THE ANNEXATION OF FIJI.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 171, 23 December 1874, Page 3

THE ANNEXATION OF FIJI.

The Times of October 10th contains the following remarks on the annexation of Fiji :- News has arrived that Sir Hercules Robinson has annexed the Fiji islands to the British Empire, and hoisted the British flag. Thus is consummated the policy which has been so long urged by a largo party in Australia, which was encouraged by the admissions of the Colonial Secretary in the House of Lords, and made the subject of debate in tlie Commons by Mr W. M'Arthur towards the close of last session, No one who knows the course of official action in this country cotrd doubt that the annexation of the islands was at hand. The advocates were zealous and persevering, while the dissent was merely critical. For some years the Australian colonies have desired to establish British authority in these islands. They preferred that, the Imperial Government should take the matter in hand, for colonists, with all their loyalty, are glad to shift expense and responsibility from their own shoulders. But it is probable that if the mother country had declined to meet the advances of the Fijians, the Australians, at the instigation of the party of annexation, would have sought to make the islands a dependency of their own. The causes of the movement are twofold. In its origin it is perfectly legitimate. The islands are in themselves a very desirable possession. The soil is fertile, the climate is delicious, the harbors are excellent. A map of the Pacific Ocean shows that Fiji has one of the most valuable situations of the world. Looking to the future of human intercourse, we must recognise that in another generation the route between the western coast of the United States and the great Australian territory is likely to be frequented by multitudes of vessels. Steam navigation is rapidly extending. There are steamers from San Francisco to Sydney and Melbourne, and it is said that the French purpose establishing a line which will take New Caledonia on its way to Tahiti. It cannot be doubted that with the extension of commercial enterprise other lines will follow, in which Englishmen and Colonists will be largely interested. This being the case, the advocates of annexation point to the fact that England possesses no station in the vast expanse of ocean that lies between Australia and the Pacific coast of America. From the settlement of British Columbia to the coast of New South Wales, over 7000 miles of sea, there is no British depot or coaling station, no place of refuge or to refit in time of war or peace. The Americans have made the Sandwich Islands practically their own ; the French are established in New Ca'cdonia ; we, who hold the grandest possessions of the Southern Hemisphere— a new world, with an incalculable future—are content to allow our growing Colonies to communicate with the American Continent, to say nothing of the countless islands of the ocean, through the medium of rude tribes over whom we can exercise no real control. There is also the danger that if we neglect to take possession of any valuable spot it may pass suddenly into the hands of some European power more enterprising than ourselves, and we may thus have to use the highway of the Pacific at the discretion of a rival —perhaps an enemy. Now, of all the groups in the South Pacific Fiji is marked out by nature as the most desirable for a maritime station. It is to Australia what the Saudvvich Islands arc to California and Oregon. From Melbourne to Fiji, from Fiji to Hawaii, from Hawaii to San Francisco are about equal distances. The annexation of the group would give an impetus to Australian enterprise, and secure to England and her possessions their due place in the ocean which in another generation will be traversed by innumerable vessels.