THE SAMOAN CONVENTION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9938, 15 January 1900, Page 2

THE SAMOAN CONVENTION.

Thk Hon. Mr Scddon's outspoken utterance with respect to the Sainoan Convention has bee:i attracting attention at Home. It will bo remembered that the Premier expressed the opinion that the agreement was inimical to the interests of Australia and New Zealand, although the Australasian Premiers probably deemed it advisable to keep their mouths shut at tho present juncture and make the best of a bad bargain. The London ctriespondent o£ the Dnnedm Star, referring to tlie agreement, says: — I am glad to see Mr Seddon has had the courage to speak out plainly, and to protest against the Imperial Government's treatment of the Pacific question. Thpir attitude always has been (for the last half-century), irom the time that the authorities at Downing street scofrpd at (frpy's project of a, Fcdciation of tho Sr i W.mrte mirier the British flag, uit la f r in «!pii t'.tcy disavowed Qut-^'i -' mil's .uinp\.!Uio)i of New Guinea, up to tho latest cession — one' of ignorant

indifference Warnings, prayers, and protests from tho Australasian colonies have all been alike , disregarded. Sir George Grey's despatch of 1853j protenting against the occupation by France of New Caledonia — an island so situated that it commands the trade routes from Australia to Great Britain nnd from Now Zealand to India, and enables its occupants to harass British trade — was unheeded. We only annexed the remainder of New Guinea when Germany was at the gate of Australia. We reward men who, like Sir George Grey and Sir William Macgregor, have striven to make tho islands of the Pacific a brilliant constellation by practically "sacking" tho one and exiling tho other to tho unhcalthicst part of tho Empire. In fact Downing Street knows little about the Pacific islands and care 3 less.. The Foreign Office values tlio isles of tho South Sea as convenient for purposes of cession, nothing more. Germany or Fianco wants appeasing and keeping friendly at a crisis. "What can we give her?" says the Foreign Secretary, glancing at tho map. "We appear to possess somo coral reefs, with a few cannibals on them, dotted about the Pacific , give her a couplo of those — they will sniisfy her cravings for a colonial empire, .md wo shall not miss them." So ■ iff fjoes another island for a feversirnkon swaitip iv W est Africa.