MR. VOGEL AND THE SOUTH SEA ISLAND SCHEME.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 241, 23 January 1875, Page 2

MR. VOGEL AND THE SOUTH SEA ISLAND SCHEME.

[From the London Spectator.] It makes chilly blood grow warm merely to read of such a proposal, merely to know that there is a man on the other side of the world ready, if only he is let loose, to recommence the career of British conquest, —a man who dare think, and think coolly, of assuming for Queen Victoria dominion over the remainder of the unappropriated and fertile islands of the world ; and the thrill does not diminish as we read what manner of estates these islands are; but involuntary admiration is not consent. The project cannot be entertained. Great Britain, if she is to undertake a new and enormous task, must undertake it in the Valley of the Nile, and leave Polynesia to the Germans, when they have recovered from their war-fever. Mr. Vogel’s political reasons are not sound. We do not want these summer islands for colonisation, for as the Blue-book admits, white men caunot plough upon their plains, and we do not want more dark races to civilise in that direction. Papua, we must, we believe, take to protect the Southern Continent, but Feejeea is all we need in the Polynesian Archipelago. Mr. Vogel gasps at the thought that Germany might station a squadron at the Navigator Islands, but forgets that his argument cuts both ways —that though a squadron may threaten us, we can threaten a squadron ; that wherever a German, or a French, or an American ship floats, there is a point at which the grip of Great Britain can be felt. If Germany had all Polynesia but New Zealand and Fiji, Great Britain would be safer than before. Mr. Vogel however, we admit, though he dreams, and dreams with enjoyment, is a statesman still. He knows that the British Parliament will hear of no such plan, that the British Colonial Secretary will submit no such budget, and turns resignedly to his own diminions. Suppose New Zealand forms a new East India Company, and does for all Polynesia what Godeffroy and Co, are doing for the Navigator Islands—not, one perceives from the telegrams, without the help of remarks from the guns of a German warship—surely if a Company were founded, with a capital, say, of £1,000.000, with 5 per cent, interest, guaranteed by New Zealand, it might trade, plant, establish banks, found insurance offices, run steamers, monopolise produce, and even govern throughout the unappropriated islands of Polynesia. There must be profit in all that, commerce for Auckland, influence for Britain, civilisation for natives, repression of slavery for philanthropists, moderate subsidies for Missionaries, and —though this is not specifically mentioned increased credit and work aud glory for Mr. Julius Vogel, whose project, the Governor calmly remarks, would probably find favor with the New Zealand Parliament. We dare say it would. Endless work, adventure, chances, careers, suit colonists exactly, aud suit them best of all when backed by a Government guarantee. But a company of this kind, which in its inception requires sanction for a loan forbidden by every tradition of the British Government —which never guaranteed even the East India Company, though it guaranteed compensation for the. loss of its trade monopoly—and will at every step involve new and immense responsibilities in the way of protection ; which, if successful, would have the power of a State, and none of the obligations of a Stale ; and which, if unsuccessful, might be strong enough to obtain new loans from New Zealand, will never find official favor here. Let the company start, if it likes. Let Mr. Vogel send out a dozen Rajah Brookes or Mr. Webers —the Godeffroys’ Viceking—if he can, and let them civilise as many islands as they can induce to accept their rule, but let all concerned carry out the enterprise at their proper risk and charges. The days for delegating sovereignty to Companies are over, and so are the days for guaranteeing commercial safety to private trade. A highway whether in Ireland or India, may be a matter of Imperial concern ; but dealing in “ kobra” —dried cocoa-nut pulp, the Staple of the South Sea islands —is not the business of over-wea-ried States. The Duke of Westminster might as well set up a greeng o :ery to give himself more income and ocsupition.