RAROTONGA. Trade and Annexation Matters.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 122, 3 October 1885, Page 4

RAROTONGA. Trade and Annexation Matters.

Tiie Queen of Rarotonga is shortly expected to arrive on a visit to New Zealand in response to an invitation from the Government, and in these circumstances increased interest is felt in the Cook Group of Islands of which Rarotonga is the chief. An Auckand gentleman has j«st received a letter from a resident of Rarotonga from which we make the following extracts :—: — I have no doubt the commercial delegates who recently visited us were favourably impressed with Rarotonga, and will speak rapturously of its capabilities of development. 1 have thought a little upon the matter of trade in the South Seas, though I have not gone actually into the particulars of loss or gain on any particu/ar article of commerce. STou will agree with me that South Sea Island trade is now in a very low state ; cotton especially is very low in the price lists. As prices go up at Home, so trade will probably revive out here. Tons of Rarotonga cotton will be wasted this year on account of the uncertainty as to the prices to be given. The merchants wish to buy it at 4 cents per lb\, half of which is to be paid in Chili coin, and half in " trade "of any kind. The people of this group are not willing to give up the old price, viz. , 5 cents, per lb. At present I feel sure that (1) owing to low prices at Home, (2) attempts to lower price and consequent want of pickers for cotton, and (3) the small amount of land in cultivation and the paucity of cultivators, very little money can be made in South Sea trade at the present time. There are plenty of people in the field, and competition is very keen, even in this group. A South Sea Trading Company is not at all wanted, for already the natives do almost as much as they can do, and there are plenty to buy what they can produce. But you will notice that lam far from saying that the land produces as much as it might do. What is wanted is (1) annexation by New Zealand. Native Government is capricious, feeble, and apt to be influenced by other considerations than abstract justice. (2) Trade will then follow the flag. It seems to me this is the best plan. Surely New Zealand would never permit the French to annex this group; they would dominate New Zealand. At present the greater part of the produce of this group goes to New Zealand ; but if the French were allowed to annex us, all would go to Tahiti. T he French are evidently bent on annexing all the islands of the Society, Cook, and Austral groups, thus making Tahiti the centre of a oircle all the radii of which converge on the common centre. I say these things because I am convinced it would be more for the interest of these islands and their inhabitants to b§

joined on to New Zealand. The group •would soon pay its own expenses. The New Zealand group may, hardly think it worth their while to annex the Cook Islands, as the area of the group is small. On Mangaia, Atiu, Mitiero, Mauke, and the islands north of the group, viz., Penrhyn, Pierson, Humphreys, and Danger Islands, there is no land, or very little more than the natives require for their own wants. On the northern islands cotton would not grow, as the soil is sandy and barren ; while in Mangaia, Atiu, and Mauke, the coral shows up plentifully, and there is much land unavailable for cultivation. Aitutaki and Rarotonga are the only islands where there is much spare land ; and even here Europeans do not seem to care to do muoh bodily work, as in the hot months the climate is very exhausting.