Petition.

To the Hon. the Speaker and Members of the New Zealand Home of Representatives in Parliament assembled.

The Humble Petition of the Undersigned Respectfully Sheweth:—

1.	That your petitioners are the settlers and colonists of Fiji, and that their interests, as such, are indissolubly bound up in its political, commercial, and industrial advancement.
2.	That the very large proportion of them have been Attracted here from New Zealand and the neighbouring colonies of Australia, where they have enjoyed and exercised the civil and political privileges there secured to the subject.
3.	That the population of Fiji is estimated to consist of 2,500 Europeans, who own, approximately, one-tenth of the area of the islands, and represents upwards of £3,000,000 of invested capital, derived principally from New Zealand and Australia; and 115,000 native born Fijians, exclusive of laborers introduced from Polynesia and India.
4.	That since the 10th October, 1874, Fiji has been a British dependency, and has been administered as a Crown Colony of a severe type.
5.	That this form of administration nominally associates in the work of Government, the Executive Council, and the Legislative Council.
6.	That the Executive Council consists of the Governor and four official members.
7.	That the Legislative Council is composed of six officials (including the Governor as President, and the Executive Councillors) and six unofficials, not elected by the colonists, but nominated by the Governor.
8.	That the Governor, who exercises both a deliberate and a casting vote, also directs how the official vote shall be recorded, and that as he thus holds in his hands the controlling page xiv power, he absolutely dominates the deliberations, and the system is reduced to the bare lines of a simple despotism.
9.	That this form of Government is opposed to the commercial, agricultural, and industrial progress of the colony, and that in these respects its continued maintenance in their midst is inimical to the interests, not only of Fiji, but also of New Zealand and the Australian Colonies.
10.	That through the operation of this system your petitioners have been deprived of all constitutional rights and priviliges, and have been reduced to the position of political nonentities.
11.	That they are heavily taxed while they remain unre-presented, and are thus unjustly excluded from all participation in the ordering of public affairs.
12.	That though the revenue amounts to £100,000 per annum, it is almost entirely absorbed in meeting the demands of a ruinously wasteful and cumbrous system of administration unsuited to the wants and conditions of the colony; and that while the contributors are denied any voice in it, expenditure, the advantages they derive from the outlay are comparatively, of but trivial character.
13.	That in proof of the above the estimated expenditure for the current year amounts to £96,738 18s. 11d., of which total the sum voted under the head of public works amounts to but £9,336 10s.
14.	That with the present revenues of the colony, and in view of the increase which would follow were its trade and industries fostered and developed by a wise and suitable form of Government, your petitioners strongly believe a considerable surplus would remain to be employed in public works and in opening up and bringing under the immediate notice of the outside world the natural resources of this group of islands.
15.	That the Judicial Department is presided over by a single Judge, from whose decision in civil matters there is no appeal, except, in certain cases, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; while at the same time the right of trial by jury in all such cases is practically prohibited.
16.	That in criminal cases the jury right is only allowed when Europeans alone are principals, but where men of native page xv race are involved, either as accusers or accused, the judge sits with assessors, who may not deliver a verdict, but may merely give an opinion, which opinion the judge may entirely ignore or give effect to at his pleasure.
17.	That while the Europeans are subjected to these disabilities and humiliations, the native Fijians are controlled by a special form of government which has most prejudically affected the prosperity, progress, and general development of the race.
18.	That the imposition upon the natives of a tax to be paid in produce, of £18,000, annual value, most wastefully absorbs their working power and binds a heavy burden upon their shoulders; while the extent to which they are subjected to chiefly levies for service and contributions, the restrictions placed upon their personal liberty, and the interference with their right freely to hire their labor in the best market to the highest bidder, and to enjoy in security the fruit thereof, is tending to enslave and demoralise them.
19.	That the general effect of the causes above set forth is a state of agricultural stagnation and commercial depression which is now very seriously affecting the prosperity of the colony.
20.	That to improve the position of themselves and native born Fijian fellow subjects, and to obtain full relief from their surrounding difficulties, your petitioners have long cherished a strong and earnest desire for the incorporation of Fiji with the colony of New Zealand, a result that they feel persuaded would be attended with solid and substantial advantages in which both colonies would share.
21.	That the self-supporting position of Fiji is clearly evident from the facts that, while its population and revenue are as above stated, according to last official returns, which show a decrease on those for the former year, its imports still amount to £434,522; exports, £345,343; total foreign trade. £779,866 annually; while its public debt amounts" only to £254,025 7s. 11d., of which £150,000 is bearing interest at four and a half per cent, and the remainder is an Imperial grant in aid without interest.
22.	That advantage to New Zealand would accrue through the extension of her commerce, the opening up of a wider, because a more exclusive market for her products and page xvi through the strengthening of her natural position as the colony entitled to exercise the dominant influence in the South Seas.
23.	That according to recent calculation the business done by New Zealand with Fiji does not amount to more than £67,000 annually, whereas from her geographical position and closer contiguity, the very great proportion of it would thus be secured to her.
24.	That in desiring this connection your petitioners are deeply sensible of the benefits it will confer not only upon themselves but also upon the Fijians, whom they are convinced would warmly join in this request if it were possible to consult them. Nevertheless, the appeal is made on the joint behalf, and

And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray, &c.