THE WESTEEN PACIFIC

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 139, 15 June 1933, Page 18

THE WESTEEN PACIFIC

LECTURE AT MARSDEN

At -the-invitation of Miss G. E. Meyhew, principal of.Marsden School, an audience assembled at' the' school .last night to hear Mrs; T. K. Smith'(Miss Sylvia ' Masterrnan, M.A., London). deliver the first of a series of- four lectures on< the-, growth of British influence in the AVestern Pacific- • • ■ :

' Mrs. Smith, who recently, .completed revision of a study of the subject, devoted her introductory lecture to the' sketch of the discovery, development, and' colonisation of .the.Pacific Islands, with notes on the economic,'geographical, and strategic importance of tho main island groups. ■

Up to the beginning of the last'century, she said, the one Power which had any material footing in the Pacific islands was Spaing by tho end of'the eohtu.ry the Spanish dominance of the ocean had given way to the influence of Britain, Germany, France, and' Holland. The. extension of European influence to the had come: about through the desire to find a route to India the search for the Terra Australia Incognita, which had been a recurring dream since the days of the Greeks. The Spaniards, in their pioneering work, had based their operations on tho west coast of America, their ships sailing round tho Horn and up the long coastline.

With, the waning of Spanish influence, different, systems' of Government had arisen in the Pacific until today there were eight in all, ranging from selfgovernment to tho mandates system, and another from where two' Powers exercised sway, and there were five different legal courts. The importance of the islands varied ( with their position. The strategical posts of moment were those on the routes between China and America; the economic importance of the islands was small, but tho geographical uses of them were many, and were illustrated by the establishment of a cable station at Fanning Island.

Mrs. Smith concluded by stating .that she had reached the opinion that the missionaries had played a material part in the protection and betterment of the natives during the colonising period, a point which' she. would develop in a subsequent lecture.