Wanamatu Herald. THURSDAY, APRIL 80, 1891. The Price of Pepper.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 30 April 1891, Page 2

Wanamatu Herald. THURSDAY, APRIL 80, 1891. The Price of Pepper.

Take a glance at the map of the World on Mercators projection, and notice the area of land which is credited to other powers, and one will be tempted to think that after all England holds but little sway over its destinies. Look more closely and we shall note that the vast tract marked as the Russian Empire holds in Asia, territories that are as valueless as the land around the Poles, more than half producing nothing of much use. The population ascribed to Russia in Europe, Asia, including Poland, Finland, Caucasus and Siberia, being only some 108 millions, whilst in India alone 274 millions acknowledge the rule of England. The two next largest portions of land are Africa and South America. Both these continents are subdivided, and as far as Africa is concerned the largest portion is now under British influence. We can safely assert that no power claims so many subjects, nor does their trade come anywhere approaching the volume ot those and that of England. The roving disposition of the English, and the natural liking for the sea, has led to the extraordinary spread of English possessions, and it is thus that the areas, though of not considerable extent in themselves, have the very great value of commercial positions. The start of the East India Company in the year 1600 has resulted, after many struggles with the French, in placing the Indian Empire with Burmah, and Assam now coming in, in the hands of Britain. It reads miri, that the whole of the English

possessions from London, past the r ape of Good H pc, to the East Indies, and now on to the Malayan coast, to Singapore, thence to Australia, have arisen through a dispute about the price that pepper should be a pound ! but so it is. In 1599 the Dutch, who had the monopoly of the trade, raised the cost of pepper from three shillings to six shillings a pound. This so annoyed the English traders, against whom only it had been raised, that they formed the old East India Company, which till 1877, was the most magnificent company ever heard of, having splendidly equipped armies and navies under the control of its Board of Directors. All along this line the Portuguese seem to have been chased by the Dutch, and they in turn have had to give way to the English. The great European war in the 18th century permitted the English navy to attack and destroy all these outposts ot other European nations, and now they have to be maintained for the safety of the vast commerce that has been created. Ceylon, the large Island at the south point of India, was first occupied by the Portuguese, then by the Dutch, and then possession was gained by the English in 1796. A year previously the Straits settlements, representing the tongue of land stretching on the opposite side of the Bay of Bengal to India, was annexed, the trade being considerably mixed up with that of India. Mariners had to make these voyages in old fashioned ships and took generally their time over the trip, and the harbour at Aden, a point in Arabia Felix, on the Bed Sea, was found most convenient. Trade being paramount, this port was obtained by the English in 1839, and has since developed into a most important centre. The Cape of Good Hope was finally annexed in 1814, and thus has the route to the Australian colonies been built up. The China trade led to the acquisition of Hong Kong 1841, and the inhabitants of Australasia have forced the British Government to secure a portion of North Borneo, though nominally ceded to a company, and a large part of New Guinea, besides the hundreds of small islands in the South Pacific Ocean. During the process of trading to the Indian Empire, many points in Africa, on the east and west coasts, were touched at, and as seems inevitable, became possessions of the Crown. Though Gibraltar was not acquired for the defence of the Indian trade, its position as commanding the entrance to the Mediterranean sea is now all important for trade, owing to the Suez Canal route having become the principal one to India, and therefore its conquest in 1713 has proved most valuable. Malta, with one of the finest harbours in the world was ceded to Great Britain in 1800, and in 1878 the British Government entered into a treaty with the Ottoman Empire, by which tha Island of Cyprus was to be administered by England, as long as the towns of Batoum and Kars were held by Russia. Cyprus is an important position for protection of the trade through tbe Suez Canal, lying as it does only 238 miles from Port Said. As yet the fate of Egypt is undecided, the British practically hold it, and viewing the extension of interest in the African continent it appears probable that, like the other places in which a footing has been obtained, it will, in the course of years, become British territory. We have only taken a glance at a portion of the British Empire, a large proportion of which has certainly been obtained by war, but since possession has been obtained has been fairly well governed, and the original inhabitants benefitted, and an enormously valuable trade developed. To prove this we may cite that the portions we have referred to, excluding the area in Africa which has only recently been annexed, total to 248 millions of inhabitants doing an import and export trade with England of. over 372 million pounds annually.