FIJI AND THE CQOLIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2488, 29 April 1909, Page 6

FIJI AND THE CQOLIES.

IS THE NATIVE DOOMED? ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE WHITES. During the course of a conversation with a “Dominion” reporter, the Rev. W. R. Poole, of Fiji, who was in Wellington, touched upon a number of important matters affecting the Group. Mr Poole said that the Indian coolies furnished a perplexing problem. Upon the completion of their term of service on the plantations, they had the option of being re-indentured, or of remaining on the islands as free Indians. It was -said that, if they were not allowed to remain after they had fulfilled their contracts, great difficulty would be experienced in recruiting them. For liis own part, he believed that they should be allowed to remain in the Group only so long as they worked. After they gained tlieir freedom, they leased or purchased land or entered into business as' storekeepers coming directly into competition with the Europeans. The. steady increase in'the numbers of the Indians ,nnd the decrease of the native population presented -a big problem. It had been found that the Indians were more suitable for the laboring work on the plantations and, owing to the fact that all of them held areas in a land of full and plenty, the native Fijians did no work excepting when they wished to provide themselves with boats, churches, or the like. Who is to blame for the murders of whites which occur from time to time in the Group? was the next question which Mr Poole was asked. He stated, in reply, that in some cases the victims of the atrocities had simply -reaped the harvest of that which they had sown. It would be as well to mention at the outset that the Indians did not stand for all 1 That.was noblest. Their he was sorry to say, baneful on the whole. He was informed that- they were, not not recruited froth amongst the better classes, but were-really the scum of the cities, and included numbers of criminals. It was fair to say that, in some instances, their conduct was an improvement on the behavior of some of our own color. The immorality of the Indians was oftentimes supplemented by the immorality of the Europeans. It was not to be implied from his remarks that fault could be found with regard to the conduct of all the Europeans. As a matter oi" fact, some were honorable to a degree, and did not look upon the Indians as nothing more than so much of mule flesh. He had never known an instance where it had been alleged that either an Indian or a native Fijian had committed a crime against a white woman or child. The coofie -or the native never took the initiative in that kind of thing; tlio sinner in almost every ease was a man with a white skin. It was only when they were incensed that the ccoiies really became, a menace. Is the mission work among the Indians likely to prove successful ? inquired the reporter. ' „’’ “Statistics,” replied Mr Poo-©, sliotv that the Indians are increasing at a fairly rapid rate, and that, whilst in some districts the native Fijians are holding, their own, in others they are decreasing. Indeed, it was not improbable that the coolies might ultimately supplant the natives. Very great ’progress had been made by the missiohers among the natives, but the work among the coolies was arduous. Tlio fact- that only one missionary had been massacred by the. Fijians in the history of mission work there, was a splendid tribute to the race. As a. result of reinforcements which had just been made to the staff at work among the. Indians, it was hoped that greater success in connection with the evangelisation of those people- would Jesuit. “If,” added Mr Poole, “the Indians supplant the natives, and .F c work of evangelisation is not successful, it is possible that a country where such glorious results liavo been secured may again become a heathen country with an even worse, form of heathenism than that which formerly characterised it.”