THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1891.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8501, 27 February 1891, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1891.

COLQXISTS hfc» RftrnQf . prised at the "J es sn T , played in En^^^estdi federation ofTe°&£^<the colonies. The, are J?* Poop, 6 ? knd whose 4f; or SO e^mEng . enlighten the The amount of Mting L ?*«■ the different asp** of th e t^ 0 * most prominen(of-thp „ k? b ythe the Empire is &J%£B»»«* looked at deepljenough how When reasons for thfe^tb^; the Gradually the R itiou h has been changir, ' The d Vna pir *' plications of thejontinenJof F COa " are becoming of ttle interest toP? lish statesmen, *d in ill Pro :° tn iEuropean wars. Her wide P a European wars. Her wide F*. • a her can. Colon! trade has „** J to enormous dimisions, and tw be jealously girded. No existe amongst SnglUh statesmen T meddle and reude m colonial ,*• They have had *ite enough of t\ the past, and thjr know that it i wV & to leave colonic to their own devi even although these may ho u?* , enough egregras mistakes. fhev believe, howevf, that the confeder-" tion of the grone of colonies would be the means of eating in different pa m of the world fhat would virtually be great Anglo-S«pn powers, in such close alliance with £igland that the tie which united jjiem could never U broken— allince in which all causes of trouble woulibe done away with. The colonists I Australasia are mm endeavouring Realise such a Federa tion, believing tht it will be for thai advantage, and 1* the promotioa oi enlightened maxit?, of Government, A Convention meets >, Sydney on the 2nd of March, to which as been committed the task of drawin£up a Federal Co. a stitution. Federatids are not made in '• a day, and no one wl be surprised if the present attempvshould.fail, 8!1( , that the end should ut be reached tor years to come. The >,presentatives of New Zealand are SirUeorge Grey, Sir H. Atkinson, and Ca{aiu Russell,' but it is understood that their powers do not extend to pledgii; this colony to become a member of {federation. We cannot at present see ar way to federate with the Ausralian colonies. although we shall lookm with friendly eyes, and take care tha no obstacle is raised to our joining stth i federatica i. at a future date. W. n|ed not set forth in detail the reasraawhich have induced New Zealand to ake op tMs attitude in the meantime. 7e may sav however, that as regards deence. vhicb " is one of the important su jects to be dealt with, the Imperial <olonia! Defence Committee that New Zealand must stand apart from the Australian colonies. In tßir remarks on General Edwards' report say: "On aecount of the distace (BDO miles) which separates Nesj Zealand from Continental Colo. • nial Defence Committee coisider that the defence of New Zealanj mast be dealt with independently,iand they doubt whether any advantage would be gained by amalgamating th> Permanent Artillery and Submariie Mining Force of this colony with th<£e of the remaining colonies. - Any flrce here could render no aid in the event of a raid on any part of Australii, nor if New Zealand were attacked oeuld Australia give any assistance. Thus, so far j as defence is concerned, we rcust stand alone. In regard to a Federal Parliament also there would be g-eat difficulties. Such a Parliament would at in Australia, and its proceedings from r day to day would be removed from the ken of New Zealand. Then from such a Parliament would necessarily be ex- , eluded many of the best public men of New Zealand. Many men who are enthusiastic for federation declare that it would not be worth troubling about if the different colonies are to retain their present Customs arrangements, by which, in some . cases, they make war upon each other. But here would arise a ticklish point for New Zealand. The Protection party is strong in Australia ; but if the barriers were broken down between the colonies, if all commodities were freely interchanged between the members of the federation, a hostile front might be presented to outsiders, and to New Zealand amongst the others. At present this colony exports large quantities of produce to Australia every year and sometimes, when there has been a drought there, the shipments are enormous, and high prices are realised. So that, if it were resolved by the Australian colonies to have a common tariff, we should be compelled to endeavour to overcome the obstacles to our joining in the federation. But on this subject of a tarifl the Australian colonies have many and serious difficulties to settle amongst themselves. We have no doubt that great interest will be taken in the proceedings of the Convention in England. It will be looked upon as the attempt to lay the foundations of a great power in these seas, a power which shall be strong enough in many ■ ways to aid the mother country, by furnishing in case of need, harbouni, and docks, and coaling stations, and provisioning places for British ships of war a power strong enough to • keep inviolate her own against the four corners of the world in arms power whose influence shall be felt over the whole world in all that promotes the advancement of humanity.