FIJIAN ANNEXATION AND PACIFIC ISLANDS.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 119, 12 September 1885, Page 4

FIJIAN ANNEXATION AND PACIFIC ISLANDS.

The following interesting report from the Pacific Islands Committee was yesterday afternoon laid on the table : — Tlje Committee appointed to consider petition received from settlers and colonists of Fiji, and the general position of the Western Pacific Islands in their relation to New Zealand, have the honour to report that they have had before them a large amount of correspondence from the AgentGeneral and others, much of which is of a confidential nature, in which a variety of matters in connection ,with Fiji, Samoa, and other groupß of islands in the Pacific, is very fully dealt with. It has been quite impossible for the Committee, in the time at their disposal, to inquire fully into all the many questions in relation to the Pacific Islands referred to in the papers submitted, but they have arrived at the conclusion that in view of the probably early completion of the Panama Canal, and the growing interest takfcn in those Islands, it is most desirable that some of the Eastern groups should be brought into British relations with New Zealand. They are of opinion that under certain connections assuring proper attention to the interests of German subjects, the German Empire would not be unwilling to approve of such close relations between New Zealand and Samoa, but the Committee think that New Zealand should not at present accept any serious necessary responsibility. As regards Fiji, the Committee sympathise cordially with the settlers of that colony in their desire to procure a Government less arbitrary and more considerate of their interests and feelings than that of a Crown colony. They are decidedly favourable to close relations of that colony with New Zealand. The Committee strongly recommend the acquirement of control by Great Britain over the Islands of Papa (Opara) and the Cook Group. They recommend the adoption of the following resolution covering the points indicated : — "That it is desirable, in the interests of the Empire, that the Fijian and •?amoan Groups should be brought into close relationship with New Zealand, provided that this can be effected without any serious pecunary responsibility on the part of this colony, and with the friendly concurrence of the German Empire and United States, and that negotiations be opened up with the Imperial Government with a view to its taking such steps as may lead to such closer relations. That in view of the probable early completion of the Panama Canal, it is of the utmost importance that the islands of Papa (Opara), which lies in the direct route of steamers between Panama and New Zealand, also the ielandsof the Cook Group, should be brought under British control, and that urgent representation to that effect should be made to the Imperial Government ; that a copy of the foregoing resolutions be transmitted through His Excellency the Governor to Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, and to His Excellency the Governor of Fiji ; that the AgentsGeneral be urged to press upon Her Majesty's Government the views expressed by this report." I may mention that the position of Rapa is in 27£deg. south latitude and 144deg. west longitude, about 700 miles S.E. of the Society Group, and some 40 S. of the Tropic of Capricorn, and as near away as possible two-thirds of the distance between Panama and Wellington. Its situation ia just on the verge of the Southern Archipelago, and being in the direct track (not direct line between Panama and New Zealand, makes it particularly advantageous as a place of call in case ot accident or deficiency of fuel. (The report from which I quote was made at the time of the mail service between this colony and Panama.) The island is of very irregular form, with several indentations on the coast, two of which are considerable bays, having each its little village, whilst a third and largest is the harbour. It is about twenty mil es round, though from the irregularity of its outline it is difficult to estimate this exactly. The coast is bold, with no outlying reefs beyond half a mile. The French have assumed the protectorate of it on the ground, I believe, that it is a dependency of the Tahitian Group. I understood that Sir Dillon Bell has for some considerable time urged upon the Government the advisability of the English Government securing this island,

about the commencement of the century. Loans on a similar principle have been provided for by statute in several of the North American States, among which may be mentioned New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Without further preface, your Committee is of opinion that the public credit of New Zealand might, with advantage, be applied towards enabling settlers on the security of land to acquire advances a* a comparatively low rate of interest Such advances might be made through the Land Transfer Department, in sums not exceeding £2,000 to any one individual, for any period not exceeding ten years, the rate of interest to be 4$ per cent, per annum, the amount of such advance not to exceed one-half of the value as fixed under the Property Assessment Act, the mortgagor to be entitled to cancel the mortgage at any time on payment of principal and interest to date of cancellation. This sole instrument of mortgage should be the endorsation thereof on the certificate of title and its registration in the Land Transfer Office books. The amount advanced should be paid in New Zealand Government debentures of not less than £100 each, bearing interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, with a currency of fifteen years, principal and interest to be payable either at the Colonial Treasury or the Bank of England. Seeing that the session is now bo far advanced, the House may probably be unable to consideror discuss theforegoing proposals at the present time, and even were it other wise the subject is one of such vast importance in its bearing upon the future prosperity of New Zealand that it may perhaps be well to afford public opinion throughout the colony an opportunity of expressing itself upon the question before any definite action is taken thereon The report will serve so far to ventilate the proposal, and your Committee would express a hope that the Executive Go vernment may, during the recess, prepare a bill dealing with the question upon the lines embodied in the foregoing suggest iors, such bill to be eubmited to Parliament at the commencement of next session. — J. Macandrew, Chairman of the Advances on Land Committee," Recently, a Press telegram from Auckland stated that Mr S. Vaile, the railway reformer, had discovered an error in the Public Works Statement. To-day, the Hon. Mr Richardson mentioned the matter in the House. He said that he desired to draw attention to the fact that Mr Vaile had discovered an error in the Statement, insomuch as he (Mr Richardson) had com pared the proportion of earnings of the railways for the year ending 31st of March, 1885, to the cost of constructing the railways then open for traffic with the earnings for the year ending 31st of March, 1884. He stated the relative amounts to be £3 0a 3d for the year ending 31st March, 1885, against £2 9s lid for the year ending 31st March, 1884, whereas it ought to have been £2 15s for that year, so that the improvement was only 5s 2d instead of 10s, as stated by him, Mr Whyte has given notice to aek the Minister for Public Works if any reports have been made for the Government upon the scheme of railway management advocated by Mr Samuel Yailo, and in favour of which many thousands ot persons have signed petitions to this House, and if so, will ho lay them upon the table of the House.

FRIDAY. Kawakawa-Whangarei Railway, Mr Richardson in reply to a question ty Mr Hobbs, said the Government were no in a position to make any proposals regard ing the connection of the Kawakawa anc V\ hangarei Railways this session. Volunteer Bands at tbe Exhibition. Mr Pyke had a question on the Ordei Paper to-day inquiring if the Governmeni would place on the Supplementary Estimates a sum to defray the seagoing expenses oi Volunteer bands attending the Exhibition. Mr Ballance replied that the Government had not the funds for the purpose. Subsequently Mr Fyke gave notice to move on going into Committee of Supply that a sum be placed on the estimates to defray the expenses of bands attending the Exhibition. Toll Collection at Auokland. While the question of toll collection at Auckland was under discussion in Committee of Supply, Mr Bttckland referred to the removal of tolls from the Hon Mr Toles district of Eden. The little member for Invercargill was anxious to know which toll was meant, and Mr Buckland replied that when Mr Hatch (who was reclining in his seat) ceased joking and sat up in his place he would proceed with his argument. Mr Seddon rose to a point of order, and asked whether the hon. gentleman had not i accused Mr Hatch of lying. The Chairman op Committees severely ' reprimanded the Committee for levity, and said it did not evidence an earnestness to proceed with business. Members evidently profited by thisjrap over the knuckles, and discussed the succeeding items in a serious manner. Land Grants. In reply to Mr T. Thompson the Minister of Lands said he expected that the Waste Lands Committee would be able shortly to deal with the claims of members of the defence force, militia, and volunteers for land grants. Ministerial Residences. A lengthy discussion took place while in Committee of Supply on the vote for Ministerial residences. The vote asked for the Ministerial residences was £1,500, the vote for the previous year having only been £800. A vote of £800 was also asked for rent and allowance of Ministers who do not reside in the residences owned by the colony. Messrs Hurst and Fergus led the attack againet this piece of Ministerial extravagance, the discussion eliciting the facts that in three yeara the repairs to those residences owned by tbe colony had cost £600. Now, as these buildings are merely large, two-storied villas, ' inferior to houses of the wealthier 1 classes that may by seen be dozens in other large towns of the colony, this expenditure ; does see«n just a " leetle " large. It transp ired, however, that the previous occupants of these residences had allowed them to fall , into disrepair. Tbe furniture was weatherstained and the carpets threadbare, and it 1 was claimed that the vote was asked for in a spirit of true economy. Mr Hurst, after a diatribe at Ministerial oxtravagance, was followed by Mr Paroa ville, who said Mr Hurst was great in little things, and little in great things, and proceeded to defend the vote. Mr Hursthouse turned the laugh on Mr Dargaville by insinuating that the member ior Auckland West was looking forward to the time when he might occupy one of those residences. Sir Vaile's Railway Scheme, The scheme of railway reform advocated by Mr Vaile was brought up in the House on a question by Mr Whttb as to whether any reports had been made by departmental officers regarding the matter, and in favour of which many thousands of persons had petitioned the House. Mr Whyte, in asking the question, said that what* ever might be the merits of the

. „. ~ '. floheme, 6,000 persons had petitioned the i- House in its favour, many of the "petitioners b being representative men, members of local f bodies, agricultural sooieties, etc. These i petitioners believed in the scheme, which , bad been written up in the Preas, but they 3 had heard only the one side. The only . persons possessing the knowledge to prepare j were officers of the Public Works Department, and he thought that a report might > be prepared as he suggested. : The Minister op Publio Works reply- • ing said it had been his intention to ask i the House to refer the matter to a Select I Committee, but at this late period of the i session it was impossible to do this. He mentioned that reports had been made on i the matter to every Minister of Works I 1 since Mr Vaile commenced the agitation.

Sir Julius Vogel's Claim. Sir Julius Vogei's petition came before the Public Petitions Committee to-day, when Major Atkinson gave evidence regarding tbe commission paid to Sir Julius Vogel in 1876, with respect to the conversion of stock. The evidence was against Sir Julius Vogel's olaim. Major Atkinson will be further examined on Monday.

Tne Mines Bill. Yesterday I advised you tbat the Goldfields members were very much annoyed at the way the Legislative Council had emasculated the Mines Act Amendments Bill. This evening, the Minister cf Mines moved that the amendments made be not agreed to by this House, but that there be a conference of both branchesof the Legislature to consider the matter. This was agreed to, and Messrs Seddon, Pyke, and Larnach were appointed a committee to draw up reasons for disagreeing to the amendments made by the Council. In reporting on the complaint of some of the Greymouth settlers that although large areas of land are granted for minerals other than gold residence sites and agricultural leases are refused, the Goldfields Committee state that there is no reasonable grounds for the complaints, and further, that the evidence given by one of the petitioners, Mr Thomas Johnson Jones, before the Committee had been proved to be unreliable. On the report being read in the House this afternoon, Messrs O'Connor and Pyke, as members of Goldfields Committee, stated their belief that the witness Jones, had told deliberate untruths, which amounted to perjury. It having been pointed out by some members that the majority of witnesses summoned before the Select Committee had not had the oath administered, and that Jones could not be called on for an explanation without some p difficulty, as he had returned to Greymouth, Major Atkinson suggested that the Go3 vernment should during the recess prepare r legislation whereby persons giving wilfully 5 false evidence before these committees b would be amenable to criminal prosecu- > tion. The Attorney - General cheerfully . fell in with the suggestion and promised to give effect to it.

b Public Works and Revenues Bills. 8 Very short work was made of the Public j Works Amendment Bill and the Public 1 Revenues Bill this evening. The second I readings of those measures were proposed in few words, and carried without any 3 discussion.

The Estimates. Good progress was made with tho esti uaates Mr Richardson announced that h< saw his way to reduce the estimate of ex penditure on working railways for th< current year by twenty thousand pounds The vote was therefore reduced by thai amount making it £699,000. On the Exhibition vote, Sir Julius Vogei said he estimated the total cost of the Wei lington Exhibition at £10,000, of which £6,000 would be recouped from takings. With regard to the Exhibition in London £6,000 was asked for, and probably £3,000 or £4,000 more would be required next year. On the Defence vote, Mr D. Reid protested against such a large force of gunners being maintained. Mr Ballance said no Volunteer force could manage the torpedo service that was now required for the defence of the colony. The Government proposed that during the next two years the chief portion of the fortification that would be required should be executed by the Armed Constabulary. He explained the arrangements made with respect to defence, and said he hoped to be able to effect considerable saving in the Department in the future, and to reduce the force to about 300 men in all, which he maintained would be sufficient for the requirements of the colony. He explained that he intended proposing a reduction of about £10,000 in the total vote. Referring to the recent defence preparations, he said it was the duty of all the colonies to help to defend themselves, and not to depend solely on Great Britain, The vote passed as submitted by the Government.

THURSDAY, The Select Committee appointed to consider the advances on land brought up their report to-day. It is as follows ; — "One of the chief drawbacks to the full and successful development of the agricultural and pastoral resources of New Zealand by men of limited means is the high rate of interest on mortgage, and the extent to which such interest is withdrawn from the colony by absentee mortgagees. From the statement appendei hereto it will be seen that the n amber of mortgagees in New Zealand for sums ranging from £100 to £1,000 each i« 32,788, representing a total amount of £10,449.676. The number of mortgagees over £1,000 and under £2,000 is 6,634, the value of which the Committee have been unable to ascertain. A very large proportion of these mortgages are held on the security of land, and probably it will not be beyond the mark to estimate the average rate of interest on such loans, inclusive of the cost, at not less than 8 per cent, and often much higher rates have to be paid. These figures will serve to indicate the large extent to which relief would be afforded if the rate of interest could be reduced to 4 per cent, or even 5 per cent. From information before the Committee it is evident* that great benefit has been derived in various countries from loan advances by the State on the security of land -notably in Prussia, where the system of making advances on land at a moderate 'rate of interest by means of State notes, which are legal tender, was initiated