GERMAN NEW GUINEA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1295, 10 September 1914, Page 4

GERMAN NEW GUINEA.

It is interesting to recall at the present juncture how the Germans became possessed of German New Guinea. In the early eighties of last century all New Guinea, except the Dutch portion, was a sort of no man’s land, although British attempts to colonise it had been made, Australians naturally regarded this unappropriated country as destined to become part of the British Umpire. Indeed, in ISB3 Sir Thomas MTlwraith, then Premier of Queensland, formally annexed the greater part of it, but his act was repudiated by the Imperial Government. The following year, however, as is told in Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice’s Life ot Earl Granville, the Gladstone Cabinet decided to proclaim a protectorate over the whole ot the island save the western end, already occupied by the Dutch. Bismarck had then entered upon his later policy of colonial expansion and rumours of possible German opposition led Lord Derby, Secretary for the Colonies, and Lord Granville, Foreign Secretary, to delay the Cabinet decision by limiting the area of annexation. Extreme deference was shown to Germany, and negotiations for the settlement of the question were being carried on at Berlin, when suddenly the British Government learnt to its dismay that Germany had annexed the whole New Guinea coast down to the Gulf of Huon, together with adjacent islands. Thus the territory was secured by Germany through a breach of faith.