THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1898.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9027, 4 November 1892, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1898.

The present number of this journal has a special interest for all who are concerned in the early colonisation of New Zealand, and the jubilee of that now remote emigration evokes the memory of a very different state of opinion respecting the colonies from that which now prevails in the mother country. True, that in 1839 a strong wave of emigration had set in towards Australia, but that exodus from home was rather due to the enterprise of the people than to the initiative of the Government, which at that date and for some time afterwards had little appreciation of the colonies and no glimmer of speculation as to their future importance. It is a strange reflection that the directing authorities of a country which is so famous for the success of its colonising schemes, and which is already the mother de facto of one mighty nation in esse, and of many others in posse, should have shown themselves so indifferent to the highly promising British interests which were springing up in Australasia aud in Africa. However, at that time the trade with those distant dependencies had not attained a high importance, while their retention involved a considerable Imperial expenditure, and as they were not yet self-governing, the Colonial Office was frequently involved in colonial disputes, the settlement of which, in the then state of illumination which provailed, could hardly reflect any lustre upon that administration. Accordingly the patronage which they afforded to the home Government seemed to the permanent staff of the Colonial Office, who were the real rulers of the colonies, the only substantial quid pro quo for a good deal of worry and irritation, not to speak of the cost. Finally, this way of looking at the colonial question developed into the extraordinary doctrine propounded by Mr. Gold win Smith and accepted by many politicians of that day, including Mr. Gladstone, then an exColonial Secretary, that the colonies were an encumbrance which it would be good policy to get rid of, arguing that all the commercial advantages which their possession afforded would remain with England after the proposed process of weaning, while the cost of the connection would no longer remain an item in the annual budget of Imperial expenditure. But fortunately English good sense was quite capable of seeing through the fallacies of such selfish and shortsighted teaching, and Great Britain continues to grow greater through the reciprocal benefits of a colonial intercourse which increases year by year, and gratifies the proud possessor of the name of Englishman with the promise of an empire greater than the world has yet seentoo large to covet foreign territory, too complete to require foreign assistance, and too independent to truckle to aggression against the interests of humanity at large. ; But we anticipate. While public opinion was being slowly but surely enlisted on the side of a colonial empire, the discovery of gold in California, and soon after in Australia, gave a great impetus to popular movement, by which the numbers, the wealth, and the power of the Australian colonies became doubled by a single coup. Such a change of circumstances naturally opened the way to independence in the matter of Government, and shortly thereafter the whole Australasian group became self - governing colonies, the charter of New Zealand dating from 1853, and its inauguration from the following year. The finding of gold in Australia may be said to have wiped out the malcontents who desired to cut the colonial painter, for they have never, been heard of since, nevertheless the colonies still remained to some extent in statu pupillari. However, as we have seen, they quickly obtained constitutional rights, and since then have lost no time in developing popular government upon the widest Democratic basis. The most noticeable, the most important, and the most uniform outcome of the exercise of self-government in those new communities, has been the accumulation of debt, which is excused on the ground that the money borrowed was spent upon improvements; However that may be, the debt contracted in London forms a fresh bond of union with the mother country, and one which has had the effect of making the English public better acquainted with the Australasian colonies and their resources, than the contents of any number of blue-books or of colonial dispatches. Another means of information accessible not only to official persons, but to all who desire to avail themselves of it, exists in the offices of the AgentsGeneral, where authentic intelligence of a kind the most useful and necessary

— j . _,; i~ i i , jes to intending, ; settlers can be obtained, where also the i peculiarities of colonial statesmanship can be explained away, for be it understood that your 4 AgentGeneral is naturally a partisan of the Government from which he received his appointment, although, of course, he ..holds a brief for the colony as « whole, which he has the honour to represent, and seldom or never loses sight of the interests of his-most important client. Again, the Colonial Institute affords special opportunities for the discussion and elucidation of all colonial subjects of interest, so that in these days, the Colonial Office, which has very little to do with • the ■ manage* inent of the self-governing colonies, has at command every species of information, in which it used to be deficient while yet the responsibility of colonial administration rested there. ; Then, the rapid and reliable system of communication which connects together every part of this wide Empire opens up the possibility of federation— idea which must find favour with . every largeminded patriot, and which seems to prove that the prospect of ultimate independence has no present hold upon the imagination of ; the colonies generally. With respect to this question, which is one de longue halcine, it is to be observed that, as it can only be achieved by the aid of time, that element of success 'ought to be wisely employed in removing the obstacles to a closer union, and in rivetting the natural ties which a com* mon language, a common civilisation, and a common alliance to a worthy sovereign engender... To strive for such an end gives a tone to the policy of each dependency of Great Britain, improves its intercolonial relations, and tends to moderate the claims of individual and exclusive advantage in fine, it imparts a common aim to all varieties of colonial government by which the forces of mutual attraction between the mother country and her distant swarms ate greatly strengthened.