PAPUA. 



639 



natives at the discretion of the judge, sailed in 

 May, 1884, on a labor-cruise among the South 

 Sea islands. As required by a recent statute, 

 a Government agent went along, to see that 

 the recruits understood the nature of their en- 

 gagements and were fairly and freely employed. 

 The party, armed with Winchester repeating- 

 rifles, landed at a village on the coast of New 

 Guinea to recruit. The struggles that attend 

 these kidnapping operations are termed " scrim- 

 mages ' 1 in the phraseology of the slave-catch- 

 ers. Here several natives were killed. At Nor- 

 manby Island was another scrimmage, in which 

 several Kanakas were captured, a number were 

 slain, and McNeil himself received a spear- 

 wound. At Harris Island, north of Normanby 

 Island, the natives were as usual enticed to 

 t!ie side of the vessel on the pretense of trad- 

 ing. When the recruiting agent with a mixed 

 crow of whites and blacks, all armed with rifles, 

 stoie around in a whale-boat on the unsuspect- 

 ing islanders, they paddled for the shore with 

 all their might. Pursuing the largest canoe, 

 McNeil was struck with a paddle by an island- 

 er, and in return shot him dead. All in the 

 canoe then jumped into the water, and a num- 

 ber of them were picked up by another boat 

 from the schooner and " recruited." It was 

 for this murder that McNeil was sentenced to 

 be hanged. By means of a series of massacres 

 like these, McNeil's schooner Hopeful obtained 

 her cargo of laborers, bringing back to Queens- 

 land over 100 stowed in her hold. Such prac- 

 tices have rendered it impossible for the Eng- 

 lish to obtain a footing on Papua or to explore 

 the interior. Expeditions up the Fly river and 

 settlements on the coast, combining mission- 

 ary purposes with the scheme of annexation, 

 though aided by the colonial governments, failed 

 at first on account of the malarial climate, the 

 impassable nature of the country, and the in- 

 veterate hostility of the people. The missiona- 

 ries Chalmers and Lawes, however, persevered 

 in their efforts, and have established amicable 

 relations with some of the tribes of the south- 

 ern coast, and planted mission stations among 

 them. They reside themselves at Port Moresby. 

 The discovery of gold in the mountains near 

 Port Moresby brought a large number of ad- 

 venturers to the north shore of Papua, but they 

 were unable to carry on mining operations, 

 owing to the ferocity of the natives and the 

 difficulty of obtaining a supply of food. 



Attempted Annexation by Queensland. The 

 Queensland ministry in April, 1883, impatient 

 I at the inaction of the home Government, and 

 confident of the support of public opinion in 

 the colonies, took the bold step of proclaiming 

 the annexation to the colony of the whole east- 

 ern half of New Guinea. H. M. Chester, po- 

 lice magistrate at Thursday Island, under in- 

 structions of the colonial Government, sailed 

 to Port Moresby and raised the British flag in 

 token of the formal occupation of the island. 

 This act of Sir Thomas Mcllwraith, then Pre- 

 mier of Queensland, was promptly and deci- 



sively disallowed and rebuked by Lord Derby, 

 who hinted, however, that the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment would be more favorably inclined to 

 the hopes of the colonies if they would strength- 

 en their power by union, and combine to bear 

 their equitable share of the cost of the develop- 

 ment, administration, and defense of new pos- 

 sessions. Out of this suggestion was developed 

 the convention of the Australian governments 

 in December, 1883, which adopted resolutions 

 in favor of a federation for defense and other 

 common objects, and for the immediate pur- 

 pose of securing the annexation of the islands 

 of the western Pacific. 



The colonial legislatures voted 15,000 to- 

 ward the expense of the protectorate or an- 

 nexation of New Guinea when the imperial au- 

 thorities announced the intention of exercising 

 jurisdiction over the southern coast. This con- 

 tribution to the first year's expenses of the 

 protectorate was made at the suggestion of the 

 home authorities. The colonization of any of 

 the neighboring islands by a foreign power, it 

 was declared, would endanger the vital inter- 

 ests of the colonies. In July, 1883, Lord Der- 

 by declared that any attempt on the part of 

 a foreign power to settle on the coast of 

 Papua would be regarded by England as an 

 unfriendly act. Reassured by this declaration, 

 and confident of the effect of the forcible and 

 persistent manifestations of their views, the 

 colonists rested in the secure belief that the 

 British Government would guard their inter- 

 ests. They were assured once more, in a dis- 

 patch of the Colonial Secretary, dated May 9, 

 1884, that no foreign power contemplated any 

 interference in Papua. 



English Annexation. When the British minis- 

 try repudiated the annexation of New Guinea by 

 the Queensland executive, they announced the 

 intention of giving the high commissioner in 

 Feejee jurisdiction over the acts of British sub- 

 jects in the southern part of Papua, in view of 

 the considerable trade that had sprung up with 

 that coast. In May, 1884, the Secretary for the 

 Colonies sent a dispatch expressing the deter- 

 mination of the British Government to take the 

 southern coast under its protection. The min- 

 isters explained in Parliament that the juris- 

 diction to be established would extend to the 

 subjects of foreign nations, and said that a 

 high commissioner would be appointed for the 

 new protectorate, who would be independent of 

 the Governor of Feejee, the official intrusted 

 with jurisdiction over Papua as well as over 

 the western Pacific generally. In September 

 the Victorian Premier asked all the colonial 

 governments to unite in urging the British 

 Government to include in the protectorate the 

 whole of Papua and the islands beyond. The 

 ministry of New South Wales held back, but 

 the next month all the colonies joined in the 

 request. The Government had already issued 

 instructions to Admiral Erskine, commanding 

 the naval forces on the Australian station. 

 Hugh Hastings Romilly, deputy-commissioner 



