THE SITUATION IN TAHITI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13021, 11 November 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SITUATION IN TAHITI.

SUGGESTED SALE: OF THE ISLAND,

FROM; A TAHITI CORRESPONDENT.

TnE publication of an article in the New York Herald, in ; which Professor L. G. Seurat criticises and passes severe judgment on ! the official administration of the French possessions in Oceania—in other words, Tahiti and its dependencies— produced such a sensation tin all classes of the community in the French colony that the incident is not likely to be stifled before a good deal more has been said regarding the state of affairs so fearlessly disclosed by the learned gentleman in question. •

; Professor Seurat is ,an eminent , doctor in science, who holds an important office under the Department of Public .Instruction in. France, and 'some years age was sent to Tahiti on a special scientific mission for the study of pearl-shell beds and the origin of pearls ; ; but his work embraced : other" branches of science, such as the botany, geology, etc. of these islands —the published reports on these subjects bearing evidence ;■ of so much profound knowledge in the author that they are pronounced to be among the most valuable in existence. With this introduction to PrpfessorrfcSi'jrat's personality it is not , i: < '■ , K levity, the 'statements of easy to treat with .-../■ ,•■■■.■■ . . ~ , ~'■;...■'■- ~ carted m so important this gentleman as repoV •_..., _ ?,•, ?,. ~ xt >t Sv&ork Herald, a publication as the New 1:. POVERTY, DECAY, ANIJ' LOTH ' In an interview, which was given to-; : correspondent of • that paper Professor Seurat explained that although the mair; object of his mission to the French South! Sea Islands was in the field of science, he encountered such a lamentable state of affairs in the direction of the political and social economy of these possessions that he included their „§tudy among his other subjects of investigation. After describing the conditions of "poverty, misrule, immorality, official corruption," of which he says he found much < evidence during his three years' experiences in Tahiti and its dependencies, the professor boldly concludes by recommending that "France should sell her islands in the South Seas to one of the great Powers that has given proof of ability in the field of colonisation." . , .-".■-" ■

The professor, among other things, goes on to say:-"The administration of Tahiti is a horrible failure,, and general bankruptcy stares the island in the face. . . The conditions of the finances are so compromised 'that it is doubtful whether the Government will be in a position to meet the subsidy for the „ mail service which it is under obligation to pay to a foreign steamship company (the Oceanic S.S. Co.), with whom they have recently 'passed a five years' contract." And after more remarks in the same- strain Professor Seurat concludes as follows: — Decay and sloth are rampant everywhere; the social conditions are lamentable, those iof morality are unmentionable, commerce and agriculture are in a desperate condition." It is not possible to read with indifference such a scathing impeachment of the state of affairs in Tahiti, especially as nine intelligent persons out of every ten in the colony —whether they be French or foreigners endorse and admit' the general accuracy of the professor's accusations; and it is really to be regretted that these possessions, which have been so richly endowed by Nature in all the elements that are susceptible of development for the achievement of prosperity, should, after so many years of contact with civilisation, present the picture of material and moral desolation that the above report discloses to the world. - - , '

THE FRENCH AS COLONISTS. One is accustomed to the opinion so prevalent among other nations that the French are not capable colonial administrators. That there exists much evidence to justify this contention in many of their colonial enterprises is unfortunately too manifest to allow of any discussion of the subject;, but perhaps not sufficient allowance has been made for : the fact that failure has often been traceable to the natural .difficulties of the tasks.. undertaken, and' to i the comparative barrenness of the resources to be developed. But in Tahiti, with its- delightful climate, ~-■ its virgin soil and valuable natural pro- : . ducts, there is no pardonable excuse for the present spectacle of an -impoverished v and-languishing community of about nine thousand souls, ' when this island alone ;_: should be able to maintain at least fifty;' thousand inhabitants in comfort :.nd pros- |< perity,, _ '- •" - *

CAUSES OF THE STAGNATION. In the absence of any natural, causes to shoulder .' the blame of this unsatisfac-1 tory ;>; state :; of :■: affairs, , it: is v not ..:■; possible j to hold; the Administration; not /guilty; of ! the responsibility, coupled ;; with methods of commercial affairs whose personal interests:' have not always -encouraged departures: 1 in the path of progress. ;. Since the abolition, ; about three years ago, of the local ; Consul-General. representing the people, ; there ■ has been no . control - over the taxing propensities of : the 'Government, whose exigencies have * compelled the exercise of this prerogative :to limits that have placed such ';; heavy ;- burdens on the spirit of. enterprise and thrift that .the whole country is smarting under a species of serfdom the grievances of : which to the enlightened citizens of our age are barely distinguishable from the excesses of the demolished regime that gave birth to the beautiful ideals of " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." The French people have given proof of so much undisputable distinction in many departments of public and private affairs, they hove continued to hold such a high rank in the international contests in works of progress, that it is not conceivable how they are unable to: realise, or, realising, correct the fundamental ' flaws "of their system of administering the : colonies, which are so glaringly; apparent.

THE s FRENCHV OFFICIAL SYSTEM. Nothing is more misleading than the popular belief that the French, taken individually, are less capable administrators of affairs, than men of other countries. The ideas and the methods of carrying out their policy differ from those of most countries, but perhaps the real and true source of their difficulties resides at ; the root of .their system,'namely, a defective recruitment of officials. Instead of allowing the Governors to select those who have to assist them in the discharge of the missions, ; the success or failure of which they are responsible for, the offices are ; filled by a number of " generally incompetent subordinates,; whose only claim to Government employment are services rendered to some political man in power in France. And so they come and they go, backward and forward, with their families, indulging in general globe-trot-ting from one colony to • another at the expense of the half-ruined taxpayer, whose pots and pans are 'seized ;and' sold by auction in the market place to pay the bills of these official tourists, who ; ; ; for the most part: had ; never been beyond their native village or provincial capital before their electioneering jobs pitchforked them into the colonial assets. As a rule the Governors and those ' holding: the principal burdens of office are'men "of superior intelligence and knowledge, who devote all their energy to the successful achievement of the duties entrusted ,to their care; but their best intentions are so handicapped by this: one and unique system of ; colonial : administration lines of which have to"...be', followed, no matter' how impracticable, no ; matter how unadaptable to the divergent features which necessarily exist; in colonies whose conditions and interests are as distinct -as black and white—that all their 'ability and devotion are simply strangled .'in mazes of ridiculous red tape, which subordinates the rights' of the colonists to the interests of an' official organisation ' the incapacity of which is only equalled by the fictitious importance of its pretensions to" superiority. ; : : ;;, *v ''::.: ■ .So r long, therefore, as this pernicious I system prevails, and the interests at stake are deprived ~of the -representation which ; is everywhere granted'to civilised, society, ! there can bo no hope for the recovery of J the .present stagnation of affairs through official assistance ; and . these affairs—both private "and publichave fallen so far below, par that nothing short of 'a^ miraculous accident can arrest their drifting to the inevitable doom, ; general ; ruin and bankruptcy. ... '■ ' Under such circumstances it is . only, natural that nine-tenths of the enlightened independence of: this colony should -'have enlisted under the \ banner so bravely .unfurled by Professor Seurat, and if his action can prevoke some interest that may revive a little encouragement and hope for brighter prospects his name ought to be carved in letters of gold on the tablets of the history of Tahiti. . _

A CHANCE FOR MR. SEDDON. V ~-! In the meanwhile rumours of the possibility of French ; Imperial designs contemplating the . abandonment of these possessions. in the South Seas vin a more or less distant future have been so persistent in Tahiti for. some ■ time past, and '■ a; succession of events—accomplished and prospectiveafford such ; indications in - sup-, port of this probability, that New Zealand and Australia should ■> not remain indifferent to the fermentation of events that are practically within their sphere of interests, and- which, "'- it"; is ; not ~ impossible, -may crystallise, into the .shape of another Samoanesque denouement. .