AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. 



57 



The following table contains the latest postal 

 statistics for the colonies: 



A novel immigration scheme has been adopt- 

 ed by Western Australia. Acting upon the prin- 

 ciple that it is easier to obtain fresh population 

 from its neighbors than from the other end of 

 the world, the Western Australian Government 

 offers to pay the passage-money, not exceeding 

 6 per head, of suitable male adults from Vic- 

 toria and the Australasian colonies generally, 

 and to afford assistance in the like ratio to their 



AUSTRALIAN MAN AND WOMAN. 



wives and families. After two years' residence 

 each adult immigrant will be entitled to select 

 fifty acres for himself and twenty-five* acres for 

 every member of his family between the ages 

 of sixteen and twenty-one, provided no family 

 obtains more than one hundred and fifty acres 

 in the whole, and at the expiration of three 

 years, if certain conditions of fencing and 

 cultivation have been complied with, they 

 will receive a free crown grant of their allot- 

 ments. 



The Government of New South Wales pre- 

 pared a cabinet minute for the Governor for 

 transmission to the Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies on the subject of the proposed an- 

 nexation of New Guinea. It contained the 

 following passages : 



My colleagues and myself venture respectfully to 

 offer the opinion that on many grounds it would be 

 desirable in the highest interests of civilization that 

 Great Britain should, with as little delay as possible, 

 take possession not only of the magnificent island 

 of New Guinea but of the islands of New Britain, 

 New Ireland, and the chain of islands to the north- 

 east and east of New Guinea, from Beaugainville 

 Island to San Christoval, the southeasternmost of 

 the Solomon group. The group of New Hebrides, 

 including Espiritu Santo, Malicolo, and Sandwich, 

 with the smaller adjoining islands ; and Marshal Gil- 

 bert and Ellice Islands, to all of which the traffic from 

 Sydney extends. It appears to us that more extended 

 dominion over these waters on the part of the Brit- 

 ish Empire would not only be consistent with the 

 maritime supremacy of England, but conduce much 

 to the tranquillity and peace of the Australian colo- 

 nies, while the occupation by foreign governments of 

 large islands in the immediate neighborhood of our 

 coast ; and on the very tracks of our ocean commu- 

 nication with the mother-country, might and would 

 be in time of war fatal to our free navigation of the 

 sea which adjoins our territory, whose coast-line, 

 stretching from our capital northward to within 

 sight of New Guinea, is 1,700 miles in extent. The 

 extension of British sovereignty over Polynesia 

 would not only, as it seems to my colleagues and my- 

 self, open up new and rich fields for the employment 

 of British capital and enterprise, but tend to the im- 

 mediate mitigation of many evils which naturally 

 follow from the lawless condition of some of these 

 islands, and to the early extinction of the greatest 

 of all those, unlawful traffic in labor. Of the possi- 

 bility of any one or more of the Australian colonies 

 undertaking, with imperial sanction, and by means 

 of powers specially conferred, the annexation of 

 these islands, or any one of them, my colleagues and 

 myself desire to express pur concurrence in the view 

 taken by Sir James Martin on this subject in a letter 

 addressed to the Earl of Belmore on the 8th of Au- 

 gust, 1871. We are of opinion that no such scheme 

 is possible. Even if the inhabitants of these colo- 

 nies, the resources of which are so largely drawn upon 

 for the construction of great public works and the 

 opening up of improved means of internal commu- 

 nication, were able or disposed to hear the necessary 

 expenditure (which we do not believe would be the 

 case), it would be impossible for any colony, or 

 group of colonies, to exercise the powers and au- 

 thority, and inspire the obedience which belong to 

 a great empire. 



The first English Governor of the Feejee Isl- 

 ands, Sir Arthur Gordon, arrived in that col- 

 ony during the month of September. He was 

 heartily welcomed by the British residents, 

 and, after making several excursions around 

 the coast-line, he decided that Levaka was to 

 continue as the seat of government. The plant- 

 ers, who, since the failure of cotton as a re- 

 munerative crop, had been undecided in their 

 pursuits, have turned their attention to sugar; 

 but, although a large amount of cane had 

 been grown, the measure of success was small, 

 owing to want of experience in its cultivation. 

 During the past year the islands were visited 

 by the measles. It is estimated that 40,000 

 natives died during the plague. 



