ANNEXATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 996, 16 July 1883, Page 4

ANNEXATION.

The following extract from the leading columns of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, of April 26th, will, doubtless, be read with much interest in view of (recent cablegrams :—Some of our contemporaries are, in presence of a possible difficulty about the annexation of New Guinea, felicitating themselves that in Lord Derby we have a Colonial Secretary who “ will certainly make, no mistake through lack of caution.” The words, though meant to be complimentary, imply a bitter sarcasm.'. -Lord Derby is absolutely destitute of enthusiasm ; and where .does history record that men without that faculty have done service of any high order for their country or their race ? The more carefully the matter is considered, the stronger do the pleas for an annexation appear. Queensland, it has been pointed out, occupies the whole north-eastern corner of Australia, stretching up from ' New South Wales to the Gulf of Carpentaria. iThis cdtner ! terminates in the long wedge of York Peninsula reaching up far north' towards the Equator; as if to'-ptefce New Guinea, from which it is separated at Torres Strait by ninety miles of sea, thickly strewn with islets of every size. Queensland is an enter.prisn^cp.lp.nyr extending its trade in all|duecltops, and it is not to be won-• derlg*. at if it contemplates with extreme wteknrthe ' 'possibility of any foreign country anticipating its desire to secure itselt from disagreeable, or ■even dangerous neighbors, by taking the country under its own control. It is admitted, even by authorities generally opposed to any proposals to extend our territories, that the same reason which compelled that annexation of the Fiji Islands which Mr Mundella so warmly approved may operate with equal force in this instance. And Queensland has a special ground for dreading bad neighbors. The York Peninsula has ■ recently been found to yield gold, ffflct has consequently developed with surprising rapidity the population which gathers at such places. Flourishing towns, with ah .their appurtenances of shop and bank and liquor istore have suddenly sprung up as if by magic No settled Government would desire to have within leasy reach so convenient a retreat as New Guinea would afford,, beyond the reach of law, to the characters which such a society would be likely to harbor. For our own part we regard it as a distinct and decided disadvantage that a man like Lord Derby should be at the head of our colonial affairs at a time when such a question has to be discussed. From his coldblooded encouragement of the attempts at despotism by the French in Madagascar, and his almost equally spiritless confessions of helplessness in the matter of the Transvaal, it is clear that the Queensland colonists need expect little sympathy for a “forward” or precautionary policy on the part of Lord Derby. ’