IMPERIAL INTENTIONS RESPECTING FIJI.

Evening Star, Issue 3670, 26 November 1874, Page 3

IMPERIAL INTENTIONS RESPECTING FIJI.

The ‘ Sydney Morning Herald ’ of the 4th inst. publishes the telegrams and correspondence that have nassed between Mr Parkis, Sir Hercules Robinson, and Earl Carnarvon. Mr Parkea initiated the correspondence by a telegram dated 14th October, 1873, in which he stated that anarchy was imminent at Fiji, the principal chiefs in the islands were favorable to British annexation, and that the Colonies would regard foreign annexation as a calamity. A difficulty Earl Carnarvon saw in the way of annexation was that of expense to the Imperial Government. In reply to this Mr Parkes furnished a minute to Sir Hercules Robinson, stating that the New South Wales Cabinet would be willing to ask their Parliament for financial assistance to a regular Fiji Government, but suggested that “ the New South Wales Governor could without inconvenience visit Fiji once a year, the law officers could act as legal advisers, the Supreme Court could he made a Court of Appeal, and the well-organised printingoffice, the Department of Education, and the Survey Office of this Colony could be made available. In like manner the Pacific Mail Service could carry the letters of the new (tolohy for the jwßtagea ofcly. If this aid

ould be declined, ministers were prepared ly aii k Parliament to sanction the payment a portion of the deficit which might bo nnd to exist in carrying on the new Go eminent, assuming that the ' dministration would not be a needlessly expensive one.” Earl Carnarvon replied in a lengthy document as follows;

“ I desire to express my hearty appreciation of the readiness evinced by your Ministers to uuuertike on the part of New South Wa’es a portion of the cost, and to assist in providing for the administration of -Fiji. 1 bad already received from the Government of New Zealand a spontaneous and somewhat similar intimation of the readiness of that Colony to operate in vari us wai s, through its Governor and public departments, in providing the islands with a Government, which might be at once efficient and economical. I fully believe that the preseut is one of those occasions where the principle of co-operation among different members of the Empire has special fitness, I conceive, therefore, that I am only acting in conformity with their feeling when I invite the Colonial Legislatures to share with this Government the expanses attendant upon giving effect to a which they have advocated, and with which their future interests, political and commercial, are so largely connected. I have arrived at the conclusion that, in j or^er t° be thoroughly efficient and capable of acting promptly and vigorously, the Government of Fiji, should it become a Colony, must be strong and complete within itself, aid must be directed, for a time at all events, from this country. It will, I conceive, be most essentia! to select for the first Governor a person possessed of tried administrative ability, if possible, of experience in Colonies inhabited by a mixed population of Europeans and colored races, and to provide him with really efficient officers in the principal departments of Government. The salaries, therefore, of the Governor and principal officers must, in my opinion, be liberal; but in determining this and other similar questions, it is my firm determination that the strictest economy, consistent with administrative efficiency, shall be practised, 1 trust a . ni ma, k* n ß no unreasonable proposal if I invite each of the four Colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, and Queensland, who are principally concerned in the commerce of the island and in the regulation of the labor traffic, to contribute L.4,000 a-year towards the expenses of the Colonial Government of Fiji. It is, I trust, not improbable that smaller contributions in each case may suffice; and in that event I should propose to draw only the necessary proportion from each Colony to make good the deficit.”