NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2882, 11 May 1878, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

(pbom; the home news.)

NEW ZEALAND AND THE EMPIRE.

Sir Julius Vogel, K.C.M.G., read a. Paper a few evenings since before the Royal Colonial Institute " On New Zealand and the South Sea Islands, and their Relation to the Empire." Dealing first with the question how to reach Now Zealand, he showed that for the class that would most properly be described as emigrants, direct sailing-ships in which pas-, sages would cost from £15 to £50 were the best means, while to the wealthy pleasure-seeker or business man there was the choice of a run across the Atlantic, the American continent, and the Pacific, by the steamers which make the run from San Francisco in twenty-three days, or round the Cape, wh^ra plenty of ste^irers are constantly leaving for New Zealand ports. If mere sight-seeing is desired, the Dute might be by Egypt, the lied Sea, Java, Sumatra, and Singapore. By sailing-ship the approximate time of passage was ninety days, by San Francisco forty-one days, through the Canal sixty-one days ; or, if overland to Brindisi and by railway across the Isthmus of Sues, fifty-three days. To the chivaltj** 1 of the Native character Sir Julius attributes the non-occurrence of a frightful disaster, when the Mother Country, at Hhe ihsSnce of a' Liberal administration, deserted the Colony and withdrew every soldier. The policy of giving the native a tsste for well-paid labour, .the isolation of the 43,418 who now represent their whole number, and the fact that of that number 30,000 are loyal to the white race, make the chance of another native outbreak simply nil while there is no doubt, from tbe efforts which are now made to educate all the' Maori childrea, that a couple of generations will see all that are left of the natives thoroughly civilised. The white population has increased from 32,000 in 1851 to 400,000 in 1876; the land under cultivation from 121,000 to 2,337,000 acres'; the live ■ stock from 40,700 in 1858 to 123,700 in 1874; the tonnage, inwards and outwards, from 128,000 tons to some 800,000 tons; and the registered: vessels belonging to the , colony from 6662 tons in 1857 to 44,400 in 18/6. For the first-three quarters of Fast year the total exports of the colony reached £4,598,207, and the imports. £5,372,908. Sir Julius Vogel dwelt on 1870; the progress that has been made since due to the policy which he inaugurated, , and which is known as the "Immigration and Public Works Policy," or that of borrowing money to increase immigration and open up the land. In pursuance of - this scheme £8.303,000 has been spent on railways, £2,500,000 ; on : immigration, £4,400,000 on harbours, lighthouses, and other public works, and £1^300,000 on the purchase of native lands. Though this may seem a somewhat serious indebted* ness for a young colony, their capacity to. bear the burden is beyond all doubt, and the remunerative character of the investment all. the colonists now recognise, for it already more than doubles the' value of their property.. Considering the relation of- New Zealand to the v South;,. Sea^ /Islands, it _ jtas Ishown that the "Britain of the South" must form the trading.centre of all these teeming islands in the future. In this view he held that it was a wise step to take possession of Fiji, and it would be wiser 1 still to annex the.Samoa and the' New Hebrides'groups. _ The conclusion of the / piper was "an earnest argument for the early and serious. consideration by Par* liament of federation, and an insistence that the Colonies offered an unlimited' field for British capital, without risk of loss, and for British emigration.