15

A.—3

timely action may be secured to them. It would occasion a profound disappointment to the people of this Colony were the present opportunity to be lost, and, in spite of the preference manifested in our favour by the inhabitants, were a port of great commercial, and possibly of great political, importance, which so greatly concerns their interests, to fall into the hands of a foreign Power. I have, &c, James Fergusson, The Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. Governor.

Paetl. Despatches from the G-overnor.

No. 4 (No. 82.) Government House, Auckland, New Zealand, My Lord,— 22nd October, 1873. On the eve of my departure from Wellington, on a short visit to this Province, the Premier, the Hon. Mr. Vogel, called upon me and placed in my hands a Ministerial Memorandum on the subject of the Navigator Islands, in which your Lordship is well aware a considerable interest has for some years past been felt in this Colony, and with reference to which, at the request of my Advisers, I addressed you in my Despatch No. 65, 1873, upon the Ist August. I think it right, on this occasion, to transmit the Ministerial Memorandum. 2. Your Lordship will doubtless expect that in so doing I shall make some observations upon its subject-matter, and I trust that I shall not thereby appear to obtrude an opinion upon a question which does not naturally fall within the sphere of my duty. It is unnecessary to say I should in no case engage in, still less encourage, an agitation among the inhabitants of a Colony under my government, having for its object to influence or hamper the policy of Her Majesty's Government in any particular. 3. But the future regulation or government of the Pacific has for many years past engaged the lively interest of the Australian Colonies, and the difficulties which have lately increased in relation to the Fiji group, combined with the rumours of the interference of other Powers in the affairs of other groups, have aroused anxiety, if not impatience, as to the future bearing of their condition upon the interests of our growing communities. 4. The concern of those communities in the future of the Pacific is founded both on general and special grounds. The former they share with a large portion of the British nation, but in an increased degree, on account of their closer and personal interest, and of the part which they have themselves taken in the extension of the British sovereignty. Having themselves added important branches to the British Empire, they wish to see the valuable territory in their own neighbourhood brought under the government of the Crown; and they feel dissatisfaction, if not disgust, that lawless actions disgraceful to their nation should be committed, for the most part by their fellow-subjects, for want of the extension of that authority which they think should follow them wherever they go. 5. They regard, too, with aversion the acquisition by foreign nations, whom in modern times we have preceded and far outstripped in this hemisphere, of islands and groups of islands whose trade is already valuable and is capable of great expansion, and whose people have evinced a preference for our government or a desire for our protection. They know how generally commerce has followed the flag; and looking to the future, they contemplate with discontent the loss of that advantage which might have been expected to follow the extension of British government and the consequent investment of British capital throughout the Southern Pacific. 6. But there is also an apprehension of the danger to their interests by the possession by any great Power other than England, of the great natural harbours which might be made naval stations in case of the interruption of the peace of Europe, a danger which arises out of that connection with England which they are so desirous to maintain. 7. My Advisers feel that none of the Australasian Colonies are more concerned in these matters than New Zealand, whose nearer position to the Fiji, Samoan, and Friendly groups render them more valuable to her trade, and more dangerous to her should they fall into the hands of a foreign and possibly an unfriendly Power. 8. In view of the disinclination hitherto manifested by Her Majesty's Government to undertake responsibility with regard to them, they have sought permission to enter into arrangements with the native chiefs which may tend to secure their good will and prevent the alienation of their land. This has been proposed rather as an expedient than as an equivalent for the far more effectual influence at the disposal of the Imperial Government. 9. The imminent risk of a collision between a portion of the European settlers in Fiji and the de facto Government, which is only averted by the anomalous interference of Her Majesty's ships, renders it probable to my Advisers that Her Majesty's Government will not be able much longer to abstain from a more decided step, amounting to government in some form, and they are very anxious that the opportunity should not be absolutely lost, of taking advantage of the desire for European protection which has for some years been expressed by the chiefs of the Samoan group. Mr. Williams, Her Majesty's Consul at Apia, has lately visited Auckland on his way to Sydney on account of a very serious bodily affliction, and he has reported that the

No. 4, page 4. No. 3, page 14.