Manawaiu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1883. THE ANNEXATION QUESTION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 286, 6 November 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1883. THE ANNEXATION QUESTION.

At the prorogation of the Victorian Parliament,, on Saturday last, the Governor's speech dealt trenchantly with the question of annexation of New Guinea and the other Pacific Islands, and its importance to the Colonies at large. It denounced the proposal of France to deport to those islands the vilest and worst of her criminals; notably those so far steeped m crime as to be deemed unfit to be retained within her territorial limits. It showed how full of significance both as regards the present and the future was the whole subject to the Australian Colonies, containing as they do, British people numbering over three millions, and-re-presenting the best enterprise of England,. Within the last few months an? nexatipn with its correlative features,has become one 'of the burning questions of the day, and the colonists feel, that these islands should not become the possessions ?of any foreign Power. Such a sink of moral pollution should not b§ permitted to exist at the portals of 'Southern Britain, Wjth deep feeling of threatened wrong, and a strong sense of the lasting national misfortune that would be entailed upon them, all the colonies have strongly remonstrated witty the Imperial authorities. It is to be hoped that ; the pqn,y entiqn shortly about to meet m Sydney, 'specially to consider annexation, federation, and other cognate questions, will be successful m., inducing the Mother Country, upon whom the duty rests of conserving the national character of this, portion of the empire, to tuke effectual measures to avert such a calamity as is threatened. Whether the object would be best attained by the annexation of, or j tb^ establishment., of a protectorate over, the islands is npt material. The { end and aim of the colonies must, be to prevent such an occupation.as would become a standing- menace^ to their peaceful shores,-, and ,alsoto avert the infiltration of, criminals. Tasmania bas not yet go± ? rid 'of the convict taint, nor will it sparcely do so within the present century; and it would be a calamity of the most disas-

trous character, were the fair islands of the South Pacific, those " beautiful isles of the sea" to be made the criminal sewers and cesspools for any nation. What a prospect for these colonies were such an undesirable consumation ever attained .