OUR PREMIER IN SYDNEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 15

OUR PREMIER IN SYDNEY.

SYDNEY, April 22. Mr Se-ddon, in the course of an interview, implied that he could not reconcile Australia's position in regard to Fiji with her settled policy of a white Australia. New Zealand having the Maoris to deal with, had no need to talk of a white New Zealand. Mr Barton, replying through the press, did not think that Mr Seddon's contention affected the marrow of the question. New Zealand has the Maoris as Australia has her aboriginals. The Sydney Morning Herald, commenting on Mr Seddon's preferential scheme, says that two main reasons against any general adhesion to the movement suggest themselves : First, it has been opposed to the Imperial policy throughout to grant such concessions ; second, the Federal policy of the Commonwealth and of New Zealand is antagonistic to the mother country, and therefore neither has any claim to concessions. The Daily Telegraph, referring to Mr Seddon on Fiji, says that as far as the Pacific Islands are concerned both the difficulty and the conditions are the same in £taw -ftealajicl &a ia Austral if..

That there is a problem involved ia the future relations between the coloured peoples in tlie Pacific and the white peoples, who apparently must absorb them for governmental purposes, would be useless to deny. A scheme will have to be devised to keep the coloured people and, to an extent, their products apart from white settled communities, and at the same time preserve the confidence of the natives.