SIR GEORGE GREY'S ADVICE TO GREAT BRITAIN.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1595, 31 March 1879, Page 3

SIR GEORGE GREY'S ADVICE TO GREAT BRITAIN.

["Evening Post,''] Sir George Grey has addressed a memorandum to the Secretary of State in reply to a despatch of the latter on the subject of the New H.brides, and takes the opportunity of again urging upon the Home Government his views iia to the policy which should be pursued with reference to the islands of the Picific. After referring to the great natural advantages of New Zealand, and its prospects of becoming a great commercial and maritime country, the Premier urges that if it is worth the while of Great Britain to go to a great expense to render life and property secure in Cyprus, and to establish good government there, surely it is much more worth the while of Australia and New Zealand to take ore that life .and, property are securo in the most fertile of the ifla-ds in the Pacific— where there are many Cjpruses—and that good governments are est. blithed in them. Indeed, their future safety from war, and troublesome disputes with other Powers, depends upon this being done ; for the population of those irlands will be displaced in various way?, and the gaps thus left will be filled with miscellaneous populations being poured into th< m, composed of elements difficult of assimilation, not readily susceptible of control, and whose entry into the islands should be carefully watched and providod for This heterogeneous population will most, probably be composed of some of the aborigines of each i'land, of inhabitants of other inlands, of Ma lav 9, Chinese, runaway sailors of various nationalities, escaped convicts from the French penal settlements ; and it is almost certain that the various persons making up the mass of those populations w'.ll contain amongst their number some of the most indifferent characters of the classes which they represent. Thu 3 those islunds will cither be sources of wealth and commerce, and the abodes of contentment and good order, or sources of wild disorder, and the cause of long-continued and desolating strife. Sir Grey dwells 3trongly on the injustice of Great Britain compelling the colonies to make the great sacrifices, and to run the great risks entailed upon them when the mother country is involved in war, and at the same time refraining from occupying the Pacific Islands, and preventing its own subjects also from occupying those island?, whilst foreign powers are pern.itted to take possession of them. In urging that a calm review should be taken of all the circumstances, Sir George adds : " A consideration of the misery and great expenditure which may be brought upon the Briti»h colonies in this part of the world by following one line of policy, whilst a vast commerce, wealth, and enterprise will be gradually called into existence by pursning another course, must, I believe, afford convincing reasons in favour of the wisdom and justice of allowing the colonies either to annex to any colony by agreement, or to occupy with the consent of the inhabitants, islands in the Pacific Ocean, the cost of governing and maintaining which it may bo unwilling to undertake. I cor fi. dently think that a generous policy of this nature will raise feelings of gratitude in the minds of the colonists to the Mother Country and will hind the empire in sironger bonds of union, producing results equally advantageous to the trade and commerce of the colonies and of the Mother Country, and that to follow the opposite course of refusing to allo'v the colonies to assume the Government of the Pacific Islands, and yet to permit foreign nations to do so, will ultimately result in unpleasant feelings towards Great Britain, and in a series of disasters, as years roll by, which can now be easily provided against. Su-ely, it is better for Great Britain to allow great, wealthy, and prosperous communities to develop themselves in this portion of the world, nprending the Christian faith, British laws, the English language and literature —this series of events proceeding quietly and regularly in a natural order —than to stint and impoverish communities capable of such a beneficial extension, thereby creating discontent in the minds of a people who, from sympathy and natural feeling, now cling so closely to the Mother Country, and regularly undergo many inconveniences and ir.cur much expenditure to promote aud sustain the greatness of the nation from which they have sprung, and in the might and beneficence of which they feci the greatest pride.