The Dominion. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1915. PACIFIC POSSESSIONS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2373, 1 February 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1915. PACIFIC POSSESSIONS.

According to the Australian temporary Administrator, the German possessions in New Guinea and neighbouring island groups captured hy the Commonwealth forces are not a white man's country, and, in view of what is already well known about these islands, it would appear that in some respects they represent an addition of , comparatively small value to the British Empire. Australia has already quite sufficient tropical territory in which white occupation and settlement are promoted only very slowly and in face of extreme difficulties. As things stand at present, no problem affecting Australia's future welfare is at once more important and more difficult of solution than tho development of the extensive Northern Territory-. The possibilities and potentialities of this great tropical region arc still very much a subject of _de : bate, but, according to one leading Australian newspaper, if the Northern Territory is potentially a white man's country, Australia has not as yet been able to settle any considerable white community there. In British Papua, also, Australia has had under its control for more than a quarter of a century another black man's country, the government and development of which still present many unsolved problems. The failure of the Commonwealth so far to vigorously promote the settlement and development of the tropical territories under its control is no doubt largely duo to the fact that ample unoccupied territory is still available to its population in temperate zones, but the comparatively unoccupied' tropical areas, now considerably augmented by conquest from the Germans, nevertheless constitute a heavy responsibility. _ An almost empty Northern Territory can only be regarded as a standing menace to Australia's future safety, and to some cxltent, though not _ quite so urgently, similar considerations apply to New Guinea and the other island possessions which have lately been added to by_ conquest. In the administration of these tropical possessions, problems of colonisation lind settlement are interwoven with those of defence, and strategic considerations will no doubt fully reconcile Australia to the retention of possessions for which she would otherwise have little use. The military outlook must, in fact, largely dominate the future policy of both Australia and New Zealand ■so far as outlying Pacific possessions are concerned. Even in the present War the German Pacific Islands had for a time a military value to the enemy as affording sites for wireless stations in touch with their raiding cruisers, and in other ways, and ordinary prudence suggests that these islands should never again be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. In one respect the colonisation and development of the Pacific Islands should present less difficult problems than the effective occupation of tho Northern Territory, for the considerations which have led to the adoption of the White Australia policy are by no means so weighty where some of the island groups are concerned. That New Guinea is not a suitable field for white colonisation has been pretty conclusively demonstrated. Germany, though poorly equipped with colonies, and having therefore a much greater incentive to develop her existing foreign was- no more successful in making German New Guinea a white man's country than the Australians have been in the British section of the territory. Tho British Empire, however, has not only been more successful than Germany in governing and developing her tropical possessions, but has much greater resources to draw upon in the future prosecution of the same great work. Some people are of opinion that the effectivo occupation of New Guinea, which presents so many difficulties and obstacles from the standpoint of white colonisation, may be accomplished successfully by enlisting the co-opera-tion of natives of India or somo other section of the coloured population of tho Empire. At all events, it is clearly vital to the future security of Australia and New Zealand that the possessions , formerly held by Germany in the Pacific should remain henceforth in British hands, and tho work willbe only half done unless possession is accompanied by the adoption of a policy having as its definite objective the occupation of these islands'by a. population capable, should tho need arise, of taking part in their defence. A cablegram published to-day contains portion of an article in which the Sydney Daily Telegraph, commenting ou Mb, Fisnßß'f; visit to New Zealand, urges the necessity for

reciprocity between Australia and New Zealand, and mutual systematising of their defence policies. It is certainly not right that Australia, should bear alone the white man*s burden in the Pacific, and the Tcler/raph takes up an unassailable position in urging broadly that tho time is ripening for concerted action. So far as naval defence is concerned. Imperial and the detail interests of Australia and New Zealand will obviously bo best served by some form of co-operation between the Commonwealth and the Dominion, and it is equally true that the control of the British Pacific possessions must he regarded as a responsibility of which New Zealand cannot in justice- refuse to bear _?, part. The war has broadened this responsibility, and brought it sharply into prominence, and as the London Times points out the service rendered by Australia and New Zealand in the capture of German possessions in the Pacific entitles them to be consulted on the terms of peace. Much may be accomplished by conference between the Australian and New Zealand Governments, but the problems and i responsibilities centring in tho British Pacific possessions, as well as some other questions which the war has brought into prominence, are of Imperial scope, and should be approached from an Imperial standpoint. The Imperial organisation is standing the test of the war so well that many of the larger questions concerning its future development may very well be allowed to stand over in the meantime, but such questions as must arise regarding the future control of the captured German colonies are in quite a different category _ and demand more immediate consideration and treatment.