THE SAMOA TIMES. "Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I." SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1879.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 69, 25 January 1879, Page 2

THE SAMOA TIMES. "Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I." SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1879.

BRITISH annexation is still the order of the day. Sir Charles Dilke, in the House of Commons, has been making enquiries about the newly acquired? territory of Perak. It was there that an English official was murdered soino three years ago ; his death was avenged by a battalion of the 11th Regiment, and the final result has seemingly boon the formal annexation of the territory. Lying in such proximity to the Straits .Settlements, it was probably .considered impolitic to allow anarchy to exist any longer. From South Africa comes the same story. It is well known that for the lust two years the British Government has been negoeialiug for the purchase of Dftlagoa Bay. It is now stated that the purchase ha.s been effected. By the last accounts a landing place for troops was being surveyed near St. Lucia Buy; the Com-mander-in-Chief in South Africa was in Natal on the borders of Zululaud with (6) regiments, so that everything points to the early occupation of Ketehwyo's kingdom. When this is done England will practically rule from Capetown to the Zambesi Hirer. There are some of our own countrymen who grumble at the oxtonsion of the British boundaries, and who are frightonod, or at any rato pretend to bo so, at the growth of England's responsibilities. Wo cannot say that we sympathise with such, because we believe that a nation , cannot stand still; she must either ad- ' vaiiis. or retreat. At the samo time we , think that Great Britain has enough on , her hands to kcop hor employod for many ■

years to come. The regeneration of AsiaMinor and Palestine lies mainly in her hands. It is because \vu hold this opinion that we regret that an attack on Afghanistan became necessary. For our own part we agree with Lord BoaconsiieU that there is mora in Asia for both England and Kussia. We maintain that Russia has been as a rule justified in most of her annexations in Central Asia. Our complaint is that after annexation she does so little for the territory acquired. Large sums are spent on fortresses of one description and another; if roads are made they are engineered with the sole aim of aiding the movement of troops; the inhabitants are taxed, but the money all leaves the district, and every year a certain number of men are drafted for military service, and sent hundreds if not thousands of miles away from their homes. But when England acquires new territory the first thing established is a law court, and a police force. A Chief Justice soon appears on tho scenes; a Commander-in-Chief seldom. In Cyprus for instance, Sir Cornet Wolsely's attention is more directed to tho establishment of courts of justice and means for the proper collection of taxes than to military parades; three-fourths of the garrison lias been removed. In these days a hard and fast line cannot be drawn between civilisation unci savagery. No valid objection can be raised against the boundary of the latter being pushed buck. But the civilised world has a right to judge the advancing Power by its after-conduct.