FUTURE OF FIJI.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 66, 17 March 1916, Page 2

FUTURE OF FIJI.

THE ANNEXATION PROPOSALS. SOME SERIOUS QUESTIONS. "While Air. Hughes was passing through Suva, on his way to England," says the "Sydney Daily Telegraph," editorially, "He was made aware of the desire of a number of Australian residents that the colony should be annexed to Australia. This is not a new subject. Yet it is one that quite natui rally arises from the divergency of in- ; terests that have gathered in the Fijian j ; Group, the growth of commercial en- ( < terprise, and the sense of kinahip which ( ; Australians who have settled and estab- ( , liahed themselves there must possess to- j wards the country from which they cmi- ! grated. But there are more serious ( > ccmsiderationa than those involved in the proposal for the transfer of the , governance of the islands to the Com- j J monwealth. It would be in conflict with , the traditions of Australia if any part of the Empire was handed over to its [ t control without the assent of the , people who constitute its population, j The roseate eloquence of a deputation i representing only one section of its white people could not be accepted as p an expression of the aspirations of and the will of the whole. Fiji is a country I with only a fraction of men and women , of European origin, and by the presence of a numerically dominant coloured , race, and the importation of indented - . labour, it has inaugurated and isj' j carrying out a policy of development 1 that might be an embarrassment to f Australia if it assumed control. But the immediate question is not the actual differences in the policy of the two countries. These things might be 1 capable of reconciliation. The larger ' issue of ' the administration of the islands of the Pacific is bound to arise when the war is over, and until then it is almost useless, except as a point of ' I abstract politics, to discuss the incor- ! poration of existing British dependenJ cies with the Commonwealth. While 'j Fiji continues a British possession its ' j annexation to Australia is constitutionally only a matter of Ministerial c negotiation, and as far as the CommonJ wealth is concerned of Parliamentary : I sanction. At the current stage of its r history the Commonwealth has responsibilities on its hands without launch- [ ing into the larger field of absorbing territories that are now governed as ■ Crown colonies from England. The • destiny of the conquered possessions of i : Germany ha 3 yet to be determined, and i concurrently with that,'or even after it 1 is settled as a .condition of the peace, i ony wider extension.' J af the jurisdiction i of- the Commonwealth • might occudv .• attention. ,"-'■'' " ■ Wn «i peace Terms "come finally to be , arranged the future of the Pacific in it» t relation to the territories of the Allies i may bs fixed for generations. What i new obligations the settlement may , throw upon Australia the most far cxi tending vision cannot poseibly glimpse, I There is hardly any doubt that they will . be increased. Conditions within may" press t also for constitutional rearrangements ■ that may modify the system of "govern- ; ment here ju»t as it may widely extend I the power of the central authority, the f fact of Mr. Hughes happening to be in I Suva may have been a favourable oppor- • tunity to reopen the claim for merging , • Fiji in the Commonwealth. But the ' i larger fact of the war itself and : ts i > complete disruption of normal condi- j •! tions makes it impossible to treat the j • I matter , as one ripe for close, considera- ! I tions. If the end of the war should pro* | i dace a modification in the view hitherto I ■ held that Australia has territory enough I to exercise her powers of government, ■ any representations from a colony of , 1 the importance and wealth of Fiji to i: thrown in its lot would have undoubt- ji ' edly great weight. New Zealand, which ! i • hae taken a prominent part in the war, ji j will have to be considered in any dm- i 1 position of territories, and if it is • • desirable to transfer Fiji from direct '1 ; Imperial authority it wijl be impossible i to ignore any claim that the Dominion | > may prefer. The whole matter id bound 11 ' up with the defence of the Pacific, with i industrial conditions, with the control < of a large native population, with the j administration of a territory some days' ' voyage From on tho . ' A-ÜBtrallan coast. If Australia, had Fiji ' she would govern If as a tropical . posaeeei.on. The experience of territories inhabited by native populations, and j even the experience of the Northern i Territory, where the native population ; 'is industrially all bat negligible, is fruitful in examples of the almost over- , whelming difficulty of adjusting conceptions of government intended lor those , ' who come from temperate latitudes, to ' races and territoriee to which they are '. quite inapplicable. An exchange of ' views between the Prime Minister and . ' the Secretary of State for the Colonies will be valuable a 9 a guide for the ■ future. But a* a tangible proposition ) the proposal is hardly well within the range of practical politics."