Early Settlement Pre-Cession

John B Williams demanded payment of his supposed debt of $43,000 from Cakobau in 1860 payable in produce.
William Pricthard , Amercan Consul, arrived in Fiji in 1858 was urged to encurage the Fijians to develop their natural resources by stinulating their demand for industrialised products " leading them at the same time to cultivate those Articles which will most readily find a sale in British Markets".
The renowned botanists from Kew was invited to survey the wide river flats of Rewa for expert advice on the growing of cotton for the looms in Manchester.
In response to an advertisement for settlers, a newcomer to the islands from Australia proposed to "Make Fiji a cotton field- turn out the natives to work in it, and set the chiefs to look after them- all under wise and paternal laws- and then this poor nation of savages will produce wealth for the English, and will, in the course of ages, gradually become fit for our liberties, our laws and our civilization".
(deryck Scarr- a short history of fiji)