The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBFR 3, 1900.

Waikato Argus, Volume IX, Issue 770, 3 October 1900, Page 2

The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBFR 3, 1900.

The annexation of the Cook Islands to New Zealand is a new departure which must meet with the approval of the people of New Zealand and the Empire. ' The motion by Mr Seddon, authorising the step, was the result of concerted action with the Imperial Government. Had Mr Seddon announced that the matter had been fully discussed and settled there would not have been the small number of adverse votes recorded against the motion. It was necessary that there, should be this reticence in order to avoid the risk of any other Power anticipating theaction of Great Britain and being beforehand with her flag. The acquisition of territory implies additional responsibilities, the people of New Zealand will now be responsible for the well-being of the natives whom we have taken under our wing and one of the means to the promotion of their welfare will be to utilise to the utmost the natural resources of the islands, and by endeavouring as far as practicable to prevent the spread of European vices. The country cannot be developed by European labour, the climate forbids this, the white population, therefore, which will settle on the islands, will be confined to those engaged in commercial pursuit?, supplemented by those who will direct the native or imported labour. The annexation of the islands by Great Britain, with New Zealand as the intermediary, must be taken as indicative that the native population will receive humane and fair treatment. Such rights will be conserved to them, as it is consistent with the general welfare that they should enjoy. As the land cannot be cultivated by Europeans, there will be no thirst for the acquisition of the freehold. It is to be hoped, therefore, that in the absence of this plea of expediency the land will not be allowed to alienate from the Crown, but will remain a continual source of revenue, the first charge upon which to be the sum necessary to deal justly with the present owners and their descendants, At the present time the revenue of the Cook Islands is not considerable. A paper laid on the table of the House gives the estimated revenue for the year 1900-1901 as £3IBO 18s. This is made up as follows :—Surplus from the year ending June, 1900, £976 18s ; Customs duties, £1500; post-oilice, £3OO ; shipping fees, £2O ; trade licenses, £200; liquor clues, £200; High Court fees and fines, £7O; Arikis' Courts, £180; and rents, £4O. The expenditure is put down at £2724. The situation was very tritely depicted by the Premier in the peroration of his ppeech, with which he closed the debate on his motion :

" We were, ho said, about to enter upon a new century ; the Australians had banded themselves together in a great Commonwealth, and there was a splendid future before New Zealand. If, after die advances they had made in progressive legislation and other directions, they were to stand still in the face of the opportunities that were offering the present Parliament would not represent the people of the colony. They had the opportunity, the Imperial authorities were with them, and the natives favoured the propoeal. Such being the case, they ought not to hesitate, and by pausing the resolution they would make a step in advance for die good of the Empire and on behalf of the flag that ever floated over the free and the just."

After the proceedings in Parliament the members met together at a, banquet, which was, of course followed by speeches. The Premier

then took the opportunity to explain that the whole business was cut and dried, and that now that Parliament had passed his resolution, the Governor, under instructions from the Imperial Government, would immediately proceed in H.M.S. Mildura to formally annex the islands.

As was only natural on such an occasion, allusion was made to the late Sir George Grey, one of whose greatest conceptions was the annexation of all the islands in the Pacific, a step which could easily have been taken fifty years back without exciting any great jealousy on the part of other Powers. He was, however, in spite of all his eloquence and all his reasoning powers unable to convince any of the Imperial Governments to whom he appealed that the possession of Australia and New Zealand was indicative of supremacy in the Pacific, and that if this was to be so without any possibility of dispute, other Powers must be prevented from acquiring territory which might be used as a base from which to harass the trade or threaten the independence of the Anglo-Saxon race in the Pacific. British statesmen were not sufficiently far-seeing to recognise that a great nation was born in Australasia, and that it was necessary to make every possible preparation to encourage its growth, or at any rate to secure that it should not be checked.