A.—3
18
Part I. Despatches from the G-overnor.
the excellent harbour of Pango-Pango as a naval station, which the chiefs had previously offered to Her Majesty's Government, an event which can hardly be regarded otherwise than as a misfortune by this community. 12. In the scheme with which I am desirous of fully acquainting your Lordship, there is undoubtedly concerned the same motives which have constantly actuated the people and Government of this Colony, and which perhaps are characteristic of the nation to which they belong. It is not surprising that the spirit which has so widely extended the British Colonies, which has led our fellow countrymen to settle upon many shores, and now, as in North America, to bind distant settlements together in a -strong and united dominion, should be displayed by those who have planted so deeply in this hemisphere the roots of British power. 13. In the great British Colonies of North America, commercial undertakings have not bsen free from political features ; and in the material assistance which the mother country has afforded, by means of the Imperial guarantee, to the intercolonial railways, their political and strategic importance have been expressly recognized in Parliament. If, in the scheme now in question, similar considerations are contingent, it may not be improper to remark that any Imperial liabilities which may be anticipated are only such as are involved by the extension of British commerce, which ever entails possible claims upon the protection of the Imperial forces ; but that to discourage such extension upon that account, would imply disapproval of those national tendencies which have contributed so largely to the national power. 14. I would beg leave to remark, also, that for the development of these Colonies spontaneous growth cannot be relied upon. Such colonies, at least in their early stages, as leave their supply of labour, their public works, their commercial undertakings, to follow naturally the demand, are stagnant or slow in their rise; while those which stimulate their own progress by energetic if well-devised measures, advance by rapid strides. In one sense, much of the present prosperity of New Zealand is artificial. It has been found, for example, that active agencies and liberal inducements are required to divert the stream of emigration from seeking the nearer shores of America ; the means of internal communications are only constructed by the direct agency of Government, or by its guarantee of profit to contractors. Shipping companies must often be promoted and submarine telegraphic companies subsidized. The assistance or encouragement of a trading and shipping company in the Pacific by the Colonial Government, is only thus a fresh extension of a system under which the progress of the Colony is already rapid. 15. In the hope that in the measure in which the present scheme will be embodied, notwithstanding the avowed aspirations with which it is supported, there may be no provisions which will render it my duty to reserve it, I nevertheless desire to make your Lordship fully acquainted with its history and scope, having regard to its possible bearing upon the policy of Her Majesty's Government with reference to other kindred and pending questions, at such an early period that I may receive any directions which you may desire to give before the Bill has arrived at the stage at which my decision will be required. I do not anticipate the commencement of the Parliamentary Session before the beginning of July. I have, &c, James Fekgusson, The Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. Governor.
No. 6. (No. 27.) Government House, Auckland, My Lord,— New Zealand, 13th April, 1874. I have the honor to transmit copies of a Memorandum which has been addressed to me by the Premier on the part of the Ministry, with a request that I would transmit it to your Lordship. 2. I have so fully explained to your Lordship's predecessor my sense of the earnest desire of the people of this Colony to see British government extended in the South Pacific, where European settlement has spread, that it is unnecessary for me to do more than assure your Lordship that in my belief my Advisers are justified in reckoning on the support of the Assembly in the proposition which they make. 3. I do not understand Ministers to recommend or advocate the constitutional union of Fiji with New Zealand. The dissimilar circumstances of the two communities, the one possessing a large and growing predominance of the Europeans, and the other of the colonial race, seem to me to render the idea of a collective Parliament out of the question. It is, then, to the personal government of the Governor of New Zealand, assisted by his Responsible Advisers, perhaps, as Councillors, that the charge of the local government of Fiji, whatever it might be, would be committed. I think that I can offer no remarks upon this proposal that would be of service to Her Majesty's Government. They are well aware that the British people of New Zealand possess a large experience of a similar race to those which inhabit the Fiji and neighbouring groups, and that whatever failures may have occurred in the early stages of the Colony, the management of Native affairs is now prudent and successful. 4. In the event of Her Majesty's Government undertaking the sovereignty of or protectorate of Fiji, and preferring to place the Lieutenant-Governor, Agent, or Resident, under the govern-
No. 6, page 10.