THE FAILURE OP MESSRS GODEFROY AND CO.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1871, 21 February 1880, Page 3

THE FAILURE OP MESSRS GODEFROY AND CO.

Berlin telegrams announce the failure of Messrs Godefroy and Co, of Hamburg. " The news," says the "Pall Mall G-zette," will be received with regret throughout the South Pacific. This firm has done more than any other to push trade among the groups of Polynesia. For years they were known as the kings of the South Pacific, and far away among the least known islands their agents were to be found quietly settled among the natives, and engaged in the collection of tortoise-shell, cocoa-nut oil, and other produce for the periodical visit of the vessels employed in this trade. At one time they had, indeed, little short of a monopoly, but lately, and especially since the annexation of Fiji, they have been exposedjtola brisk competition from Australian and New Zealand ports. This, together with unfortunate speculations at the time of inflation after the war, have sufficed to bring the house down. They certainly held their position as merchants in princely fashion, and at the time of their prosperity scientific men of the highest eminence were employed by them to explore the features of the different islands with which they traded, and to get specimens for their famous collection. Most valuable information concerning old native usages has been obtained in this way, and the Godefroy Museum at Hamburg is rich in all that relates to the South Seas. Possibly there was some hope that the German Government, in its anxiety to extend its commerce, would enable the Godefroys to tide over the period of difficulty by taking up some of their liabilities in the South Pacific But this has not been the case, and there can be no doubt their fall will go far to damage the German business in that region."