MR. HENNIKER-HEATON (Canterbury)asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether in 1884 there were 4,052 more deaths than births among the natives of Fiji; whether there was a decrease of the imports and exports of £158,000 in 1885 as compared with 1884; and, will he cause an inquiry to be made as to the cause of this grave state of affairs, and particularly as to the native policy adopted there?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire,Horncastle)In answer to my hon. Friend's first Question, I have to say that the figures he quotes do not correspond with the Official Returns, according to which the decrease of Native population in the year ending September 30, 1884, is stated as 2,562. That was the first year which showed a decided decrease, 268 and its cause is said to be an epidemic of whooping cough; and the Administrator has pointed out the imperative necessity of attending to the sanitary conditions under which the Natives are living. As regards the exports and imports, my hon. Friend is correct in stating the falling off in 1885 as compared with 1884 as about £158,000. The Colony has, in recent years, suffered by the fall in the price of sugar, by the derangements of steam communication, by two years of drought, and by a disastrous hurricane. There is nothing before me to show that "Native policy" has had anything to do with the decrease in population or the falling off in trade.