hint from him would have been invaluable; and that it will be attended by no serious political consequences will be almost wholly due to his own persistent labours to win for the Government of the stranger the confidence and goodwill of his former subjects.

The chiefs whose presence is required at the Veimbose vaka Turaga are the Roko Tuis of provinces; two or three Bulis from each province, annually chosen by the Provincial Council; the Native Stipendiary Magistrates, and the Mata-ni-vanua of provinces. In addition to these the whole of the Bulis of the province in which the meeting happens to take place, and generally those of the adjoining province also, attend the Council.

Each of the chiefs has a certain number of followers. This attendance has now been limited to twenty from each province, so that, altogether, there are about 300 persons from provinces other than that in which the meeting is held, entitled to attend, but the restriction as to number of attendants and followers is never very rigorously enforced, nor would it be wise that it should be so. The people of the province itself, of course, come and go freely, as they please, and many individual strangers are attracted from a distance by curiosity or business.

There are no baker's shops or butcher's carts in the rural districts of Fiji, and careful arrangements have to be made previously for feeding any large gathering of people.

As soon as the locality at which the next year's Bose will be held is announced, large additional food plantations are commenced in its vicinity, and every village in the district, or perhaps province, also makes a special garden for the Bose. The provinces immediately adjoining also help, but provincially, not by towns. On the assembling of the meeting, the order in which the villages are to present the food they have planted is carefully arranged. The object is, of course, to provide about the same quantity of food every day, and a double allowance on Saturday. The amount each village will bring is roughly known, and apportioned accordingly.

A single village may be so rich and prosperous as to provide the whole amount of pigs, fowls, yams, and taro required for one day. Next day it may require the united efforts of three or four smaller or poorer villages to furnish a similar supply. A large deputation brings in the contribution from each village, piles it up on the "rara," or public square, goes through the usual ceremonies attending the presentation of food, dances a formal dance, and withdraws. A High Chief and the Governor's Mata-ni-vanua superintend the division of the pile into sixteen or seventeen heaps―i.e., a heap for each province, with additional heaps for the Governor, the ex-king, the constabulary, &c. The Mata-ni-vanua of each province superintends the further division of each provincial heap into portions for

the Roko, Magistrates, and Bulis of the province, whose own attendants again subdivide each minor heap among those dependent upon them. It is astonishing with what order, regularity and speed, these distributions are accomplished, and how much less waste than might be expected takes place. I do not say that there is none. It would be absurd to suppose it possible that it should be avoided: but it is certainly nothing to what would be supposed inevitable by those who saw the amount of food prepared, and were unaware of the method and system rigidly observed in its apportionment.

In 1880 an attempt was made by certain Europeans to prove that great want had been caused in the district of Bau by the demands made on it for supplies of food to the Bose, and even that deaths from hunger had occurred in consequence. Those making the statement were interrogated without result; but it was determined not to let the accusation rest uninvestigated, and a Commission of Inquiry, consisting of the Chief Medical Officer and the editor of the newspaper in which the charge had appeared, was appointed, which clearly proved the charge to be altogether unfounded.

Other charges made against these meetings cannot, I think, be better met than by the testimony of Lieut.-Governor Des Vœux,* as given in his speech at the close of the meeting at Bua :

“I doubt whether, in any other part of the world, so large a concourse of people could be gathered together for several weeks with such abundant means of enjoying themselves, and at the same time show so nearly complete an absence of drunkenness, disorder, and open immorality.

"There could scarcely be a more effective answer to the allegations which have been published respecting these meetings, with a view to discredit the existing system of native government. I had, I confess, been prepared to believe that in these allegations there was a considerable proportion of truth, and I was inclined to look on these meetings as an evil,-a necessary evil, probably, but still an evil.

"My present experience, however, has completely changed this view."

Nevertheless, no institution in Fiji has been more assailed than these meetings. They are charged with encouraging idleness, waste, and immorality, and with pinching and impoverishing the people, in consequence of the amount of food consumed (and, it is alleged wasted) at these meetings. I believe the very reverse to be the case, and am disposed to think that they conduce to industry, and add to the comfort of the people; while that the other charges brought against them are equally without foundation (except in so far as they apply to all large meetings, for whatsoever purpose assembled) I am as thoroughly convinced.

The jealousy of the Bose felt by the white community generally is very easy to understand. It is the result of a dislike to native government in any form, and of the contemptuous disbelief in the capacity * Now Governor of Fiji.

of the "nigger" for anything but plantation work, which is strongly rooted in the average Australian colonist. It is also an evidence of the feeling which ignores all social or political distinction among natives, and ranks the greatest hereditary chief, however high-bred his manners, or keen his intellect, as the inferior of the meanest white vagabond in the group.

The disapproval of the missionaries, or at all events of some leading members of their body, is not so simply to be explained. It may be due in some degree to the same feelings which animate the white population generally; but it is in a far greater degree owing to the fact that the Bose is a serious check, in more than one direction, on their own influence in civil matters.

They have been accustomed to rule the chiefs by the expression of a wish, and are ill-pleased to see any independent power in the hands of natives. The spirit which led the Churchmen of the Middle Ages to bring Church influence to bear on every act is strong in many of these men. I do not mean the influence of religion,which of course it would be desirable to see pervading all the transactions of life, but the influence of the clergy,-which is quite another thing.

That influence is still very great. The Roko Tui of Ba, in a speech at the Bose in 1880, said :

"The chief of the town-yea, often the Bulis, and perhaps even some of the Rokos-are small men, and do what they do with fear and trembling, while the Teacher, with boldness, with an open mouth, in the middle of the town, gives forth his orders to the people; he commands and demands; the chief but asks and solicits."

But, at the same time, the effects of the changed order of things are very apparent. It was said by another speaker at the same meeting

"Formerly we were governed by our chiefs, and the missionaries governed our chiefs. Now the chiefs know that the Government is the head, and that all are under it. There is, therefore, a letting loose; and this liberty which has been given to us the missionaries do not like.

"Formerly no one could speak his mind to or against a missionary, because he knew that his chief's anger would thus be brought upon him. They say, too, much work of the Church is interfered with, and there is more liberty given to the people to pursue their own minds in such matters. They (the missionaries) say that in these days the Government oppress the people, and that they complain to them (the missionaries) of such oppression. They write this, they publish it. What would they say if we were to write and publish only a few of the multitude of things that our people say of the missionaries, and complain against them?"

How distinctly the Bose has spoken out on these subjects, and in what firm language it has remonstrated against missionary interference in the affairs of Government, will be seen from the foregoing extracts, and from an examination of its proceedings.

It strongly supported the existing marriage law against the attacks of the clergy, who would have desired to treat as invalid all marriages except those performed by themselves. It brought to light the scandal of a European minister attempting by spiritual censures to punish a native magistrate for a decision given by him on the bench. It has condemned an attempt to extort money for missionary purposes; nor has the general tone adopted by it, while respectful to religion itself, been one of undue subservience to its ministers.

Even the quaint speech of Nacanaeli (Native Stipendiary Magistrate of Lakemba), on behalf of the Missionaries, shows a consciousness that their action was liable to censure:

"If I speak in white men's proverbs you will probably deride me, but I have heard it said by white men that 'there is no evil but has some good.' For instance the whirlwind; does that only cause the fall of trees and destruction? No, it purifies the air, and clears the land of filth and what causes death. Smooth water is nice to look upon, but what sailor desires calms? I say we are under the government and providence of God, all of us, and in all the work we are engaged in here. Now, if we have received good from the missionaries, shall we not also receive evil? God's government of the world is good; but every now and then sudden and terrible things happen. Do we despise God in consequence?"

At the Bau meeting, in 1879, a letter was read from a Roman Catholic priest, complaining of interference with his converts by the chiefs. The letter gave rise to an animated discussion.

Roko Tui Ba said—

"Sometimes we see earnest men, following their own convictions, become Roman Catholics. If such be the case, and we interfere, are we wise? I think not. But, on the other hand, pretended conversions light-mindedly professed on account of some quarrel or dissatisfaction with a teacher or a chief should be strongly repressed, for division in a town is in itself evil. No one wishes to interfere with the free course of the individual people in their religion, but in all public work we are not individuals, we are communities."

Buli Kubumlau said that the Roman Catholics at the instigation of the priest had disregarded his town regulations.

"They continued to do what the whole of the town objected to, following the word of the priest. None of us wish to interfere with the people's religion on either side, but who is to yield when authority is defied? Are we to obey the priests, or are the people to obey us, when we are defied by the priests? Religion is a good thing, but both the Catholic priests and the Protestant missionaries give us great trouble."

Buli Nambauwalu said that some of the Roman Catholics at Verata caused a very great deal of trouble and annoyance to the rest of the people.

"After many attempts to remedy the matter, I went to the priest and explained and remonstrated with him. Of course he lectured me, told me that theirs was the only true religion, and that I ought to become a Catholic, and then I should be a good man, and a good chief. I told him that was my own affair; that I had come to speak to him on a public matter affecting the land

and the people, and requested him to speak to his people, as otherwise I should be obliged to have them brought to court. Since then all things have gone smoothly, and in all township work, and such matters, the people help and obey. Now it has occurred to me that if Buli Nakelo had gone and spoken directly to the priest, a like good result might have followed. Priests are very irritable, and do not like us to tell them the truth; still, after one has gone away, they probably think of what has been said, and act more wisely.”

Such emancipation from clerical control the Wesleyan Church in Fiji will not easily forgive. But let no one on this account venture to underrate, or lightly value, the services which that body has in times past rendered, and still renders, to Fiji. It may be true that its chiefs scarcely realize the fact that, instead of being now the apostles of a perilous mission, they are the rulers of a dominant and virtually established Church: it may be feared that, owing to the narrower field of selection involved in the transferrence to the Australian Conference of the entire control of the Fijian mission, an increasing difficulty will be felt in filling up with fit candidates the ranks of the European clergy: it may be thought that some of these, long accustomed to wield well-nigh absolute and wholly irresponsible power, regret its loss. But when allowance is made for every drawback, it is almost impossible to overrate the influence for good exercised by the Wesleyan Mission, or the salutary effects of its allpervading presence. That influence has seldom been employed in the furtherance of personal objects; and the ugly features of selfish ambition have been masked to the consciences even of those in whom the lust for power is most strongly developed, by a sincere belief that they are solely animated by a zeal for pure religion and the spiritual welfare of the Church.

The arguments brought against the continuance of the Bose vaka Turaga were they well founded, do not touch its principle, but only its outer details, and whatever may be said against it, its maintenance is a necessity if the system of government through natives is to be kept up. It acts as a safety-valve to many a grievance that might otherwise rankle and swell to dangerous proportions; it furnishes a touchstone of feeling of the utmost value in gauging the tendencies of the native mind, and is a most powerful auxiliary in carrying out the wishes of the Government. It may be worthy of consideration whether a somewhat similar system might not prove to be of utility in other localities, where large numbers of natives, possessed of a certain degree of civilization, are ruled by a small body of Englishmen.

ARTHUR GORDON.