GERMAN COLONISATION. THE SITUATION IN, SAMOA. AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 358, 10 April 1889, Page 5

GERMAN COLONISATION. THE SITUATION IN, SAMOA. AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW.

Invercahoill, April 8. Rkv. Isaac Roonby, who has been engaged iv the Wesleyan Missions in the Paciiic for twenty-four years, and who is now making a tour of" the colony, in tho course of an interview with a "Southland JNews " reporter stated he was quite clear on one point, that the German* Government had been drawn into the Samoan business through the action of the large trading Company. Its directors 'include a number ' of men who are 1 very influential in the fatherlund,aud who can bringpressuretobear j on head-quarters. They have invested a very large amount of capital in the enterprise. They have acquired large tracts of land in »Samoa, some oi it parted with by the native owners tor firearms, hi some of the islands of the group the greater part oi the land is theirs, but with a section of the natives actively hostile to them, and with the other powois making certain claims, the Company are hampered. They cannot turn thoir possessions to account as things now are. They are comparatively valueless : but the case would be dif f event if the Geiman Government could be induced to annex the group. The Company would then be free to form a settlement without fearing interference. Hence the tactics of the directors have been and are to get the Government embroiled with the natives and thus afford a pretext for annexation. The fact that othex- German war&hips are to be despatched to Samoa is significant as showing the influence wielded on behalf of the Company. As to what we havo heard about the way in which the Germans have treated the Samoans it will be news to learn that the Germans are capable of very different conduct in dealing with the aboriginals ; that is when there are conflicting interests involved, and they are lett to their own devices. They have, we know, annexed the Northern New Guinea, the whole of New Britain, and part of Solomon Islands. This territory has been handed ovet to a trading company, something like the old East India Company, who govern the Islands ; Prince Bismarck, however, reserving the right to intervene any time should he think it necessary, and to issue regulations as to the government of the islands. The position here is quite different to that of the German Company at Samoa. Theie are no competitors m the trade, and the Empire having annexed the island, no reason existed for interfering with the natives, who are very well treated by the authorities. The sale ot liquor and lire-arms was prohibited, and the Europeans who injured the natives were severely punished. The Germans make a point of treating the natives well, almost too well Mr liooney thought for their own good. When the Germans took possession of the country Prince Bismarck prohibited the Roman Catholic priests from starting any more missions. They had shortly before this established themselves near the Wedleyan mission station. The reason Bismatck assigned for thiswas, he knew that the priests sometimes caused trouble, and that they follow the Protestant missionary, and not unfrequently act as political emibsaties of France. He al&o gave instructions to the directors of the Protestant mission societies in Germany that they were not to interfere with the We&leyan missionaries, who were doing good work, and wero to be loft alone at New Britain. If the Germans wished to establish missions they must do so on the mainland, and leave New Britain to the We&leyans! This the Germans had done, establishing missions on German territory. Referring to the recent trouble at Zanzibar, Mr Rooney said its origin was also due to the opeiptions of a German trading concern, whose directors weie anxious to have the flag of thoir land hoisted over the island, so that they might carry on their business in security, i So far the Germans have not been \ery ( successful in their colonising efforts. They go on a different principle to the British, who allow their colonies to follow nature and to grow. The Germans and French, on the contraiy, try to force them, through the Government, on a military plan, and they they do not prosper under it. The British had learned by experience this system would not work. They had tried it in America. It failed there, and it would not succeed now The Germans were spending large sums of money on New Britain in establishing stations and opening up the country, but it was a question if they would ever receive any return for their outlay. Their only hope of doing this lay in the possibility ot an extensive goldticld being discovered which would enhance the value ot their holding, attract population, and perhaps lead to the permanent occupation of territory. It would not pay to hold it supply for agricultural purposes, not that the soil is not good. There is none better in the world; it will grow anything; but the great drawback is the climate. It is as bad as the soil is good. To Europeans, it is exceedingly trying. Fever and ague aie great troubles. People might be walking about apparently quite well, and then in a few hours we would bo shocked to hear they were dead. Referring to the situation in Samoa, Mr Rooney was convinced that annexation by one or other of the Great Powers must be the ultimate outcome. At present, Germany, so far as the ownership of land is concerned, has a preponderating interest. The Germans claim more land than the British and Americans combined. Mr Rooney stated that the French had not been very happy in their relations with the natives of the Pacific. Referring to the decrease in population observable in New Guinea, he said that ihe blame could not be laid at the door of the Germans. It was largely duo to the labour traffic. The natives who went away to work in plantations in Fiji and Queensland returned with disease of various kinds, including dysentery, which swept them off. In ISB7 Mr Rooney kept a census, and the deaths at the Duke of York Island and the ports ot New Britain and NewIreland over which the return^ were obtained were equal to 100 in every 1,000 of the population,as against in New Zealand 15 or 16 per thousand. Whooping cough, measles and other maladies were also introduced by the means stated, proved disastrous.

It appears the statement, so gravely telegraphed a little over a month ago, that the Prince of Wales had remarked, when talking to a statesman, that " we are all Socialists at heart," had no belter authority than its appearance in the weekly gossip column ot the "Birmingham Post," where the oredit of bringing about a change in the lownecked court dress is given to his Royal Highness. The following is the form in which it appears :— " 'We are all Socialists at heart,' said the Prince of Wales tho other day when talking to a statesman of tho old school, who was lamenting the progress of Socialism, ' and this conviction renders the outward semblance of Conservatism move and more difficult to maintain.' "