NEW ZEALAND AND THE EMPIRE.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2899, 31 May 1878, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND AND THE EMPIRE.

Si*.Julias Vogel/K.C.M.0., read a paper a few erenings since before the Royal Colonial Institute " On New Zealand and the South Sea Islands, and tbeir Relation to the Empire." Dealing first with the question how to reach New Zealand, be, showed that for the class that would most properly be described as emigrants, direct sailing-ships in which passages would cost from £15 to £20 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 in twenty, thr-e days, or round the Cape, where plenty of steamers are constantly leaving for New Zealand ports. If mere sight-seeing is desired, the route might be by Egypt, the Red Sea, Ja?a, Sumatra, and Singapore. By sailing-ship the approximate time of passage was ninety days, by San Francisco 41 days, through the Canal 61 days; or, if overland to Brindisi and by railway across the Isthmus of Suez, 53 days. To the chivalry of the native character Sir Julius attributes to the non-occurrence of a frightful disaster, when the Mother Country, at the instance of a Liberal Administration, deserted the Colony and withdrew every soldier. The policy of giving the native a t. ate for well-paid labor, 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 arother native outbreak simply nil, while there it no j doubt, from the efforts which are now made to educate all the Maori children, that a couple of generations will see all that are left of the natives thoroughly civilised. The white population hare increased from 32,000 in 1854 -to 4 )3,C30 in 1876, the land under cultivation from 121,000t02,437,003, acres; the live stock frdm4O,7C3in 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 1876. For the first three quarters' of last year the total exports of the colony reached £4,598,207, and the imports £'5,372,903. Sir Julius Yogel dwelt oa the progress that has been made since 1870, due to the policy which he inaugerated, and which is known as the "Immigration and Public Works Ppliey," 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, £2,513,000, on immigration, £4,400,C00 on. harbors, lighthouses, and other public works, and £1,3C3,0C0 on the purchase of native lands. Though this may seem a somewhat serious indebtedness for.a young colony, the capacity to bear the burden is beyond all doubt, and the remunerative character of the investment all the colonists now recognise, for it nlready more than doubles the value of their property. Considering the relation of New Zealand to the South Sea Islands, it was shown that the "Britain of the South " must form the trading centre of of all these teeming islands in the future. In this tlew he held that it was a wise step to take possession of Fiji, and it would be wiser still to annex the Samoa and the New Hebrides groups. The conclusion of the paper was an ea^aeat argument for the early and serious con* sideration by Parliament of federation, and an instance that the colonies offered au unlimited field for British capital, without risk of loss, and for British emigration.—Home News.