The Evening Star MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 2815, 26 February 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1872.

\Ve trust that every man whose position gives him political influence, every minister of the Gospel in his pulpit, and every one who lives by trade or labor, is prepared to advocate a strong representation to the British Government, condemnatory ot the Polynesian Slave Trade. To us, in New Zealand, its suppression is of vital importance commercially ; and it is to this point that we purpose directing attention to day : the more obvious arguments founded upon the duty of man to man are not to be overlooked, but they belong equally to the pulpit and the Press. We trust, therefore, we shall have the co-operation of the clergy in intelligently pressing the religious aspect of the question upon their congregations, with a view to a united protest being made to the Home Government on the subject. In its commercial aspect this nefarious traffic cannot be too strongly reprehended, for a variet} r of reasons. First, it has a tendency to depopulate islands that are now capable of becoming large consumers of manufactured goods, if proper means are taken to induce cultivation in them. There may be those who are inclined to treat the notion ot profitable traffic with indeed savages with ridicule. They uiaj' ask with a sneer what can such a trade be worth ! They will urge that the natives have nothing to give in return lor what we have to sell. We can afford to be ridiculed even if our idea is some five, ten, or fifteen years in advance of circumstances : but we have before us convincing proof that it depends upon civilised man’s treatment of these aborigines, whether they shall be made profitable customers to him, or whether they shall be doomed to extinction by feeding Queensland and Fiji with laborers, destined to die childless on their plantations. We have before ns a volume of the “ Penny Cyclopaedia,” published in 1841, in which is the following account of the population and commerce of the Sandwich Islands :

The population consists of natives, with the exception of a small number of whites, Englishmen and Ameri ans, who have settled among them as merchants or as missionaries The population was estimated fifteen years ago, at 130,000 individuals, but it was probably underrated. What is properly called trade is not important, as the natives have only two art.cdes of exportation, salt and sandal-wood. Agriculture has not yet supplied an article for exportation ; but,'by selling their produce to the vessels which visit the islands, the natives procure all the foreign articles they are in want of. In 1832, the harbor of Honolulu alone was vi itod by 130 vtssels, mostly American and English. Many of these vessels are whalers, and others go to several parts of the western coast of North America to get tish for the Chinese market. That was thirty years’ ago. The writer of that article could not have anticipated that, in the year 1871, a newspaper would bo published in that kingdom in the English language, larger than the I) nil if Tim /w, ably edited, and, we understand, ono of the best paying papers in the cities of the Pacific From that newspaper we extract the following statistics of produce exported, which wo leave tor our readers to contrast with the export of salt and sandal-wood. We give in this issue the tabic of Domestic Exports for the last (juarter of 1871, including also the figures for the whole year, and comparison with last year. The showing is very satisfactory, inasmuch as there appears a considerable increase in most of the exports named in the table. That of sugar is the largest, reaching 2,077,131 lbs. more than in any former year. Caddy shows an increase of 331,999 lbs. luc 204,943 lbs. Wool, 237,910 lbs. Tallow, 94,852 IDs, Pulu, 58,917 ; and Hides, 6.289 pc-;. Codec shows a decrease of 368,182, this decrease arises from the fact that the export of 1870 was larger than usual, from the sending forward of codec that had been held from the preceding year awaiting a rise of prices. Coffee planting on our islands, however, languishes, owing to the discouraging effects of the blight and the uncertainty of price?. The footings show an increase of 8253,619.40 in the value of the exports of 1871 ab.ivo that of the year before. This is a very gratifying fact, showing as it doss the gradual, expansion and enlargement of the agricultural resources of the kingdom The exports for 1871 wore—sugar, 21,7G0,7331b5.; molasses, 271,291 gallons; Paddy, 8G7,4521bs ; rice, 117,01 libs; coffee, *10,0291 bs (in 1870 the export was 415,11 libs); salt, 711 i tons; poi, 9G5 barrels; fungus, 37,4751b5; bananas, 3,87G bunches; beef, 817 barrels; goat skins, 58,900 packages; hides, 19,384 packages; tallow, 185,2401b5; pulu, 292,7201bs ; wool, 471,70G1b5; peanuts, G8,1531bs ; sperm oil, 4,8G7 gallons; whale oil, 140,319 gallons; whalebone, 2831b5. Total value of domestic exports, 1,G5G,G44 dollars. It must be remembered that this is surplus produce, ami as European habits and customs are rapidly gaining ground amongst the inhabitants, it must be supposed that those figures represent no more than a small portion of the whole produce of the kingdom. These islands have a surface somewhat larger than the County of York—-about G,SQU square miles. With such an iu-

stance of rapid advancement before us, what is there absurd in the idea that by proper means, islands equally fertile maybe made equally productive, and equally profitable as markets for our produce I But this cannot be if slave hunting is allowed. It is plain that men only are sought after. We do not read that any of the slave traders (for we must call them so) take the wives and families of the islanders with them. The traffic tends to render these fertile lands deserts, and wore there no other consideration, on that ground only, it ought to he suppressed.