FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23134, 5 September 1938, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO

VANTAGE POSTS IN PACIFIC Consternation was expressed in tho 'Kew Zfaland HKitald 50 years ago at the apparent lack of enthusiasm of the British Government to annex more colonies in the Pacific. The following is from the Hkrald of September 5, 1888:

"The annexation of the archipelagoes and scattered islands of the Pacific, which the French and German Governments have entered into with such enthusiasm, and are likely to further pursue, is justly ascribed in the English press to the cutting of the Panama Isthmus, and the prospect of tho canal being completed before long, ft ■tvns a movement to be anticipated; it would have been wonderful if it did not occur. With the enhanced commercial importance of this ocean plainly in view, the maritime and mercantile nations might be expected to rush in and occupy vantage posts in its waters, or increase the number of any tliev may already pbssess. And why should not our own nation be as active as others similarly preparing for the coming change? The fact that we have already an extensive footing in the Pacific, instead of doing away with the occasion for new vantage posts, causes a necessity - for them."