The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-08-11 00:00:00

ANNEXATION IN THE PACIFIC.

At the request of Lord Derby the Agents G-enerals
for Victoria, New South Wales, New Zealand, and
Queensland have embodied in a despatch, which has
been laid before the members of the Cabinet, the
reasons which have influenced their Governments in
urging that Great Britain should either annex or
establibh a protectorate over the Western Pacific
Islands and the eastern portion of New Guinea. The
despatch is of great length, but the following is a
summary of some of its leading points
It states that for more than thirty years the Austra--
lasian colonies have one after another pressed upon the
Imperial Government the expediency of bringing the
islands of the Western Pacific within the dominion or
the protection of England. The question, however,
assumes a graver aspect when for the first tine nearly
all the Australian dependencies make a united remon-
strance against the present state of affairs in the
Pacific and ask horn the Imperial authority the adop-
tion of a definite policy which they believe essential to
their future well-being, While the fear of foreign
intervention has beent r a immediate cause of the con-
certed action of the colonies, yet is not by any means
the only reason. Even if all danger of immediate
foreign intervention were removed it would still be
necessary to ,urge the Imperial Government to adopt
a policy different from the present, for the state of
the Pacific has at last become intolerable.

The dispatch proceeds to give an historical narrative
the steps taken to repress outrages in the Pacific by
, I tests.blishlnent of a High Commissioner's Court,
and to insist that however good and humane the inten-
tions of the Imperial Government were that system
had failed, and could never be made adequate to do
what was wanted without assuming a jurisdiction
which had hitherto been forbidden. _

The Agents-General point out that they have relied,
not upon their own unrtions, but upon official
records, and notably upon admissions made by Sir A.
H. Gordon, the High Commissioner. After analysing
the various remedies which have been suggested, they
arrive at the conclusion that even if palliatives could
be made applicable to the smaller groups of islands,
they would certainly Be utterly useless in the case of
New Guinea. Sir A. Gordon had in 1877 recom-
mended the annexation by Great Britain of at least
certain portions of the island, and events which
have happened since all point towaris that
solution of .the difficulty. The Agents-General
therefore contend that the time has come
when complete jurisdiction ought to be assumed by
England over the Western Pacific, as the only means
of meeting the difficulties which beset alike the Im-
perial and Colonial Governments, and of averting
evils which threaten her Majesty's loyal subjects in
all that region. The extensive trade which has
sprung up between the colonies and the South Seas,
though only in its infancy, is an important factor.
When the Panama Canal was completed, the fore.
sight of the French in securing important naval sta.
tions in the Pacific would be recognised.

- On the subject of foreign intervention the Agents.
General urge that it is of the first importance to
define with accuracy the political relation in which
each group of islands stand to-day, whether to the
Imperial Government or to any foreign Powers, and
they a-ked to be supplied with a full statement of what
claims have yet been made by foreign Powers, and on
the extent to which such claims have been recognised
by England. The sense of uncertainty and insecurity
which prevails in Australasia on this subject is illus,
trated by the case of the New Hebrides. That group
was originally part of the colony of New Zealand,
under the chalter of 1840. Subsequently a rather
vague understanding agpeared to be come to with the
Government of Franc's that the New Hebrides should
be relinquished as a possession of the Crown and their
Independency recognized. In 1878 both England and
France gave assurances that they would respect the in-
dependence of the islands, and upon the Premie!
of New Zealand remonstrating, he was informed by
the Secretary of State for the Colonies that the New
Hebrides were no longer within the limits of New Zea-
land. The Agents-General desire to ask whether it is
quite certain that after her Majesty had once been
graciously pleased to include the New Hebrides in
the boundaries of New Zealand the mere fact of
new boundaries being afterwards fixed for that
colony is sufficient to make the New Hebrides
cease to be a possession of the Crown. At
any rate, if they had ceased to be so. the
least that could be asked was, that English and French
subjects should be on the same footing there. In view
of the alleged understanding between the two Govern-
ments, could France grant to say company rights
over the island similar to those accorded to the North
Borneo Company? The colonists felt no security
against some sudden act on the part of France in
annexing other islands whose independence may stand
on at any rate no worse a footing than that of the
New Hebrides. They could not forget that the French
flag had been hoisted on the Raiatta group without
any consent or recognition having ever been given by
England.
In conclusion the Agents-General give a direct
assurance that the colonies recognised the necessity
of contributing to the coat of the policy they are
asking England to pursue, and were willing to place
themselves in a position to act in union with each
other and in concert with England. The large piesa
tion of federation could not be hastily decided. It
was one upon whi 11 the colonies had not made up their
minds, and was of too grave moment to be decided
even under the sway of the strong feelings which
now existed among them respecting the policy that
ought to be pursued in the Western Pacific.
The despatch concludes in the following words—
"ln once more urging these wishes on her Majesty's
Government the colonies have not come as suppliants
for some light favour, but as Englishmen to whom
their country has given a great destiny which must be
kept from harm; desiring no new territories for them-
selves, but asking that the Queen's subjects may
enjoy the blessings of peace and order where now the
law has no terrors for the evil-doer; not seeking by
a clearer policy to set new burdens on the British tax-
payer, but willing themselves to bear its cost; and
welcoming with gladness an invitation to be associated
with the Imperial Government in a work which must
aesuredly be done one day and can as certainly be best
done now."