The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1883. The Annexation Conference.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1021, 10 December 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1883. The Annexation Conference.

So far as can be judged from the telegraphic reports sent by Reuter and owing to the strange decision not to allow the press reporters to be present it is unlikely that we shall ever know exactly what took place —the Conference, which has just concluded its sittings at Sydney does not appear to have added much to our knowledge of the Annexation question. A series of resolutions for transmission to the Imperial authorities have been passed, recommending that New Guinea should be annexed, and that the relapsed criminals of France should not be allowed to be sent to islands in close .proximity to Australia, while the expense of governing the new possessions should be borne in part by the colonies interested. All this has been urged upon the Secretary for the Colonies in the memorandum prepared by the Agents-General, which Earl Derby treated with such curtness. Now, however, with that regard for an “ official utterance ” characteristic of British Ministers, the recommendations of the Conference will probably receive more attention than did the arguments of Sir Dillon Bell and the other representatives of the colonies in England, even though iji each case the reasoning is identical. For many reasons it is to be regretted that we shall not be enabled to procure a satisfactory account of what took place at the Conference, and that we shall have to be contented with the bare results. It is at least as important that the public should know by what arguments certain contentions were supported, as that they should know the simple outcome of the deliberations of this collection of wise men. In New Zealand especially, this annexation question has been discussed in a very perfunctory manner. During last session it was debated, but only in a halfhearted way and with so little understanding that Sir George Grey, who has talked as much high-falutin’ rubbish on this as on most other subjects he has taken up in recent years, was allowed to pass a measure simply because it was thought to be harmless and afforded an easy means of shelving the matter. The result of this little Bill is that we are now being pestered by Samoa to annex her to New Zealand, merely because the inhabitants of that island do not like their present system of Government. That worthy henchman of Sir George Grev, Mr London, has managed this little affair, but until it is shown that this colony will derive some tangible benefit from extending our possessions the annexation of Samoa would scarcely be justified. As it is we have quite enough to do to manage our own business, instead of taking upon our shoulders the burden of other people’s, from none other than philanthropical motives. Whether this Samoa petition was mentioned at the Conference we do not know, but a similar request from Fiji was brought forward, although we are left in ignora ice as to what Major Atkinson thought of it. But meagre as is the information sent to New Zealand papers by Reuter as to the deliberations of the Conference, it is to be presumed that the English journals were even less favored. Vet we hear that the Home press has not been slow to give us advice, and the general opinion seems to be that the colonies should federate as soon as possible, and that when this is accomplished Lord Derby cannot but countenance our annexation schemes. Now, to the majority of the colonists this federation cry is one of the most absurd ever raised. To be sure the Premier of Victoria—on the occasion of the opening of the railway line connecting that colony with New South Wales—spoke

with exuberance on this question, and expressed a belief that he would live to see federation an accomplished fact, but post-prandial utterances of this kind are not regarded as meaning much. At the Conference, however, it appears that the necessity for the establishment ot a Federal Council for the Australasian colonies has received at least as much attention as the advisability of annexing certain islands in the Pacific. A scheme has been formulated and a measure embodying the views there expressed will be presented to each of the colonial Legislatures. When this is discussed in Parliament we shall be able to decide the merits of the arguments for and against such a Council as is suggested, but it would have been an undoubted advantage if we had been furnished with trustworthy reports of the speeches made in the Conference. To have a question which most people considered of only theoretical interest suddenly brought into the region of practical politics is a surprise, and so far as it affects New Zealand it is not likely that a Bill of the nature indicated will be passed by our Parliament without careful consideration. Whether the recommendations of the Conference to the Imperial Government will have the result of making Lord Derby change his mind remains to be seen, but if the annexation of New Guinea is dependent upon the federation of the colonies it is to be feared that it will be a long time before Queensland will be able to extend her possessions in the direction her ambition prompts her.