FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 10

FIFTY YEARS AGO

RIVALRY IN PACIFIC is; That there was a considerable amount of interest and rivalry concerning the -Pacific among certain European Powers fifty years ago is shown by the folio »v----ing extract from the Nkw Zkaland Hkiiald of August 29, 1887: — "It certainly cannot be said that the Imperial Government appear to advantage in their negotiations for the settlement <3f the New Hebrides question. There is an impression growing in the mind of thp British public that the Government mean to disregard the protests ,of the Australasian colonies ngainst the French occupation of these islands. Speaking in the House of Commons', the Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Sir James Fergusson, seemed to regard military occupation of the group by France as an occasion of fear and doubt, but yet declared that England had no right to object to the French colonisation of the islands. That French subjects may go and settle in these islands if they are so minded is quite true, just as it is true of any British subjects. The question is, has I*ranee a. right to locate her troops in •New Hebrides, iii the face of an agree- , rnent: with Great Britain to observe their neutrality V