NEW CALEDONIA AND AUS TRALIA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1165, 27 June 1884, Page 3

NEW CALEDONIA AND AUS TRALIA.

The JVeo Caledanien of the 19th inst, quotes fro-n ' lie XI Xe. ,S "tccle an .art'cle on • his sutj er, of winch the following is a transalaiimi :

“ 1 here has been a talk for some months past of the emotion occasioned in a u.- - ralia by the .aun -uncemnit of the law relating to the ivoi ivistes, vvli.cn is mi ler c mai l notion i . the Senate. The hi ere do’nal Con it ess at Sy Inc r has even invito I too Queen's Government to make energetic re-pr.sentat-ioti to the French Gove.nnieot n.i ibis sip jeer. All (bis would not anp arto he very serious. Xerei-hel ss, it se-ui as if something won I-1 emue of it. An exPivmier of No-v South Wales, Sir H. Park- s, is m L’in#ni at this present mom* ■ lit, die object of his jou ivy i.e to peve o. F.auee from (ran-o> n ling hj r c oivicta to Oe-auia, and Le Math, newspiper has pu lidied a long interview which he has had with one of its repnrtei s. •‘lf Prance should have the mishap (o pa-s the law mi the . vievlvmte*. lure is the Australian euv iy waiti ig for us. Without speaking of the reoivseutatiohs wlueh the m ithcr r uiitry may address to ns. just toink * f i lie mra.siuvs v. hijli the great Oceanic colony his already uia'e up i>s min iin take .against m. )f it consi In s its Sifityto bo iinjierilled by the vicinity i f our couvic s, it is determined to htoik off all relatiofis with Fiance and other colonies. It will interdict ihe entrance of all p )soils of om n vtionality, as it has a ready done ■that of the Chinese, into the Australian (■ rrilnry. No l- is ’his all. The Australian G ivevnment will o tlie length of the closing its ports a'aiust French vessels. It wid no longer bo perinis ible for those of the Maritim s Mcssaguries to put into harbour there.

“Excuse us for a moment. .Australia E'» s >Loa,|, when it makes up its mind to do so. Very well. Hu. even after the <le clir.,tions of sir Henry Parkcs, we shall not. allow ourselves to be veiy serious.v disturbed. Venerable senate's ! deliberate in peace. For if an attempt shouM be ina-.lu to put this threat inio execution. France will hj ive some representations of its own to m -ke—not to the ‘Australian colonies, of whom it knows nothing, bur, to the En«lish Government, with which it is friendly, ami to which it is bound by treaties.

■ ' New Dale ouia does nut belong, as we very well know, to the Austrauans. It is • or own ; »uni wa hue a right to do what we 1i1i .3 with it, Without co mu ting auybody, Australian or otherwise. If we consider it expedient to establish a penitentiary colony there—or. my.re. correctly speaking, to devet<)oe'*ilittt, which- we have aireany founded—we hlive no more ncoa ion, to a*k permission to dp so of the Australian colo mes, or oven of England, than we have to a-k it of the Chinese ou the Asiatic continent, or of the Dutch who own J iva, or of 'he Spaniards who p es'eas the Phillipine lalauns. The coal-heaver is mis or in his owh house, and we am at home in Noumea. “ There remains but one case toconsidr that of the establishment of a penal settlement constituting areal sou ice of danger, either to the Australians or to any of our neighbours in Oceania. In each a case, friendly feeling would make ,t a duty to renounce our project, and the complaint would be legitimate. But has such a case arisen ?

Oar convicts once transported to Now Caledonia, will their movements he thouoeforth f ce? Will they be allowed to leave of their own accord, and to go to mi.bbouring countries to practice crimes which have le I to their transportation ? Nothing of the kind. They will be guarded ami watched over with the utmost severity. “ Buc it is said there wdl be escapes. Yes, certainly, these will occur from time to time. There is no prison, great or small, however securely emsed. from which prisoners will not occasionally find the means of esca e. There will be invasions, hut we will undertake to say that they will not often happen. Will you just reckon up the eventual danger wl th which Australia is men.ced? There is between New Caledonia and Australia a distance of 301) marine leagu.s, more than 16U0 kilnnecres. What sort of uneasiness is that a moat of 160 I kilometr s does not sufLr to allay? Keally, we di.l not think that English colonists were so ready to take fright. “Bit let us admit every possible cause for alarm. Let us assume th it every two or thr. e years acumen will succeed m effuOti o Ids rscape, and in reaching -Sydney or Melboivne.' Wnat then? Is it for slight a thin-* as this that the re ations of Ifi auce with the colon es are to lie rupi ue l, and that t here is even a talk of shutting our shipping out of the Australian pons ? Surely they do but jest. If punlio security iu Australia is to run no Other dauge s than those wiih which it is menaced by our convicts, th-y may effect great retrench ments in their gendarmerie and police. “ Happily we are more couraceona in Europe than they are out tliere. Where .8 the c.tuutry which is pro Voted by a ditch IdOO kilometres wide ant several thousuids of yards deep against the sc .undrelisin ot neighbourin';countries?. Not adaypn-es iu which the sleambo .t to Calais or B mlogue does not bring us some pickpocket, who Caines to practice Imr \ oca ion in France. Belgium, Italy. Spain, and Germany send us some also, and, mure often than we could wish, their burglars and assassins as well. Must we then think of closing our ports an I of forbidding our ' neighbours to enter our territory b cause tber may happen to be rascals among diem ? “ Let the Australian colonists r. tirct on the matter, and cam themselves. They will not find it a bat plan it Eunice follows the example which Euglanu has set her, aid lias found obe ad v.mMgeous. And if some French cuuvic , whom we have vanity endeavoured to correct, soc-ecds in es capmg from New Caledonia and in reaching Australia, an I if he should commit some crime, let him be nauged out of the way then amt there. We can assure Sir Henry Parke - th .t it will not inconvenience us iu the .erst. ”