The Evening Star FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3362, 28 November 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1873.

However apparently advisable it may be to place the Fiji Islands under British protection, it is very doubtful whether the Home Government will be induced to annex them. There are many reasons that will tend to prevent such a course being adopted. Although there is in some respects an analogy between the mode of European settlement of those islands and of New Zealand, there are differences so wide as to create what may prove insuperable difficulties. In all the islands of the Pacific, since that ocean became the cruising grounds for whaling vessels, Europeans, through one causeoranother, have settled in greater or lesser numbers, just as they did in New Zealand prior to its absorption into the British Empire. And in Fiji there has been as systematic an attempt at colonisation as there was in New Zealand by the New Zealand Company. On the whole we think the effort at joint stock colonisation by the swarm of colonists from Melbourne Las been more successful than that of the New Zealand Company ; but a similar feeling of insecurity as to the value of the tenure of their estates leads them to desire more definite laws, and a more reliable government than that of an arbitrary monarch, the stability of whose throne depends upon the caprice of his chiefs or subjects. In this the colonists only share the natural feeling of men accustomed to rely upon the strong arm of law, sanctioned by the traditions of a thousand years. Precisely the same argument is applicable to the arrangements of the Fijian planters as was used in regard to this Colony by the New Zealand Company who, urging the British Government to set aside the Treaty of Waitangi, said VVe have always had serious doubts whether the treaty of Waitangi, made with naked savages by a consul invested with no plenipotentiary powers, without ratification by the Crown, could be treated by lawyers as anything but a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying savages for a moment. Swainson says “if the aboriginal race of New Zealand had been less powerful and less able to hold their own, and if the Queen’s Minister had been less high-minded and a less highspirited gentleman, and less independent of political support ... the rights of the Native inhabitants of the country would have been sacrificed to the interests of an English Joint Stock Association.” The fact of there being already a somewhat settled form of Government in Fiji, will present a difficulty to annexation of those islands that did not exist in New Zealand. Their political position more nearly resembles that of the Sandwich Islands, in which the Natives have raised themselves into a condition of comparative civilisation, than of old New Zealand, in which the aborigines were divided into tribes, at constant war with each other. Nor do we know that, in accordance with the recognised law of nations, the degree of civilisation is laid down which will justify a more advanced country taking possession of one that has only just begun its career. It is by no means certain that King Thakomijau will consent to become Native Governor under the more potent rule of Queen Victoria ; or should he be disposed to purchase ease and security by basking in her shadow, it is not certain that the Chiefs over whonj

he rules will be equally pliant. It is, therefore, possible and even probable, that the very means by which it is hoped to secure the Europeans in possession of their estates might stir up a strife that would deprive them of the enjoyment of them. The Government of Great Britain is slow in undertaking jobs of the sort. To take formal possession of the Fiji Islands would involve placing British troops there, and the employment of several ships of war. It might lead to difficulties with America, or haply France. Although spending a million or two is easily acceded to in asserting the liberty of British subjects when oppressed by such despots as ruled in Abyssinia, Parliament hesitates to undertake a perpetual charge. The tendency to slave-holding evinced by the AngloFijians might prove an inducement; but that would be in the interest of the Native race ; which, however, as in Other cases, can be secured by treaty. Just now, too, the great cost of money and life in a contest with savages, tor neither glory nor profit, is being forced upon the attention of people at Home by the Ashantee war. “ The disaster on the River Prah,” as the Timas terms it, by which every man in a boat expedition, excepting one, was more or less wounded, and eight or ten killed, has shewn that, though savage, the Ashantees will give trouble and cause expense; and these will form strong arguments against the annexation of the Fijis. On the other hand there would be many advantages in such a course, as the importance of the growing commerce and production of those islands is not sufficiently estimated. We are singularly slow to realise this in Dunedin. Auckland has already monopolised the interchange of goods; Wellington is bidding for being the refiner of Fijian sugars; while Dunedin, which ought to be the eiuporium, is calmly looking on, apparently utterly unconscious that the port that offers means of profitably converting raw material, and distributing its own and other nations’ manufactures, is that which will ultimately become the chief port of a State. In our jointstock speculations we have thus far busied ourselves mainly with schemes for retaining money in the country. This is very well in its way : but passing scrip from hand to hand does not increase capital. We must produce if we will increase our capital, and produce more than wo consume. This necessitates foreign trade, and that enriches. No matter whether we operate upon our own or imported products, so long as our skill and energy add value to them. We* look upon it tire Fiji trade may be made mutually profitable, and if Fiji prospers, we need not trouble ourselves about annexation. Successful commerce is the best peacemaker and civiliser.