Indian
coolie backed by all the paraphernalia
of the sugar mill. Whilst beneath the
picture would be the inscription:
"Malua," or THE By-andBy.
VI. b. GUPPY. NJ. B.
February y, 1898: Banuva Leva, Fiji