Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-04-20

/ stitute, bank and many respectable
buildings.
HOW THE FIJIs ARE GOVERNED.
have spoken Of the governor OF the
| Fills His name Is Sir c. 4. M. OBrien.
| lie Is appointed by the King Of England,
| and he has salary Of $4,000 year,
| or Just bout that Of our minister 10
| Pekin. He has sort OF cabinet or
executive council and the laws of the
country are made by legislative coun-
ell, OF which he is president. There are
a large number Of salaied chiefs and
native magistrates. In ordinary matters
the native laws are preserved as far as
| possible but In FIVE u the provinces
there are European officers as resident
/ commissioners 10 assist the chiefs. The
colony is on a good paying basis. IL
has about a million dollars debt, but II
| Is reducing this every year, and at
| present us revenues are considerably
greater than It's expenditures, About
/ half the receipts come from the customs
\ and the remainder from other taxation.
SUGAR AND CoCoANUTs.
There is a great deal Of money made
In the Fills out OF sugar plantations
aud cocoanut groves. The climate and
soil are not far different from parts of
the Philippines. The sugar lands are
rich, and upon the higher portions OF
the country coffee Is now being grown,
yielding about FIVE hundred pounds 10
the acre. A large number of tea
gardens have recently been set out
The average tea yield Is already four
hundred pounds per acre. and when
the trees are little older II Is said
this will be increased to six hundred
pounds per acre.
One of the best businesses outside the
sugar Is cocoanut trees. Each tree
Yields about hundred nuts per an
mum and brings in about dollar per
year net, At this rate a grove of ten
thousand trees Will bring In ten thous-
and dollars year, and as the trees
are set close together the ten thousand
do not represent a very large area.
After the trees are once planted, little
needs to be done until they are In bear
ing, which comes at about the same
time as the average apple tree, The
same conditions prevail In the Philip
pines and expect TO see many Ameri-
cans making fortunes out of cocoanuts
there. The nuts are broken open and
the meat is cut up and dried. when II Is
called copra.and Is then ready for ship
ment abroad for use In making soaps,
hair restorers and other such things.
DO WE WANT HINDoos?
Nearly all the profitable enterprises
In the Fills are owned or backed by
Englishmen The chief question which
confronts them is that OF labor The
Fills themselves do not supply the de-
mand. and of late they have been i'm
porting laborers from the Solomon ISL
ands the New Hebrides and the Gil
berts. They have also imported a num-
Der Of Hindoos. who make better work
men than any OF the others.
The government has its fixed laws as
10 these importations. II costs about
seventy-fve dollars to import native
from the New Hebrides, and forty dol
lars from the Gllberts. and the employ
er has to agree TO return the lahorer
at his own expense at the close OF the
engagement. The usual term of SER
vice Is for three years during which
the men each receive fifteen dollars a
year and in addition free food lodging
and clothes The wages must be paid
In cash, and the men must be given
the chance to go back home at the
close OF the term n they wish.
WORK FOR rs CENTS A DAY.
As to the Hlndoos. they are returned
at the expense Of the colony. II costs
more TO import them. but they are usu-
ally engaged for terms OF five years,
on the understanding that they will
have food free for six months after
their arrival and free lodgings and
medical care for the whole term.
Their wages are paid weekly. Each
man gets twenty-five cents a day and
each woman eighteen cents. Up to
1898 more than fifteen thousand East
Indians had been imported upon these
conditions, and Of these twelve thous-
and had remained In the colony. Many
had settled on government lands at the
close Of their service, and some had
little plantations OF rice, sugar and
bananas Of their own The Hindoos
could be brought to the Philippine ISL
ands much more cheaply than to the
Fills and II Is question whether they
would not be valuable addition to our
working population there.
IN THE TONGA ISLANDS.
Another part Of this federation Is to
be the Tongas, These are a group OF
Islands lying northwest of New Zealand
and southeast Of the Fills. They are
now under a British protectorate, al
though they still have a king, George
II, who governs the country In connec- !
ton with the legislative assembly. The |
government In fact is q sort Of con-
stitutional monarchy under England. !
Half Of the assembly is composed of |
the mobiles, and the other half is made !
up of representatives elected by such
OF the natives as have paid their taxes.
The mobiles can only hold Office during
good behavior and the taxation clause
makes only the best OF the natives
eligible 10 the assembly.
These Tonga Islands have an area al
togther about one-tenth that OF Con-
necticut The largest OF them is only
twenty-five miles long. and here are
many which are little more than atols
and coral rocks rising out OF the sea.
Some Of them are volcanic, but their