The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-08-27
Dr.. GIppy Writes Of the Efforts
to Save the Natives.
WHY THE ENGLISHMEN FAILED
CommunaIism Must Be Stopped,
Perhaps Dual Government.
Missionary and Native.

The Fiji of pronunciation times
and the Fiji of today are in many re-
spects very different. In the old times
a fine healthy native population filled
the Islands. There was of course no
general system Of government; but
''the world went very we'll then" in
spite Of that fact Now we have a
population diminished by nearly half
and decreasing rapidly from year to
year, a population extensively diseas-
ed, indOlent and lazy The difference.
however, is not due to annexation in
itself but to the mistaken ideas Of
philanthropy that actuated the foun-
ders Of the colony The Fijian be-
came a gentleman at large, and from
the difficulties connected with obtain
ing labor ruin entered into the homes
of almost all the white settlers.
However, here I am receiving the
hospitality of those men who if they
had been permitted would have made
FIJI. Their life is a very isolated one.
Levuka is the center of the world to
them, but many of them do not visit it
for years, and their wives often not
at all. The method of communication
by means of six or seven ton cutters
is very miserable. I spent three days
on board one Of these little craft She
was laden with cOpra and in charge
of the cOckrOaches, and more miser-
able time 1 have never passed. The
insect life below deck kept one above
deck, and when it was not raining,
it was either blowing hard or there
was a dead calm with the sun shin
ing fiercely overhead. steamer day"
is not an institution here, and there
is no Mauna LOa with its genial cap
tain to bring one into contact with the
world outside Everything is Melane-
sian in it's sombreness and it's gloom,
and even the white man is affected
and becomes moody in his ways In
spite of all this, Fiji is a land of
wealth for the naturalist, and he can
traverse every region and scale all the
mountain-tops without any personal
risks whatever.
Yet in many respects this little
British colony is land of cOntrarie-
ties. 1t is land where the strenu-
Gus efforts of the Government to pre-
serve the native population have re-
suited in their rapid decrease. 1t is
a country where morality belonged
only to the pre-EurOpean age, where
Wesleyanism passes as the religion of
our Queen, where the most expensive
method of obtaining anything is to
get it for nothing, a tropical region
where rheumatic complaints are fire.
quent, and lastly a land where the
white man is neither happy nor at
home.
Never, I imagine, was there a more
honest endeavor made to preserve am
aboriginal people than in the instance
of these Islands of Fiji. When the
group was placed under British rule
about quarter of a century ago,
band of earnest men guided by the
Governor, Sir Arthur Gordon, devoted
themselves heart and soul to this end
They applied themselves even too
sternly to the work and Let the Fiji
ans live, although the white men per-
ish'' was the practical meaning of their
cry. And indeed but few of those who
leave the mail-bOat for an hour or two
at Suva are acquainted with the chief
reason why this little country is full
of interest to the student of mankind.
To most it may appear but land of
sOmbre hues, sOmbre in its skies and
in the fOrsets that clOthe its mountain
stones. and sombre also in its people.
To the student, it is the scene of a
great experiment, the success of which
would have won the worlds applause.
Yet when he looks for the results, ha
finds a rapidly decaying native race;
whilst a small number of disheartened
white men alone represents the large
foreign population that were settled in
Fiji in the good old days. Overshadow-
ing all is the new sugar industry back
ed by its II 900 Indian coolies, and as
he takes this all in at a glance and
gives a glimpse into the future, the
failure of what is usually termed 'the
native policy becomes to him but too
apparent. Fiji has been the scene OF
a great experiment and Of grave mis-
take.
One of the principal causes OF the
break down is rather curious. and it is
one that is likely to make us feel very
wise after the event The FTjian is
not given to abstraction. His ideas
of morality are very concrete or mat
ter of fact 1t was supposed that when
a civilized government removed the
Dhvsical impediments that preserved
the moral salubrity of Fijian society
in the old time, they would be able
to rely on the abstract ideas Of right
and wrong, or rather of ''meum" OF
''tuum," which the Ffjian would ac-
ouire from his contact with the in
fuences Of civilization. In other words
during the old days when club-law pre-
vailed, conjugal infdelity and othel
similar indiscretiOns were avoided
through the influence Of fear. WheT
there was no longer any risk Of beins
knocked on the head or being poison
ed. the highly moral atmosphere il
which the Fijian lived melted away
and all the best efforts Of the mission
ary and of the magistrate could mo-
restore it. The statistician in record
ing the diminution in the population