Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, NOV. 18, 1899 Adjustment of Territory.

Manawatu Herald, 18 November 1899, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, NOV. 18, 1899 Adjustment of Territory.

■ -•• Three of the Great Powers have been having a friendly arrangement as to land in the Pacific. It may be remembered that by a treaty signed in 1889 b y Great Britain, Germany, and the United States guaranteed the independence of Samoa, and have since then been much troubled to preserve the peace in those islands, and but a few months ago these natives very nearly caused a rupture between Great Britain and Germany. Now, we learn by cable that an agreement has been arrived at. The Samoa, or Navigator group of islands lay almost due east to the Fiji islands, with the Tonga group between them. The arrangement made gives Germany two of the largest islands, Upolu and Savaii, which lie to the extreme north, and then the United States gets Vavau and Savage islands, which lie nearest to the Tonga group. The possession of the Tonga group has also been apparently confirmed, which we expect has been accepted in lieu of much of the Samoan group, to which must be added the balance of the islands hitherto claimed by Germany in the Solomon group to the north-east of New Guinea. The United States has got a hold in the cluster of islands which it appears hardly to appreciate owing to Germany being such a near neighbour, but it seems a good diplomatic deal to keep the United States on good terms with Great Britain. Altogether the arrangement appears a fair one to the contracting parties, but we do not know how the inhabitants will like it. At the end of last year negotiations were reported as being in progress with Germany respecting the eastern boundary of the Gold Coast colony. The result appears that each Power retains what it claimed and divided up the neutral zone. The Germans have their portion of East Africa stretching from lake Tanganyika to the Zanzibar coast, but Zanzibar (the island) and a ten mile coast line on the continent, with the islands adjacent thereto have been under the protectorate of Great Britain since 1890, and there has been a kind of clashing of interests between the two countries which have now been settled by Germany renouncing extra-territorial jurisdiction over the protectorate of Zanzibar. The French will now discover that the two countries they would like to see at war have so adjusted their claims as to prevent irritation in the future. This is worse than Fashoda.