RECONSTRUCTION IN THE PACIFIC.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17631, 22 May 1919, Page 6

RECONSTRUCTION IN THE PACIFIC.

. PROBLEMS FOR THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE. DALLYUSiG DOWNING STREET. RJSVIHWTNG THE PAST. (From Oujb Own CoimssroNDmiT.) LONDON, March 27. Taking as'his subject "Problems of Keeoiistiuction in tho Pacific," Mr Guy H. Scholclield, 8.ij0., told liis audience, at a meeting of tho Royal Colonial Institute, that when the great war broke out the British system iu the Paciiip was a strange congeries of units—Fiji was a Crown colony of tho orthodox type, wtu a partially elective council; longa was a protectorate- loosely controlled by the High, Commissioner; ttie Cook lsuuids wore a dependency ol iNew Zealand; Uilourt and Jiuiee in tUe north and tiio iSoloinons iar to the west were controlled by resident Couimissioners responsible to a Higu Oonirmssioner whom, tliey rarely it ever saw; iu the .New Hebrides the fiction of a native sovereignty was not yet dead, and the British and i'rencli residents lived under separate codes and separate administrations, tile British Coromissiouea - being responsible, to tne High Comirussioned at Fiji, wliom he also rarely saw, " it is unfortunate," remarked Mr Scholefield, •' that lor more than 30 years, with a few bright intervals, the views of the Colonial Omce and of these dominions have been so often diametrically opposed." Dealing- with the annexation of the whole of non-Dutch Now Guinea by Queensalnd in 1883, alter a decade of agitation, tho lecturer referred to the stubbornness of Lord Derby and Lord Granville, the latter readily giving an undertaking to the German Ambassador in London that England would not raise any obstacle to the German settlement. Many months elapsed before these conversations were disclosed, and meanwhile Lord Derby TCpeatedly assured the colonies that their wishes would have consideration. '" Finally, information reached Australia from Germany that Great Britain had surrendered to Bismarck more than half of New Guinea, and it transpired that in almost the first conversation on the subject Lord Granvillo had given an undertaking directly antagonistic to the wishes of Australia, tlie basis of whose annoyance was that the whole of the negotiations were carried through behind her back. Over and over again, the chiefs of Samoa —tho closest kin of the Maori—petitioned to be annexed to New Zealand, but the offer was always declined, with the result that in 1880 a tripartite arrangement was inaugurated which, "with the best will in the world, brought nothing but misery and intrigue to the unhappy Samoans." In 1899, when all the colonies, in an outburst of patriotism, were sending contingents to South Africa, Lord Salisbury signed tho Samoa convention surrendering all British rights in U-polu and Savaii to Germany. " Tho bargain in itself was not a bad one. From a purely material point of view it was a distinctly good oce. But the moral surrender was damaging to British prestige in the Pacifio, and more damaging to Imperial relations, which had improved a good deal under the vigorous and sympathetic administration of the Colonial Office by Mr Chamberlain. The grievance was that th® colony most directly interested was not consulted or informed in any way of what was beine done." ft A DUAL GRIEVANCE. Again in 1905, much the same thing happened. Australia and New Zealand had shown constant and unabated interest in tho future of the New Hebrides since 1878 and they submitted their views to tho Imperial Government as to what should be done, and they were told that a few French and British officials were to meet to discuss the single matter of lapd claims. It was not until April, 1906, that Lord Elgin communicated with them, submitting for approval the whole elaborate scheme of a condominium. "The unimportant discussion on land claims had been widened to cover the whole political system of the group, and the thing had been carried through without either of the two interested colonies being informed. Both dominions I had previously expressed themselves strongly against dual control. Referring to the incident at tho ensuing ImF'tw J?° nf T nC , e Mr Dsak'n protested that there should be no pretence that any respect was paid, or sought to be paid, to the opinion of Australia, or any reco<mition gxven to us in a very serious matter on which we certainly were entitled to be coneulSed, or at least informed, at everv stop." y Scholefied, "that Australia and New Zealand at large have formed their opinion of tjolonial Office government. We all hope there js no longer g-rounds for holding such opinions. But a great deal still has to be done the Pacifio domain of the British Empire can be considered satisfactory, rhe development of the islands, their Communications, their organisations for defence—, if that unfortunately should be necessary —cannot possibly be left a train to chance as in the haphazard past-

WHITE MEN AND NATIVES IN HARMONY.

( It was the vrew of the lecturer that the economio policy of our Pacific administration also required a new bent. We had sat babk far too long on the old missionary conviction that the interests of the natives and those of the whitas are necessarily separate and antagonistic. "Could the Maori ever have made the progress he has made if white settlers and farmers and pastorahsts had been prevented from taking up. land m his midst and aeording him the assistance of employment and example? In consequence of the unselfishness of British rule in Fiji, after more than 40 years of our government, only about one-soventh of the. land had been alienated from th© native owners."

The interests of the Pacific natives today urgently require that they should be come a factor m the economio development of their own knds, that their education should cea-so to bo merely literal and' become practical and that they should gradually be absorbed into industrial callings either for white masters or for themselvV Chtr measuros for the protection of tho" native have tended to withdraw him alt£ gether from the labour market, which is open to the Wl planter, and conversely have the planter for lack of labour. In Pm we have vigorous indusn T fc r *? ™ the labour of 50,000 Hindus who have beep imported and have teooin.e indigenous, whilHnore than that number of natives live the old fe and aro being pushed back knds aWbmjr their aTailable

NEED OF A NEW POLICY The lecturer came to tho conclusion that some new and definite policy toll to be promoted to induce the natives to ente? industrial life. "There is a germ of 7Z?\ value in the method devised by Sir Arthur Gordon-and so angrily ; condemned by Dilke-for inducing the Fijians to work by making them pay taxes in kind. But any Buch scheme on a large scale must faU unless it is preceded or accompanied by' a land policy which, while providing all the necessary safeguards against pauperising the natives or creating monopolists will en courage the white enterpriser to the development of the islands" Hope was expressed that the Colonial S& ™.' ld . depart, from its truolS policy and give active encouragement to the teaching of the English policy that- had been imposed by S Ifench and Germans-and a colonising nfee 3 well olaim the privilege of imposing its anguage on the natives. Even in Fiji the teaching of English is not general. The Melanesian missioners and the great bulk of the natives have to learn the Mota bngu*ge as a medium of : for teaching EnglSi straight out instead of Mota seeie dHhe BErongor,

REGIONS UNYISITED. As originally designed, the High Commk B.on of the Western Pacific had W obsolete and there were obvious "dutfcS that might be entrusted to it in the re organisation of British interests hi the Pacific Australia and New' Zealand would need to confer with representatives of the other Pacific administrations, with a vfew to devising reciprocal treatment of many f'pbiems. It was possible that a reformed High Commission, with entirely Jw fW of° n FTi? UI^ eePar ? tod K, frOm tho » I P 'a t p ™ ierM 7 based far to tho might be a useful supervising authority to assist in co-ordinating the variogatod Brit ■ah domain. It was a very grave com notary on tho importance {J of the office of the kte Commwioner (Si? Bickliam Sweet Escott) that he was n ofc able m ihe whole of hia term of si* to vmt the most important regions of Hebrides Another very active Commissioner Sir Everard im Thurn, Was ioTSto £ th ° New Hebrides untU ho had been two years in the Pacific. British" torests, particularly in the New Hebrides have undoubtedly suffered from tile want of Lt I hori^ ,reOt ° V&rSishi b7 *° »?»wil»te

FAILURE OF THE CONDOMINIUM. A matter urgently crying out for decision was the control of the New Hebrides. "Set up in deJiance of the opinion of the dominions most interested, tho condominium now existing: was admitted by Lord JSlgin to be an unprecedented institution striving to produce peace and prosperity amongst a single comnniii,l> of t< reach and English residents (Vouifh the modim of two codes ~. law udmuiistared by two executives Of course, it failed. The earlier experience ot ttimoa convinced most people in the Pacifio that anything with tho genu of dual control in it must fail. Ever sinco the understanding of 1878 Australia and Now Zeaand have cherished the hope that Franco Would withdraw from ihe group for compensation elsewhere. 'lhoro is no evidence jit all that she is willing to do so. On die contrary, unless she is prepared to abandon New Caledonia, with its valuable mekol deposits, it is only natural that she Kliould wish to retain and improve her position in the ud]accnt group. WHO IS TO HAVE CONTROL? "However much wo dislike it—and it has come about against the constant nrotesta of tho colonies,—the fact remain]; that Zither "f «° ?n - aocolded Parallel rights with Great Britain in the New Hebrides just as Germany and the United States had in bamoa. Wo can only make the best of it and come to, the best possible understanding for a peaceful and prosperous future., All agree that it is only by a unitary system of law and administration that satisfaction can be given. Is not the New Hebrides an ideal case for the application of the mandatory system? Once more we ore up a-ainst tho problem: Who is to have control? We believe that Britain s record gives her the best claim lZ jf o ™* l "" B4 - But woul d Franco accept that? If not, we are back again face to taco with the solution which New Zealand pressed so strongly 15 years ago—a definite partition. That would not be easy, but it would bo possible with the goodwill that now exists between the two nations. Tho problem must be solved in the immediate future."

In tho discussion which followed Sir Eyerard-im-Thurn, Sir G. R. Le Hunt. Sir Uilbert Parker, and Major Horsfall, A.I F took part.

Sir William Macgresor, who was in the chair, discussing the different methods i of British and German administrators, said that whereas in German colonies they punished the natiyes by cutting down their cocoanut trees, in Papua he inflicted punishment by ordering the delinquents to plant cocoanut trees. He had, right from the beginning, regarded N&w Guinea as coming within tho orbit of Australia, and thought it .v,is quite right that Australia should control New Guinea and New Zealand Samoa. J. here was no doubt at all that New Zealand had won the respect and love of the "i.-'T 3 ? islands by the manner m ™? 10 \ • administered her colonies. J-he best evidence of that was the way in much they had come forward for the war He admired verry much the sentiment which was behind the administration of both New Zealand and Australia—namely, the desire to give the natives a chance.