PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2728, 27 June 1906, Page 84

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

THE PASSING OF AN EMPIRE BUILDER.

There is no doubt that, in the future, ..when there is written the history of the British Empire^ during the close of the nineteenth century and iho beginning •of the twentieth the name of the Bight Hon. R. J. JSeddon, P.0., "wi1l be inscribed on the Roll of Honour. His position as a statesman we can hardly measure at present, for we cannot see history in perspective, so cannot give his work its true value. Many, too, are not willing to concede that £he legislation was' beneficial; but hardly anyone, I imagine, is included to dispute the statement that he was "one .of our Empire builders. • „ I have just finished reading a volume on the River Nile, and I have made notes on it for two or three historical and geographical chate which I shall give you iiaiuediately. Well, in that book ' one. facw-stands out- — that Salisbury, when he Insisted that France should haul down the" Tricolor at Fashoda, and in the Bahr el Ghazal, the Punjaub of the Egyptian Soudan, was truly an Empire builder, just as Gladstone, in his scuttling from • the .Soudan and the Transvaal, was an Empire breaker. And by such scuttling the British Empire has been the losers the wide world over. About 20 years ago the Queensland Government annexed the whole of New Guinea not claimed by Holland": but the Home Government ropudiated the action of the colony most interested in the welfare of the island. I Germany stepped in then, and the future ' will show with what harmful results. . About 1888 — my dates are probably hazy — the late Sir Julius Vogel had the fires of the Hinemoa banked, and a foil head of steam, awaiting permission to annex Samoa, but the permit did not come. In 1889 there was witnessed the spectacle of British, American, and German warships in Apia harbour, as the outcome of political intrigue and Britain's want of statesmanship. Most of us old enough remember that year, and the Coalbrookdale • Coal Company especially so. for didn't the "Calliope (Captain I£ane), steam out in the teeth of a terrific hurricane, while all the others were hurled upoi* the coraLjtofcfe ? And, always to be remembered, didn't the Sambans on that day " rescue their white enemies, the Germans? | Ten years alter we hoisted the flag of surrender, and the Germans and the Americans divided the islands between them. The Hawaiian Islands, too, were ours for the taking, and that when no uld b -nd N It would

one woi

aye sai_ i>ay.

appear, too, that we are in danger of losing the New Hebrides.

But this you say has nothing to'do with the late Right Hon. R. J. Seddon, P.C. As a looking backward and forward it has. Without doubt, had our late Premier been in power say 10 years earlier, there would probably have been protests as emphatic as he made within a few days of his death. In 1902 he was certainly one of the most commanding figures at the conference in London, consisting of colonial Premiers and representatives of the British Government; and I was looking forward to his work on the conference to be held next year. But it was not to be.

The part he took, as a citizen of Greater Britain, in forwarding the interests of the Empire during the Boer war is still very clear in our minds, and about the same time, probably through his representations, a number of islands in the South Seas were brought under the British flag. The latest instance of I his Imperialism as opposed to Little Englandism was his outspoken remarks on the New Hebrides, just before he left Melbourne. As I have not seen this speech in print here, I append a portion ', of it : — j Mr Sedclon, who was received with loud applause, said tb* New Hebrides question was one- of great moment, fraught with grdat possibilities fcr thj future. The public did: not seem to bo aliva to the fact that when the Panama Canal was opened the whole position regarding Britain's command of the routes of commerce might be changed. When New Zealand wanted to control the Cook Islands the British Government thought so little of it that they would only appoint a British egent in the group on the condition that New Zealand paid hia salary, and the Cook Islands became part of New Zealand. 'Downing street" could not now give them away to any foreign power.— {"Hear, hear," and laughter.) They also desired to annex Samoa, and although ih© native chiefs of the people desired that it should be done, a despatch oaine from. Downing street preventing it._ A joint protectorate wa9 subsequently established between Britain, America, and G-ermany. Where was Britain now? Goce. Germany and America had the islands. When he was proceeding to London in 1897, ha had an interview with the authorities at, Hawaii. They were agreeable to a British and Amerioan protectorate being established over the islands, and he was asked to tepres«nt this to the American and British Governments. He saw the late President M'Kinky, and the latter said, "Monroe doctrine or not, the Hawaii Islands ars to be American, and that before long. ... I am looking to the future of the Pacific Islands. Nothing will be done without full consideration." Mr Seddon went to London, and when he told the Imperial authorities of the intentions of America, he was l&ughied at, aud told that the thing was impossible. He impressed on them tho importance of the subject to Australasia, but despite all his protests, the British Government did nothing. Two years afterwards the Hawaiian Islands were American, and the British were excluded from tho trade. Some time ago there was an agitation for the annexation of Fiji and Tonga by New Zealand. 'So far^as Fiji was concerned, the subject was inorely broached. It ,did not trouble him whether it was annexed io .Australia or New Zealand, but he wanted to makesute that it did net go to a foreign power. — ("Hear, hear.") And they were never certain what they Would do ia Doicning street. — (Laughter.) Regarding Tonga, there was some danger of it going to a foreigu power. At first there wa-s no intention to annex tho place, but it gradually grew, and colorfies became established, and then the final step came. Well. Tonga had now become a British protectorate, and Australia and New Zealand would be happier still if it were placed beyond the reach of Downing, street altogether. Regarding the New Hebrides, what was the cause of the trouble? The supineness of the British Government. He stood theie with grave responsibilities on his shoulders, and he would say thajt he was getting tired of despatches on the question being always marked confidential. What reason was .there for all this secrecy? — ("Hear, hear.") He stood before them practically with his hands tied. In 1903, when the New Hebrides question was very acute, he had sent the following oaolegram to tho Imperial authorities: — "That, bearing 1 in mind the joint control in Samoa ultimately resulted in the abandonment of 'British interests in these islands, the New Zealand Government objects to the joint French protectorate over the New Hebrides, and trusts that strenuous efforts will be made by the British authorities to so arrange that the French cede their interests, and that the New Hebrides become solely British." That is the speech of a statesman, a . man who had looked into the future, and wished the Mother Country to learn by the mistakes of the past. Will she do it ? I ani just afraid that the present Ministry hasn't a wide enough outlook, and trusts too much to the friendship of nations who aro waging a deadly industrial war, and, in one case at anyrate, who will have no compunctions in using armaments by land and sea to accomplish its purpose, if we are fools enough to give the opportunity. We want more Seddons in the Council of the Nation. I