The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1899

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 3056, 14 September 1899, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1899

The Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times has had interviews with Captain Russell and Mr Rolleston on the subject of Australian federation and the decision which, m their opinion, New Zealand should arrive at as to becoming a member of the Commonwealth or standing aloof therefrom. We have carefully read the full reports published by our contemporary of what the two most prominent members of the Opposition said at their interviews, and we gather that neither Captain Russell nor Mr Rolleston is m favour of hastily committing the colony to a union which, if once entered into, could not be dissolved. We may say, further, that though neither of these gentlemen pronounced a definite opinion as to whether at some future time New Zealand should become a member of the Australian Commonwealth, yet. as far as we can judge, they both at present strongly incline to the belief that it will be better for the colony to remain independent. We give here what appear to us to be the principal points of Captain Russell's replies to the correspondent's enquiries. In one or two instances we set out the actual words | used, and m others we endeavour tosupply themeaning inacondensed form. We may say that we regard these utterances as of considerable importance. To the general question of whether or not it would be advisable for New Zealand to enter the Australian Commonwealth, Captain Russell said :--" I am not prepared to give an absolute and definite answer at the present time as to what ray views really are, or will be after further consideration. I am more inclined to look at the remote results of federation than the immediate benefits or injuries likely to accrue. I cannot imagine that the genius of the New Zealand people, a hundred years hence, will be at all similar to that of the people of Australia. Such being the case, it seems to me more probable that, however fair the j constitution may be, and however secure, theoretically, all our liberties may be, we should find ourselves hereafter m the position of being quite a junior partner m a very large, concern." Captain RiHdell thinks that by federation with Australia, the centre of New Zealand's trade, civilisation, and mental activity, would be transferred to another country ; either that, or a constant struggle would have to be maintained to prevent such an undesirable result. "So also," he says, " I think there would be a tendency for the distributing centres of commerce to be removed from New Zealand, and to fix themselves m Australia, because the field of operations there must necessarily be infinitely larger than it can be for a long while m New Zealand, and the trade of the federation would most likely centre itself away from this colony." He says that it is a matter of certainty that New Zealand is sufficiently large and has sufficient advantages to enable it to become powerful enough to have an individuality of its own. He believes that m the future this country will maintain a population of 15,000,000, quite sufficient, he thinks, to enable it to stand by itself m all matters of defence, trade, and government. It may be looking very far ahead, but the probabilities are that Captain Russell's estimate of New Zealand's future population is too limited. On the tariff question, -as it may affect New Zealand if she does not join the Commonwealth, Captain Russell pointed out that whatever disadvantages this colony laboured under from that cause would be shared by the whole of Polynesia, I " and whatever New Zealand lost by being shut out from Australia might be to a great extent compensated for by the island trade being driven to this country, which would not have a tariff framed with the object of excluding external trade." In speaking of the racial question, Captain Russell says : — ♦'There is always the question to be considered as to whether Northern Australia will not ultimately submit m some shape or another to a population which we should not like to see coming m large numbers to New Zealand. It must be borne m mind that almost the whole of Australia is m c.limate less temperate than any part of New Zealand, and the products of the more tropical parts

of Australia can only be worked with coloured labour of some kind or another ; so that, however much they may protest that they will never tolerate coloured labour m Australia, the question will ultimately have to be faced of practically abandoning the cultivation of all tropical Australia or of submitting to some form of coloured labour. We do not want to be federated with any country which would have to tolerate coloured labour or abandon the cultivation of the tropical part of its territory." Coming to the question of defence, Captain Russell expresses the opinion that the invasion of New Zealand is practically an impossibility, though there may be filibustering expeditions ; and he holds that the colony is quite able to organise a sufficient land defence against any expedition which is at all likely to be sent against these shores ; and that if any larger expedition were attempted, New Zealand could not reasonably hope to receive troops from Australia, which would have enough to do to defend itself. Of naval defence he says : — " The matter is an Imperial question, and will not be affected by the question of an Australasian navy. The practical difficulties m the way of creating a purely Australasian squadron are so great that the colonies must, m my opinion, rely entirely upon Imperial naval defence for the next fifty years, if not for a longer period, and we can join m any scheme of Imperial naval defence without being part of federated Australia. Individually, I should be pleased to see the contributions to the Imperial navy from New Zealand and all the other colonies more than doubled m amount, believing that our true safeguard against any invasion is our defence by sea, and not our defence by land." He thinks that efforts should be made to assimilate the laws of New Zealand as far as possible to those of Australia, which can be done without federation. He holds that there is no need of haste m corning to a decision on the federation question, because "if mutual benefits are to be derived at any time by our entering the Commonwealth, no doubt we should 'be allowed to do so on equitable terms." Finally, Captain Kussell thinks that further consideration and enquiry are necessary, and that the next Parliament should set up a Committee to go into the whole question, and that the country should be informed of the conclusions arrived at. He concludes by saying : — " It would be premature to deal with the matter this session, and I think it would be distinctly wrong to put the matter before the electors, inasmuch as, personally, I have thought as much about federation as most people, and I should be loth straight away to give an authoritative decision as to what my views are. It would certainly be a pity that the electors should be asked to express an opinion until the subject has been more thoroughly considered." In a future issue we shall refer at some length to the interview with Mr Rolleston.