THE ANNEXATIONS BY NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11534, 20 November 1900, Page 5

THE ANNEXATIONS BY NEW ZEALAND.

THE FEDERATION PROPOSALS. [from our own correspondent.] London, October 12. New Zealand's annexation of several island groups in the Pacific has not drawn the attention here it'otherwise would owing to the general elections being in progress. Brief cables of the protest made by the Premier of New South Wales have, however, been received, and, immediately,, the following was communicated by Mr. W. P. Reeves to Reuter's agency.. Possibly it may have been cabled to New Zealand; still, possibly, it ♦.'lay not. I therefore append it. ™ Mr. Reeves'• communication ran as follows :—" In the telegram from Australia mentioning a protest made by Sir William Lyne, Premier of New South Wales, against the annexation of the Cook Archipelago to New Zealand, Sir William is reported to have said that the greater part of the trade of the Cook Islands is done with New South Wales. This is curiously contrary to fact. Official figures show that nearly three*-fourths of the import trade, and thirteen-fourteenths of the exports are done with New Zealand, and nearly the whole of the remainder with the French possessions in the Pacific. It may also be pointed out: (1) THat the inhabitants of the Cook Group, who, after all, have the first claim to consideration, desire union with New Zealand; (2) that New Zealand has paid the salary of the British Resident in the group for the last 10 years, and that the successive Residents have been New Zealanders; (3) that the assumption of Sir William Lyne that New Zealand will frame a tariff likely to exclude Australian trade from the islands is answered by the notorious fact that for years past New Zealand has been ready and anxious to enter into reciprocal trade relations with Australia."

The St. James' Gazette says: — Even the most self-governing of self-governing colonies cannot be allowed to annex unappropriated parts of the earth without the concurrence of the Mother Country. It is obvious, if this were not so, that the Empire might become embroiled with other Powers over Questions which the Imperial Government had never had the opportunity of considering. When, therefore, we hear of New Zealand's proposal to annex Fiji and the Cook Islands, it can only mean that the colony wants the Home Government to annex these islands, and incorporate them with New Zealand. It appears that New South Wales objects to such a proceeding. New South Wales has considerable trade with the islands, and does not favourably view the prospect of a tariff being imposed by New Zealand in her own interest. We hope the difficulty will be solved by New Zealand joining the new Australasian Federation. The Premier is taking the first step in that direction by the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the advisableness of doing so." "The Long White Cloud, as the Maoris call New Zealand, has spread itself over the Cook Islands, and at no distant date will cover the Fiji Group also," says the Spectator, which continues: —"It is nearly half-a-century since Sir George Grey first advocated the annexation of the Cook Islands, and it is surprising, not that New Zealand has now assumed responsibility of their administration, but that the step was'not token long ago. The expansion of New Zealand is a highly suggestive theme. It shows that the colonies are as olive to their own larger interests as is the Mother Country in other directions. Though the absorption of the Cook Islands is not so serious a step as was taken by Queensland in 1883, in New Guinea, when Germany sought to acquire the whole of the island not in Dutch hands, it will have the effect of enlarging the responsibilities of the Colonial Government, and of preventing any possibility of misunderstanding as to the status of the islands in the future. That they were already British was amply proved by the authority exercised by the Resident at Rarotonga, What sort of Government will be theirs in future we are not told. Fiji would be admitted to the New Zealand hegemony on representative principles, but the Cook Islands will, it is understood, be governed as a dependency. In that event Great Britain, the Mother Country of New Zealand, must, we suppose, regard herself as a sort of grandmother."

Of course, Mr. A. J. Wilson must have a say in the matter. In the Investors' Review, he deals with New Zealand's policy and defence schemes, and concludes with the foliowing tail-sting : —"A new loan in London would suitably bring the first act to a close."