France and Mie New Hebrides

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 100, 2 May 1885, Page 6

France and Mie New Hebrides

A -omkwhat peculiar statement was made in the Elouee of Commons on sth Maich with reference to themuch-talked-of annexation of the New Hebrides by France. Mr Gladstone, replying to ?i question, gairl that theengagement between Fi ancoand England turn >iniain tbeueutidiity ot ths New Hebrides still remains in force. There had, he said, "been no proposal that France should assume the sovereignty of the New Hebrides, unless on terms satisfactory to the Australian colonies." If these mean anything, they mean that there had been a pioposal made to hand over these itlands to France on terms which the French Government, or Mr Gladstone, or some other peraon, conceived to be " satisfactory to the Australian colonies " Should such be the case, it is imperative that these colonies should be made acquainted with the tonns, arc' havo a vuce on Ihe &unj. ct of how far they aiv, satis.i'acv.ory, ior \t has been gtneiully believed heie that. no arrangement would be sati«f actor}' which ga\e France possession of that group of islands. The Ne»v Caledonian colonists never cease to urgo upon the French Government the necessity for annexing the New Hebrides, and only the other week the local papers at Noumea told the Government to "pay no attention to the ridiculous agreement with Britain,' 1 but annex the group at once. The French Government have so far rnspeetcd the understanding wilh Or^fc Britain, and have, indeed, inflicted a severe rebuff on the IS ew Caledonian eclonistn by urdeiing them to stop the impoita tion of New Hebrides labour into the colony ; but it is evident that thoy cannot always resist the pressure brought to bear upon them, and at any time we may hear that Fiance and England are in treaty for the future disposal of that important group of islands, or that France, taking advantage of English tioubles elseAvhere, has quietly annexed them

Tho Skye and other Hebridean crofters are determined, if possible, to return an ultra-Liberal member for Inverne^hire, at the next general election, who will satisfactorily represent their grievances in the Imperial Parliament. The candidate oi their choice in this matter is Mr Duncan Cameron, proprietor of the " Oban Times," in Argyleshire, who hns lately addressed large y attended meetings of electors in Skye and other parts of the county of Inverness. He is a crofter's son, and" a promising young man in politics. His paper — which is ably edited— ad locates land laws for the Highlands that are, to a certain extent, analogous to the ancient land laws of Israel. A few years ago Mr G. Gladstone stated at a public meeting in Edinburgh that the working classes should endeavour to return membeis to Parliament from their own ranks, and thus preclude the legislation of the country north of the Tweed iiom being wholly entrusted to the nobility and lairds thereof, as has been mostly the case since tho union of Scotland with England. An invention which should be of great service in quenching incipent outbreaks of (ire has just been introduced into JNew Zealand. This is a " hand grenade fire extinguisher," the patent of an American inventor, which are now extensively manufactured in London. " The Field " says : — ' "Each grenade is a glass flask of moderate stoutness, filled with a saline solution that evolves a large quantity of carbonic acid gas when broken and heated. This at once extinguishes the flume with which it cornea in contact, whilst the saline bodies, melting and forming a glaze on the heated materials, render them incapable of further combustion. Large fires, made with wood drenched with paraffin oil, wore instantly extinguished by one or two of this invention being thrown with sufficient force against the bui'ningmaterials to break and scatter the contents. Of the efficacy of this invention against fires at theiv commencement there can be no posei bio doubt ; with these grenades at hand, which are capable of being used by any person, the great majority of fires would be extinguished at the very commencement." Mr John Bain, at Messrs T. and S Morrin and Company's has been appointed New Zealand agent for the hand grenades, which are on extensive uses in the chief London Theatres, and in many hundreds of mercantile establishments in England.