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in consequence of these representations possession was assumed ; that the colonies arc particularly, interested in such possession being taken; that they have ample revenues ; that, as soon as annexation was effected, a trilling contribution to the revenue of Fiji was asked from them, as much with the view of testing their feelings as from the necessity of such contribution ; that the contribution was refused on various grounds ; that the Imperial Government were left to bear alone the consequence of complying with the advice of the colonies ; and that, to avoid any similar misconception, it will be better, in future, for the colonies to recognize the principle that certain responsibilities attach to the advice they render. It is not unnatural that the Secretary of State should see the subject in this light. He finds tho Imperial Government threatened with a deficiency on account of Her Majesty having accepted the possession of Fiji, that possession having been taken at the instance of the colonies; and when he turns to them for aid, the specific request he makes meets with refusal. But the Premier wishes to say a few words on the colonial view of the case, to show that at any rate the colonies have not been actuated by an illiberal desire to evade responsibilities they conceived to be just. He believes that underlying the replies of all the colonies there have been these two feelings—First, that the mother country was drifting into an entirely new colonial, or rather anticolonial, policy ; that in times past she did not hesitate to incur colonial expenditure; that assuming possession of Fiji was analogous to many previous cases ; that to ask contributions from the colonies was a novel proceeding, connected only with the presumed policy of casting the colonies adrift; and that to acquiesce in it would argue an acceptance by the colonies of the new position it was desired to assign to them. Second, that there was an anomaly in contributing to the cost of a Government in which no control was to be permitted to the contributors. The Premier is glad to hope that the policy of disintegrating the Empire is less actively pursued. The Conservatives never supported it, and an important section of the Liberals appears to have abandoned it —as witness the remarkable speech on the colonies delivered a few months since by the Eight Honorable Mr. Forster. But it is not to be supposed that the soreness which for several years had grown up in the colonies, at the idea that they were regarded as burdens on, rather than as valuable parts of, the Empire, should die away in a day. Lord Carnarvon's proposal was not altogether viewed in the spirit in which it was made. Besides, it is much better that prospective rather than retrospective arrangements should be made. It is not the business of Governments to be liberal; on the contrary, they have to consider it, as a rule, highly inexpedient to indulge in any expenditure that can with honor be avoided. The Imperial Government having annexed Fiji, made it more difficult to entertain the question of contributions than would have been the case had the Colonial Governments been told that agreement to make such contributions would be considered necessary before Her Majesty would be advised to annex those islands. The case now to be considered is that of prospective contribution as a consequence of advising further annexation. The question is one of great interest to New Zealand, because this colony is no doubt much concerned in the annexation of the Navigator Islands. It is a new feature for a colony by pecuniary contributions to aid the mother country to enlarge the colonial possessions. The Secretary of State gives no analogous instance, excepting one of a joint contribution to a harbour of refuge at Somerset. Humanitarian rather than commercial reasons led to this arrangement, and it is very little in point. But a great deal of weight may be attached to the view, that the Imperial Government have the right to consider advice volunteered by the colonies, unsupported by any assistance, as, to say the least, not much entitled to consideration if it be made on the ground only of Imperial concern. On the ground of the interests of the whole Empire, a request to extend the colonial possessions made by 300,000 people in New Zealand, is entitled to no more weight than a similar request from 300,000 British subjects in a British town. To them, the answer would be, " "Why do you want to cast an additional cost on the country ? Our colonial possessions are sufficiently large." But the request from New Zealand would really not mean advice volunteered in the general interests only of the Empire : it would mean that it was volunteered, also, in the special interest of the portion of the Empire making the request. And here another fact obtrudes itself. The English Government, before Fiji was annexed, had commenced a crusade against labour traffic amongst the islands. Nothing could have been more satisfactory than this determination to stamp out a system of slavery ; but the feeling was very strong, that the attempt to do it would be comparatively futile until the Government acquired a more substantial right to protect the islanders than they possessed. Whilst they did not hold, and were not directly interested in ruling, a single island between Sydney and San Francisco, their efforts were regarded as spasmodic and temporary, and had the effect of rather stimulating the labour trade, by making it more profitable. It is impossible to overstate the moral effects of annexing Fiji; but before the annexation, the colonies felt that their own interest in its annexation was trifling as compared with the interest which the mother country had in it, in aid of the determination to repress South Sea slavery. The Premier, when he despaired of anything like a comprehensive South Sea Islands policy being pursued by the Imperial Government, proposed that New Zealand should take the task in hand by means of a chartered Company. It is his duty to admit that there is no longer need of New Zealand volunteering in this way; for he recognizes that, as far as the Empire is concerned, the steps being taken are in a wise and excellent direction. Not only has Fiji been annexed, but, by an Act of last year, Her Majesty, without possession, has asserted in a novel form a right of exercising considerable authority in those of the islands which do not possess civilized Governments. Sir Arthur Gordon, the High Commissioner appointed under the provisions of "Tho Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1875," is certainly not likely to undervalue the responsibilities of the powerful position assigned to him. Under these circumstances, it seems to the Premier reasonable that any recommendations for further annexation which New Zealand makes should, unless those recommendations are wholly free from considerations specially affecting itself, be accompanied by a statement of the pecuniary aid it is prepared to render. No doubt such pecuniary aid would be very peculiar ; but the recommendations would also be peculiar, for they would be made in New Zealand interests. It is unquestionably important to New 2—A. la.