THAKOMBAU'S OFFER.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 76, 28 August 1874, Page 4

THAKOMBAU'S OFFER.

(From the Pall Mall Gazette, May 23.)

The telegrams relating to the Fiji Islands which have been received from Melbourne have hitherto giveu such accurate information that it may be presumed that the terms of cession given in the latest despatch as proposed by Thakombau and his advisers are in the main correct, though they are somewhat at variance with the general tenour of the news contained in the Fijian papers which have come by way of San Francisco. The terms offered seem in themselves preposterous Thakombau's self-assumed title of King of Fiji is to be recognised, and a pension of £3OOO a year is !■■ "• d to him for two lives at least -pretu nt li lor a man who has never yet had a definite income of any kind; other chiefs are to be similarly pensioned in lesser amounts, whilst, as they are to be confirmed in their position as rulers of their territories, they will have precisely the s-tine opportunities of raising revenue from Mien' own dependants as heretofore. Fn liier, the outstanding debt of the Fijian Government is to be assumed by the annexing Power. This debt, be it said, includes not merely the admitted deficit of £BO,OOO, so skilfully accumulated during the past two years and a half, but the total of the Government notes, amounting to some thousands of pounds, which pass at a slight discount in the group. Moreover, all contracts and charters are to be considered binding, not excepting, we presume, the banking, trading, and other monopolies given away or sold by the late Ministers. Most perplexing of all, the great chiefs--meaning Thakombau, Tuithakau, Maafu, Ritova, and others—are to be considered as the owners of the lands over which they hold nominal sway. This stipulation alone would give rise to endless difficulties. The limits of each chieftain's power are not easy to detiuc, and the land itself is very rarely held by

these supreme chiefs; it is owned by the communities, and the rights of chiefs, great and small, are more or less restricted. It is almost impossible Cor them to convey much laud without the consent of the immediate possessors, and this frequently cannot he obtained. In short, it is clear that this oiler, such as it is, has originated with that singular body the late Cabinet of hishMajesty King Thakombau. Their object from the first was to aggrandi/.c the great chiefs at the expense of B'ijiansand White men alike. They had nearly all acted as private secretaries to these chiefs, and had obtained control over them in various ways. A more degrading position for a white man it, would be difficult to imagine. In order to retain his position as secretary, and the; power and emolument gained therefrom; the holder was bound to put up with continuous insults from a savage who iu every respect, save the sense of personal dignity, was of course greatly his inferior. Such men lived a life of constant Fijian intrigue, and persisted in it in their new posts as Ministers. Thakombau's own opinion of them he expressed rather happily in his own language. " T," said the old man, alluding to his traditional title of Vunivalu, ; 'am the root of war, but the scribes are the root of all evil." And theroot of all evil in the Fiji Islands they have certainly been for some years. However,their triumph is now at an end, and it is scarcely possible that Mr Layard and Captain Goodenough should have accepted the cession even conditionally upon the terms which arc named in the Melbourne telegram. The instructions given by Lord Kimberley, though quite out of date as regarded the state of affairs in Fiji, would not induce them to err save on the side of caution. Some arrangements might be made to provide for the debt by those interested in the prosperity of the islands, but the way in which it has been incurred ought certainly to be looked into. Owing to circumstances to which we have referred more than once, the Fijian planters are not at the moment in a flourishing condition. It is from them thai, the revenue must be derived, and it is questionable whether an income of more than £IO.OOO could be fairly raised by taxation during the next two or three years. Annexation, no doubt, will speedily improve matters, and we believe it to be desirable on many grounds. At (lie same time it is important that we should enter upon our new territory with as few restrictions as possible upou our action in future.