ANNEXATIONcOF SAMOA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1619, 27 January 1886, Page 2

ANNEXATION cOF SAMOA.

;^ $^would appear of Samoa is rapidly "becoming a less remote contingent;. An exchange points out that the value of "the Samoan Islands to Great' Britain, and especially to New Zealand, is great, as every one who has visited them agrees. The wishes of the natives also point clearly to a connection with thei!A.nglq-Sax;on Empire, and it is surely our duty to prevent them falling unwillingly under German domination. Nothing short of English annexation will achieve that end, and it is for our statesmen, to consider whetherihe b'uyiiigjou't) of German commercial interests is too high a price to pay for the acquisition of a. fine group of tropical islands, capable of yielding enormous wealth to. their, possessors. There must be prbmpfc'decisiori and energetic action, for if we begin to chaffer a;bout the price^ the market will be overl It is foolish j'to suppose, as some; people dp, that these islands are unsuited forEuropean^colonisation. There are already nearly a . thousand Europeans m Samoa, ..who, perform their daily work there just i as>they > "; i dp v anyw|iere felse; without-at all-suffering frdaQhe clitn'Ste. The blacksmith at his forge, the carpenter under the broiling sun} like. the merchant'at his desk, are able' to ekertthemselvesjtp as good purpo.se , as m a more temperate clime, aiid there 'is no reason to doubt that a large and vigorous.AngloSaxon community might ,liye and flourish on this 'and other groups 'bf Pacific' Is--1 lands.' It is worth out* while helping to. bring about that result if£onlytO;prJßiye,nt these fair viands being scourged. ,wit ( h Mongolian immigrants with their filtti, immorality, and' leprosy have wellhi^h ruined the Hawaiian Islandsi :..-.' . : ' ■ ■ ■ >■■ :-a . , . .. , ...