A.—2

4

Not only so, but we find in the Central and Western Pacific quite a number of small islands credited to the same nationality. In the same region as Maiden and Starbuck, for example, we .have Samarang, Palmyra, Walker, and Christmas Islands; north-west of the Sandwich Islands are French Frigate Island and Middle or Eastern Island ; south-east of Penrhyn Island are Flint Island, last of the Gilbert group, Howland, and Baker Islands, and others further west, all set down as belonging to the United, States. Probably the United States Government will be surprised at being credited with such extensive foreign possessions. The fact is these scattered islands are only American in the sense that their guano-deposits have been worked by American companies, and doubtless these would have had the protection of their Government had that been necessary. As the guano has in most cases been exhausted the islands are of little further use, and it is not the least likely the Government of the United States will give itself any trouble about them. It is generally regarded as a foregone conclusion that the Hawaiian group will very soon become an acknowledged, as it is now a virtual, appendage to the United States, and from any point of view this archipelago is one of the most desirable in all the Pacific. It was offered to us years ago, but we declined to have it. When it falls to the United States probably the islands and reefs to the north-west will be annexed at the same time. As to the interest of the United States in Samoa, that will never stand in the way of German annexation, though no doubt the former will insist on her right to the coalingstation which was ceded to her on Tutuila. During the last forty-six years France has been so eager to obtain empire in the Pacific that one is apt to wonder why she has succeeded in appropriating so little. Germany, who only came into the field four years ago, has fared much better. New Caledonia, with the Loyalty Islands, may cover an area of about 5,000 square miles, with a total population of 60,000, mostly convicts and kanakas. The total commerce only amounts to about £350,000 annually, but, as the latest consular report reminds us, New Caledonia is " a penal settlement first and a colony afterwards." The most reputable French colonial authorities—men like M. Leroy Beaulieu and M. Paul Deschanel—insist that until France ceases to send the scum of her population to her colonies they can never prosper, and advise her to take England as her colonial pattern as far as she can with her scanty surplus population. At present French colonies exist mainly for a crowd of needy officials, as her Pacific possessions did until recently for the labours of Jesuit missionaries. It is not ten years since the unhappy natives in the Marquesas and Tuamotu groups were freed from an inquisitorial oppression which made their lives a burden and threatened their extinction. It is no wonder that the Australians should object to the extension of French influence in their neighbourhood, since it practically means the increase of penal colonies and the condemnation of the New Hebrides to commercial stagnation. Besides the New Caledonia group there are four other groups in the Pacific which may be regarded as more or less under French domination ; these are the Marquesas, the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Society Islands, and the Tubuai group, lying between 8° and 30° south latitude and 1-25° and 155° west longitude. The whole land-area of these islands probably does not exceed 1,000 square miles, and the total population 50,000. No doubt the original population was much exaggerated, but there is quite as little doubt that, through various causes, since the advent of the white man it has decreased at an alarming rate. The hold which France has over the remoter islands of these groups is necessarily feeble, in spite of her many officials; and the other day, when her flag was raised on Eaiatea, in the Society Islands, as a result of the abrogation of the agreement with England of 1817, the natives showed themselves decidedly hostile.. The whole group may now be regarded as distinctly French, and of all four groups mentioned above the trade, and virtually the administration, centres in Tahiti, the largest island in the whole region and one of the most picturesque islands in the Pacific, with an excellent harbour. The entire trade of all these islands, as represented at Tahiti, does not exceed £250,000 annually. The island of Mangarewa, in the south-east of the Tuamotu group, has also an excellent harbour, though little has been made of it. Only a few months ago, as was intimated at the time, France annexed Wallis or Uea Islands, a tiny group half-way between Samoa and Fiji, where French missionaries have held sway for a long time. The value of the acquisition from any point of view is not great. Much more serious is the rumour that attempts are being made to draw Barotonga, the chief of the Hervey or Cook Islands, under French protection. Indeed, it is expressly admitted that the active assertion of dominion over Eaiatea was but a move towards the annexation of the group to the south-west, between which and the Tahitian group the relations are intimate. But Barotonga and its neighbouring islands may be regarded as the head-quarters of the London Missionary Society in the Pacific. It was there that John Williams met with some- of his most signal triumphs; and no doubt the Sydney authorities would take the annexation of the group very unkindly. At the same time, a glance at the map will show how natural it is for France to extend her protecting arm around the Hervey group: it would round off the French possessions in this part of the Pacific. Their entire area is not 400 square miles. Their destiny seems certain, and Earotonga will become the leading coaling-station for French vessels sailing from Panama, to Australia; it lies directly in the route. About 100 leagues west-north-west of New Caledonia are a few reefs named Chesterfield or Barnpton, which in 1878 were; taken possession of by France for their guano, in spite of protests from Sir Hercules Kobinson. Lastly, some 2,000 miles west-north-west from Panama, and just on the equator, is Clipperton Island, a sort of double rock, which is claimed by France, and which French writers think ought to be looked after and effectively occupied, provided with lighthouses,, and fortified with guns, preparatory to the opening of the canal, as it might become a station-of-call of the first importance. That is possible, and no one need grudge the countrymen of M. de Lesseps. any success they may achieve isi this direction. Such, then, is at present the e"xtent of French possessions in the Pacific. But France is not satisfied. She feels the growing importance of this part of the world, and complains that in her New Caledonia possession she is hampered and circumscribed. The recent apparent solution of the New Hebrides difficulty is no final settlement of the question. There can be little doubt, that