FRENCH AGGRESSIONS IN POLYNESIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6261, 10 December 1881, Page 6

FRENCH AGGRESSIONS IN POLYNESIA.

We are in daily expectation of the arrival of 1 the French Admiral. It is said that five : steam gunboats are to visit this group, with ' a view of overawing the natives. Pomare, 1 ex-King of Tahiti, and others are to be ' landed to coax the chiefs into submission to < the French. Ancient. traditions (whether : true or false) ae to the origin of these : islanders nre to be Appealed to, so as to cajole the natives. Of course these parties are to he well paid for their trouble. It is ' very painful to an Englishman to hear it said by native lips, "The English have sold : us to the French for some island off Newfoundland." I can only reply, "I cannot believe anything of the sort." It seems to me a cruel thins for Great Britain to throw over peaceable and industrious islanders, to whom her sons imparted whatever they have of Christianity and civilisation. All their sympathies are with us : yet we quietly pass them over to the French. We all know what French annexation means — the endowment of Popery and the spread of immorality. The present Government is decidedly liberal, but what may be on the morrow it is hard to say of such a fickle nation as the French. My first sight of Tahiti was in January, ISo2, when the French Protectorate was firmly established. I found that the bnildings erected by our converts were taken away from us. The manse in which I slept at Papara—the residence of the late Rev. J. Chisholm—was shortly afterwards given to a French Roman Catholic priest, without compensation or even apology. The new missionary party was introduced to the Governor. I shall never forget the honied words of politeness addressed to us by him. Yet it was this same Governor that a few weeks after expelled my brethren from the island—the late Rev. J. Howe alone being allowed to remain a3 chaplain to the British and American residents. Can you wonder, then, that I look with deep anxiety upon the present proceedings of the French ? In 1572, when on my way to England, I spent a day on the island of Uvia, one of the Loyalty Group. A miniature reproduction of St. Bartholomew's massacre had just been enacted under the eye and by the arrangement of the French Roman Catholic priest. To my dying day 1 cannot forget the sights that met my eye. Fortj houses I elongint: to our converts had been burnt, and numbers of the converts slaughtered. I have in inv possession a copy of St. Matthew's Gospel, the corner cut off, and the whole besmeared with the blood of its owner. The family were engaged in family prayer ; the chapter having been read, the book was put down on the gras3 floor, whilst he offered prayer. Whilst in the very act of prayer, the axe of the emissary of the Romish priest entered his left side. The body was hacked to pieces. As I stood over the spot I thought of Stephen, and fancied that the dial of time had gone back three centuries. There can be no mistake to the origin of these cruelties, as the p*re lent his own rifle to his factotum (whom I know), and with it several of the Protestants were shot. Mark this, none of the murderers were ever punished by the French Government, although the subject was repeated!}' brought before them. But enough of this painful subject. A word about the commerce of these Eastern Picific islands—the direct result of the labours of English Protestant missionaries. Wo found the islanders to be in all cases heathen and savage : in many cases eanni , als. At that period the South Pacific Groups did not contribute a cent towards the commerce of the civilised world. At the present moment the commerce of the Hervey Group alone may be roushly estimated at £."iO,OOO. Adding to '"this the value o , ' the trade of other islands, as yet unannexed bv the French, you obtain a total of n.'.0,000 'sterling per annum. I fail to sec the justice of excluding New Zealand merchants from the trade thus created bv British subjects. The Austral Group consists of four islands ! — two under the French flag and two hide- ; pend.-nt. It is a well-known fact that the two independent islands produce an immense amount of produce annually, whereas the other two produce next to nothing. The fact is, French colonies are everywhere commercial failures. Will New Zealand allow all the islands of the South Eastern Pacific to be passed over to the French \\ ithout protest? In view of the aggressive spirit of the French, the English Government has wisely appointed Mr. C. E. Goodman as 11.8.M'.s Consul at Rarotonga. There is no gentleman here so well adapted to till such a lvsponsible post as my friend Mr. Goodman. About 2~> islands are now threatened with annexation by the French, viz.—Society, or Leeward Group : Huahine, Rev. E. Y. Cooper missionary, population 1500 ; Borabora, one native pastor, population, ROOO : Maupiti. one native pastor, population f>oo : Tupai, leased by Captain BlacUett for copra manufacture. Austral Group : Rurutu, one native pastor, population 2000 : Reinatar.i, one native pastor, population 1000. llervey Group : Rarotonga, Kev. W. Wyatt Gill, population 2000; Mangain. Rev. G. A. Harris, population 2000 ; Aitutaki, two native pastors, population 1500; Manuae, very feu- natives ; Atiu, one native pastor, population 1000 ; Mautu, one native pastor, population 4">o ; Mitiaro, one native pastor, population 200. 1 omit from this list Raiatea and Toboa, Rev. A. Pearse missionary, with a population of 3000, because the French protection fl.ig is flying there. Pearl Islands, dejiendencius of Borabora : Mophea. Seillv. Guano Islands : Comstock, Flint, Starbuek. Leased by .Messrs. Houkler Brothers. Penrhyns : One native pastor, valuable pearl island, ,">72 inhabitants. Rakaanga, Manihiki : Pearl islands. Two islands"form one community, 000 inhabitants, three native pastors at work. Palmcrston : Produces vast quantity of. copra, small population. Suwarron- : The property of Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane. Nassau : Property of Captain Ellacott, who has planted many thousands of cocoanut trees for copra manufacture. Bukapuka : Population is 100. There arc two native pastors on it. Christianity was introduced into the Society Islands in IS]2, to the Austral Group in ISIO, to the Hervey Group in IS2I, to Penrhyns in IS-37, to Manihiki and Rakaanga in IS4O, to Bukapuka in 1557. The agents of the London Missionary Soeiety have been at work ever since. In the Society Islands there are two English missionaries and several native ministers at work ; in the Austral Group native pastors only; in the Hervey Group two English missionaries and a stall' of seventeen nitive ordained pastors. At Rarotonga, under my caie, is an institution for training native preachers and pioneer teachers for New Guinea. At present we have 22 unmarried students. There is also a school attached to it for native lads. Two translations of the entire Bible have been made—one into the Tahitian, the other into the Rarotongau dialect—also, several books calculated to improve the mind, e.g. , geography, grammar, Pilgrim's Progress, Peep of Dav, &c. William Wyatt GillJ B.A. Rarotonga, November 10, ISSI.