The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-03-22 00:00:00

AN ITALIAN EXPEDITION' TO NEW

GUINEA.

The Times' correspondent at Rome gives the following
particulars of a proposed Italian expedition to New Guinea,
sor the purpose of establishing a new colony there :

Menotti Garibaldi, son (if the General, and Achille
Fazzari, his companion•in-arms, intend, unless Eng-
land should interpcse any obstacles, to sail in the
summer or autumn with 3,000 Italians, for the
southern coast of New Guinea, establish a colony
there, and found a new city under the name of Italia,
Their object is to find an outlet- for that spirit of
adventure and enterprise which the making of Italy
aroused in many who are still young men. More
than eight years have passed since their patriotic
task was accomplished._ It might be supposed
they ought to have settled down by this
time, and many, indeed, have done so; but there are
many more either unfitted to return to the calm
routine of daily life or unable to do so, whether through
want of early training or the impossibility of turning
their abilities to account in a country where the as-
pirations are great, the means of carrying them out
next to nothing, the competitors many, and the prizes
very few and of small value. The expedition to New
Guinea, the colonization of an unopened country there,
and the foundation of a new city are the means by
which Menotti Garibaldi hopes to provide the outlet
required, to open careers for those who cannot find
them at home, and to relieve the country from a
number of restless minds which, wanting other em-
ployment, cry out for Italia Irredenta or dream that a
Republic would give them all they want. lam in-
formed that the arrangements are almost completed,
that the money required, some 30,000,000 f., is ready,
and that applications to join the pioneer party are more
than can be granted. Among those who have thrown
in their lot with it are between twenty and thirty now
sitting as deputies in the Italian Parliament. It will
number about 3,000, and will be divided into two
parts: the military, commanded by Signor Fazzari,
for the protection of the settlers against the natives;
and the agricultural and industrial, to lay the veritable
foundations of the colony and turn the resources of
'he country to account. Four steamers are to 'be
engaged to carry the adventurers to their destination
and convey all the requisite stores and requirements
from spades, pickaxes, saws, and planes to printing-
presses and a telegraphic cable, with which to place
themselves at once in communication with the
northernmost point of Australia: Their intention
is to land at the mouth of one of the rivers,
encamp there, and live partly in their tents and partly
on board ship until they have decided on the moat
healthy site for their new city. The originators dis-
claim all intention of founding a convict settlement, of
which, also, Italy is in need. But they hope to afford
a haven for the 6,000 or more emigrants who leave Italy
every year for South America, to meet a more miser-
alo!e fate than that they thought to better. They repre-
sent—and such, I understand, is, in part, the tenour
of the communication made through General Mene-
brae to her Majesty's Government—that they are
not going to New Guinea influenced by any
spirit of rivalry towards England's interests there.
As the children of Garibaldi they remember
what England did for them. They intend to raise
the Italian flag over their new walls, but they will con-
sider themselves almost as English subjects, or, at any
rate, her volunteer allies, and intend to do all they
can to merit her sympathy and support. Such, in
brief, is the substance of a conversation I have just
had with one of the leaders. The chief direction of the
enterprise rests in the hands of Menotti Garibaldi, and
in it are numbered members of all trades and callings,
arts and sciences, excepting only—l was emphatically
told—advocates. Many are men who leave the possi-
bility of brilliant positions behind them in the hope,
they say, of doing honour to themselves and their
country. They know all the difficulties they have to
encounter, and are prepared to meet them.