THE CONTROL OF THE PACIFIC
The prospect that the occupation of Samoa will be followed by the capture of German New Guinea and other island possessions of Germany in the Pacific is 'giving rise to a good ;deal of interesting speculation and discussion in Australia at the present time. It is widely recognised that these enterprises will inaugurate a new' era in the national existence of the Commonwealth: and New Zealand. In past years Pacific islands have sometimes been mere pawns in the play of European diplomacy and have been disposed of with little regard to conditions and possibilities in. this part of tho world. Such <an attitutfc' is of course no longer tenable. Australia and New Zealand have asserted , fchemsolves as active members of the Imperial combination, and in doing so have .established a claim to consideration in the arrangement of strategical and diplomatic affairs in tho Pacific. Beforo long, ,in . all likelihood, German New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and • othor islands which have been held by Germany in tho Pacific will pass into British hands, and once they have bcon taken it is improbable that they will ever be relinquished. If mattcra of trade only were at stake the desirability of Australia and New Zealand extending their sway in the Pacific might be doubtfully admitted if at all, but in actual fact it is not so much questions of trade - as questions of strategy and defence that are at stake. In.tho hands of an enemy some of the more important Pacific islands might easily bedeveloped into naval stations which would be convenient points of attack upon the Australasian Dominions and their _ commerce, and it is no doubt mainly due to Germany's European preoccupations and the overmastering supremacy of the British Navy that the islands. have not figured in. this character during tho present , war. If tho Commonwealth and Now Zealand were to neglect the possibilities of the Pacific islands they would bo pursuing as mistaken a policy as the.Mother Country did when she ceded Heligoland to Germany in 1890. It is obviously desirable that an island capable of being used as a hostile base should rather be/> made a British outpost, and this consideration is likely to dominate British Pacific policy in the immediate future. A certain amount of expenditure by Australia and New Zealand upon naval and military force's may be entailed, but an even greater expenditure in these directions would probably be necessary if tho islands, having once been seized, were allowed to , fall again into foreign hands. An interesting contribution to the discussion regarding the future adnvnistration and control of tho Pacific islands was made -in Sydney recently,by Slit. Everard im Thurn, who was for a number'.,of years High Commissioner of tho Western Pacific. In his opinion a confederation of certain of the British-owned islands.in the Pacific, having some relation to Australia or New Zealand, or both, is a development that may be looked for in the future. He takes the view that the formation of the island groups into a federation enjoying a largo amount of freedom, in local administration would be preferable to annexation by Australia or New Zealand in the ordinary way. "It is," Sfti Everard im Thtjrn stated, "becoming evident that 'the islands can be easier managed from this part of the world than from Downing Street. Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga, and the Solomons and New Hebrides form an entirely different region, having a different set of problems from those of Australia, and therefore I say- it would bo well to allow Jihem to very, largely manage their own affairs under Australian or New Zealand control, for certain, islands compose tho outer belt, as it were, of New Zealand territory, and could be best controlled by New Zealand, while others are geographically and commercially appondages of Australia." His final suggestion was that an arrangement might bo made with the Imperial authorities under which the Commonwealth would exercise, superiority over the British islands in the Western Pacific, and the Do-' minion over those in the Eastern Pacific. Sir Everard im Thurn's views <aro based upon a long practical acquaintance with his subject and on the face of it seem likely to commend themselves to the two countries concerned and to the island communities. Matters of _ defence, the protection of the native race, and the administration of justice, would necessarily bo controlled by a central authority, but outside these limits thero seems no reason why a liberal measure of local government should not bo granted, as Sir Everard im Thurn suggests, to the pooplo of the island communities..
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Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2253, 12 September 1914, Page 6
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765THE CONTROL OF THE PACIFIC Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2253, 12 September 1914, Page 6
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