South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1884.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3488, 10 June 1884, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1884.

Not the least memorable passage in the history of the present century will be that which tells of the protest entered by the Australasian Governments against the threatened deportation of French criminals to the Pacific. That, within half a century, a number of colonial communities in the remotest part of the world should have acquired so much sense of what is due to themselves, and so much dignity and weight, as to raise their voices in solemn protest against a threatened moral scourge, and to command a respectful hearing in the Courts of the Great Powers of Europe, is surely a matter for colonial progress. The feeling in the colonies on the subject of the Becidivistes Bill has been slowly but surely growing in intensity, and the sentiment is now all but universal. The colonists have solemnly determined that they will not allow the Pacific to become a moral rubbish hole of Prance. And it is little to be wondered at. The progress of civilization in the lovely and fertile islands has been made under great disadvantages, but progress of a substantial character has been made, as the condition of many of the islands abundantly testifies. It is no fiction, but a hopeful and cheering fact, that there are on the broad expanse of Southern Pacific, islands whose population have been wholly redeemed from savagery and turned to lives of usefulness and prosperity; that the colonies and numerous philanthropic organisations have united with the British Government to regulate and control the labor traffic and to restore that confidence which the atrocities of kidnapping scoundrels had well-nigh destroyed ; that in that glorious work some of the best and noblest of men have died by the hands of unreasoning and infuriated natives—such as Bishop Patterson and Commodore Goodenough ; that the fruit of these heroic, humane, and self-denying labors is now apparent, in the reclaimed condition of savage tribes, and the better footing on which the labor traffic stands ; that the sunny waves between the clustering islands are dotted with hurrying mission boats, conveying the good news from point to point; that not only is Christian morality in numerous places fast superseding savage customs, but government founded on the European model is taking the place of the rude tribal governments—these things are, we repeat, not fiction, but fact. And into the midst of this scene of improvement a Great Power proposes to transport the scum of its population and the vilest of its criminals. No wonder the colonies protest. No wonder they look to the i parent Government to add its authoritative veto on the French proposals. The wonder is that the Imperial Government responds so perfunctorily. The indifference manifested by England to their Colonies is most, unaccountable, we see it constantly exhibited, and the most eminent and observant visitors to the colonies have one and all expressed their astonishment at it. The Earl of Rosebery, speaking recently at Dundee, referred to it, and strove to arouse some enthusiasm about the colonies in British minds. It is a difficult job, however ; the colonies seem destined to lie under a ban in the eyes of Englishmen, who appear to be blind to the mine of wealth to the Empire which they contain. Never has British apathy been more painfully exhibited than now, in connection with the Recidivist’s Bill. One or two journals touch the subject of the colonial agitation and Lord Rosbery raises his voice on our behalf. But they all talk to indifferent audiences, who seem to be very little concerned about what. the French may do in the Pacific so long as they don’t make any disturbance in the English Channel. W«cannot observe this apathy without, deep regret—for its legitimate outcome must in the end be disaster and disunion.