The Daily News TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1903. THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 184, 18 August 1903, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1903. THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

The importance of ;hn fir uro trade of he Pacific Ojeasi is s'owly dawning ipon tbu minds of Statesmen, The ate Sir Gtorge Grey was tha first to •ealise the great possibilities of the uture, but in spite of his great efforts ie was unable to evoke any practical sympathy on the part of the little Eag and Statesmen, who then ruled the Empire acd who looked upon th soloni«s as a wo* tliltrss encumbrance, ind appeared rather g'ad to see a :oreign flag hoisted over some of the 'ertile islands ofthe Pocifi!, Mr Sedion, upon whose shoulders Sir George Srey's Imperialist mantle foil, has 3cne all in his powtr to rouse the Empire to the danger of foreign occupa sion in these seas, but has so far mtt with very half hearted support Amongst the many icteresting cubj cts lea't with in the Finaccial So itemed is a proposal to secure some of the brade of the Pticific Ocaan for New Zaaland. A southern contcmpirary referring to this great question says: " Every day it is becoming clearer that the struggle for supremacy in the not distant future, commercially or other wise, will be fought out in the Pacific, The battleground in the past has been maiuly the Atlantic. But the rise of the United States to the rank of a ijreat Power has transferred the sconf to the Western Hemisphere The question of the future will be which power is to dominate the Pacific. Pre sideiit Roosevelt, in a tcur through the Western States of the Union, declarec on several occasions that tho dominant Power on the great ocean of thn New Woj Id was destirto be tho Unitec States. This is n very significant de clarstion, f.nd may be regarded 8s at indication of the fu'ure aims to bi pursued by the Ame.ican nation, Thi domination meant by the President i not merely a predominance, though n< doubt this is of vital importance, bu he regards preponderance of power it the Pacific clearly as the natural na tiocal heritage of his people, becaus of the immense American coast line 01 that vast ocean—a Heo which he de clared to be far greater in extent thai that of any other Power, Ho here, i will be noted, politely ruled out Japai with her four thousand islands and he forty million p ;ople. It is thisdreau of America holding the sceptre o world-power in the Pacific that i B spires the President with such i passion for a mighty navy, ia publii frpeeehe l ?, in private conversation, ir letters, ho had strenuously urged hi. p.:op'e th.it In th 11-iw liiip-t ulist :h< st.n is fliigUlier thin the laud. Tfu last great geographicil event of the fir si order that remains to be ac om plished is tho p'ercing of the Lthmu; of Panama. I'nere are no other ia:hmue£3 Jwf', whose cutting thrcuifc would displace the uommetce c>f tin world, The Panama Canal will tr«ns-

fer the strong band in th-< int-rnational game to the United Statep, and it will be a eet-cfl'to the advantage ErHarid derives fiom tho Suez Canal. C ''iha pioroing of the I-sthmus wilt at oec;j throw the preponderance on the side of j the United States c.mm.neially ; Whether this wi ! l be ftlhwod b/ a naval domination tiia fu'.ure will'dae.minp. Anyway, r.np'oonscy in any department on the Pacific is btuud to settle the question of supremacy in that department throughout tho wo: Id. Domination in tha Pacific will bj final" and when the centra of international contract shifts to that quai-o-, Australia and Now Zealaud may bo inws ed with an importance to the British Empire of which they, bs yet scarcely venture to dre ; m." The com'masking piiikir. held by New Piy. mouth in relation to tbe Pacifij Ocean gm-s this nutter a vital int rejs to tho ' pooplo of this part of tho colony,