The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1888. THE FRENCH IN THE PACIFIC.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1738, 12 January 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1888. THE FRENCH IN THE PACIFIC.

. The French Government, under one excuse or another, persistently delays the evacuation of the New Hebrides, while, as m the recent annexation of Raiatea, it is daily a/fording evidence that the extension of French influence m the Pacific is part of the settled policy of the Republic. Meanwhile the deportation of tepi^iyhha to the islands under French control goes Readily on, and ail remonstrances and protests appear to be valueless. Day by day it is becorrfi n e increasingly plain that a great opportunity was missed some two ye»rß ago when France offered to cease the aeportatfon of convicts to these seas and to ced# Rapa, with it splendid harbors, to England, m return /or her consent to the formal annexation of the New Hebrides, an arrangement which would have betn, if not emirely satisfactory, at least infinitely belter from an English pojnt of view than the position into which a/fairs have now drifted. True it is not the fault of the New Zealand Government that this offer vras not accepted — Sir Robert Stout strongly urged its | acceptance, and we have to thank the high-faluting jingoism of Victoria for the rejection of an opportunity which will never recur — but the fact that this is so m no wise lessens our regret that that opportunity was missed. Germany, I too, has recently been carrying on m Samoa m very high-banded fashion and it is, we think, time that another eflbrt were made to bring about a cowp/eje understanding as between all three Powers. Probably the best course |woutd be sp international ADglo - Franco - Germanic conference on the subject, with a view to a friendly (Jclimiuuofl otlht sphere* pi

influence of the three nations m the Pacific. This might result m the drawing up of an international treaty, which would settle all points now m dispute, and prevent future misunderstandings and causes of irritation from arising. The necessity for some such course as this is continually becoming increasingly apparent and is accentuated by the steady progress of those great enterprises on the Isthmus of Panama, the completion of which will bring the islands of the Pacific into the direct track of great lines of communication and commerce.