" LILL OPENING OF PARLIAMENT BY THE KING.
SIR, MY LORD THE MATA,—I have already discoursed to you my sail to Britannia and my crossing of the big land of Canada, which lies in the way. Now I am going to try and tell you of a very great thing that I have seen here in my stay in Britannia, that is the opening of Parliament, or the Big Council of Britannia, by King Edward, our Sovereign Lord.
It is known to you that I am the wandering hillman who came with the Fijian Soldiers to London to the Coronation of our big King. That which I am about to tell will be quite clear to my comrades who were with me then, as I stood close to the place where we fell in on that day.
It is right that I should first make clear to you the condition of the land when I arrived in Britannia in the month of Septem- ber. At that time the Parliament had been conferring for a long time and divided counsels had arisen, and it seemed to the King that its reports to him were wavering, and that what it desired was not the desire of the people of the land. So he decided that it should be dismissed, and that each member should return to his own place, in order that an election should take place in the month of January, where each one at that time in the provinces and towns should choose messengers to the Parliament, or Big Council, to lay before him the true wishes of the people of the land. That thing happened in January, and the King appointed that the Big Council should commence on the 19th February..
• There is a chieflike boy in London who is very good-natured to us Fijians, the one who fed us with crabs and gave us pipes when we were in Britain, and he it was who took me to see the King open Parliament. He had a letter from the Assistant-Chief of the Police of London. That was a most useful letter, because the police took care of us and took us to the front of the Big House of Council, and prevented the people of the land from crowding us, so that we might well see the King.
The Big House of Council stands in a long road, which is called the path of Parliament. On each side of it are the big writing houses of the Matanitu (Government), that appertain to the different branches of work; there too is our Big House, that con- cerns the British Colonies. We soldiers that -were at the Corona- tion of the King know right well that Big House, as we guarded and watched over it then. But this day about which I ,ain now conversing, on either side were spread out the soldiers, whose duty it is to fence round, watch over, and preserve the body of our King, who are called The Guards,'—shortly, in Fijian, the shields of the body of the King. At the mouth of every path leading into the path of Parliament were soldiers on horseback, whose duty it was to prevent people passing without proper per- mission. As we waited we saw pass the great chiefs and their ladies in their carriages. Who can tell their splendour, the chiefs in their robes of war and their robes as nobles of the land, and the ladies with golden crowns dazzling like lightning with diamonds and precious stones? Who can tell it ? It was like a dream or the glory of the fairies.
Where we stood we saw all sorts of people. For this Parlia- ment have been chosen many working men.by the people as their messengers to the Big Council. This is a new thing, as formerly members of chieffike tribes only were chosen. I. saw one of these messengers of the working men to Parliament. He was waiting where we were, with a girl, his daughter, I think, as they too wanted to see the King pass. The man had a rid necktie on. I was told that was a badge of a workman, as it is not the custom of pepple of chieflike birth to wear red neckties. It is not a new thing for us Fijians for men of humble birth to attend Councils. We find them in our Provincial and District Councils, and that their advice, wisdom, and assistance is very useful. Their speech has been very useful to the land. Perhaps it "will be so, too, in this chieffike land of Britain.
The place where we stood was opposite the two standards of the warriors of the Guard, fenced round with soldiers, and there, too, were the bugles and drums. Just before it struck two of the clock the bands along the path were heard playing God Save the King' and the voices of the Lords of War calling out Present arms !' and then appeared the King. In front of him went four carriages, with six horses each to draw them. On the horses sat men, and other men ran alongside. These carriages had in them the high chiefs who serve the King. Then came a warrior band on horseback, with a handsome young chief in the centre, who carried the standard of the King. When they had passed by, then came the King in a .golden coach, drawn by eight white horses, white as milk. As he appeared, everybody took off their hats and shouted Hip, hip, hooray ! and the sound of the cry was like the roar of
the surf on the reef in their great joy at seeing the King. -The standards opposite to us were lowered to the ground in salute and the bells of the big church of Westminster rang out. The King bowed his head in response, and touched his hat, returning a -military -salute to the gladness of the people of the land. Bombe ! Sombo ! how handsome the King is. Who can -describe it ? He is handsome and tall and portly, even as a true chief of Fiji. •
When the King had passed into the House, each one returned to his own place. The chieffike boy with whom I was said that 'we should meet in the evening with some other friends and have a feast; as a finish up to our joy at having seen the King. That thing happened, and we fed at a house of feasting called the House of Julius. The owner is a Frenchman very skilful in pre- paring food, and it pleases chiefs and ladies to feast there. The night I was there it was full of chiefs and ladies. I saw a lady there who, it was said, was the mother of a chief who concerns us, the Assistant Big Scribe for the Colonies. She looked to me very beautiful; with a splendid dress and ornaments. This talk of mine is too long. I will finish it up with a wonderful thing. When the Frenchman knew I was a Fijian, great was his good natitre to me, and he said that I should go and see his kitchen, 'aid he took me there. Sombo ! Bomb, !• the wealth of the white men ; the saucepans were silver saucepans I—I am, Sir Meta, WANDERING HILLMAN."
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