The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1888-08-21

Power has been allowed to extend
her sphere of influence over the
larger of the Solomon Islands-Bou-
gainville, Isabel, Cheiseul, etc, while
fbe remainder are regarded as com
inc within the English sphere, like
tbe islands off the southeast penin-
sula of New Guinea. These include
the four islands of New Georgia,
Guadalcanar, Malanta, and San
Christoval. With these and the
neighboring Santa Cruz Archipelago
under our influence, might it not
| be possible to come to an arrange
ment with France for final settle
ment of the ever-irritating New He
brides question, just as we have ami
cably agreed with Germany as to the
partition of the Solomons? AS long
as the New Hebrides remain in their
present unsatisfactory condition they
will be a source of bitterness between
English and French in the Pacific.
Both nations have had missionaries
and traders in the islands for years,
and English colonists have found
among the natives the chief source
of their labor supply. The islanders,
very mixed but fine race, are still,
as a whole, ardent cannibals.
As far as commercial considera-
tions 90 the Fiji Islands have proved
much more valuable than New Gale
5onio and the Ioyalties together.
though their total foreign trade has
fallen recently from f8OO,OOO to
f5OO,OOO. The value of the group as
a naval station is well known, and
their Importance cannot but be en-
hanced by the opening OF the
Panama Canal. Unfortunately the
natives, now mostly Christians, seem
to be fast dying out, and of the l24,-
600 inhabitants some 10000 are immi-
grant coolie and Polynesian laborers.
More than half way from FIJI to
New Zealand we come upon the ker-
madec Islands, which were recently
annexed mainly to keep them out of
the hands of the Foreigner; they
are really outposts of New Zealand.
They cover only about 20 square
miles of land and were, when visited
last year, inhabited by Mr.. Bell and
his family from Samoa, who grow
European vegetables as well as other
crops. The islands seem to have no
harbor of any value. Another New
Zealand outpost is Chatham Island,
almost directly south of the Kerma-
decs, and useful as depot for pro
visions. These and other small
islands to the southeast and south of
New Zealand are all, of course, at
tached to that colony. The only
other islands in the Pacific to which
Britain can lay claim are those which
it was announced the other day we
had just annexed Caroline, Star
buck, Maiden, Tanning, and Penrhyn
Islands, which have been in the
Colonial Office List for years Fan
ming was annexed by England in
1861, and is really useful posses
sion. 1t is only 80 miles in circum
ference; it is fruitful and has good
water supplies; while from the eth
biological point of view it is of great
interest. flaming Island lies about
5 deg. north of the equator, almost
directly south from the Hawaiian
Islands. About the same distance
on the other side of the equator, and
in a south-south-easterly direction,
lie Maiden and Starbuck Islands, all
being included in what Stieler calls
the Central Polynesian Sporades.
They are the smallest islands and
reefs scattered over a wide area,
and valuable mainly for the guano
which they yield, but which in many
of the islands is now exhausted.
They were annexed in 1866 About
5 deg. to the southeast of these is
Caroline Island, about eight miles
long and two broad, which became
English in 1868. Some 500 miles
west-north-west is Penrhyn Island,
on which it would seem we only |
hoisted our flag the other day. 1t is
lagoon island, 80 miles in circum-
ference, with a good anchorage for |
small vessels. A glance at map of |
the Pacific will at once show the i'm
portance of these ocean specks as
halfway houses in carrying a cable
from Vancouver to New Zealand
Their commercial Importance is
small, though their copra is worth
looking after. There are other
islands in the same region which it
might be well to examine; they lie
in the route westwards from
the Panama Canal to the Malay
Archipelago, and if good harbors
are available we might as well have
them at our disposal.
Taking, then, our share of New
Guinea, of the Solomon Islands, FIJI,
and the smaller fry we have referred
to, their direct commercial value is
not great, though they certainly do
afford fields for enterprise which are
not to be despised. Their great
value to us is as outposts of Aus
tralia, as connecting links between
that continent and British America,
and as lying on one or other of the
new routes that will be created by
the opening of the Panama Canal.
It is from these points of view, and
from the general standpoint of naval
strategy, that further annexations