60 



AUSTRALASIA. 



dertake the cost of maintenance, and those 

 of Queensland and New South Wales offered 

 to pay interest and depreciation, but they con- 

 curred in the opinion that the original cost of 

 building and equipping the new vessels should 

 be borne by the Imperial Government. 



The French Occupation of the New Hebrides. 

 Negotiations respecting the annexation of the 

 New Hebrides Islands to France were carried 

 on between the British and French Govern- 

 ments in March. The French Cabinet offered 

 a pledge that no recidivists should be sent to 

 the islands. The Australian governments pro- 

 tested against allowing France to acquire pos- 

 session of the New Hebrides. New South 

 Wales declined to join in the protest, on the 

 understanding that France would agree to send 

 no more recidivists to the Pacific islands. 



In the early part of May two French vessels 

 were sent from Noumea to land troops on the 

 New Hebrides. The British Government, at 

 the request of the Victorian authorities, or- 

 dered two cruisers to those waters. The 

 grounds given for French action were that the 

 natives had massacred French citizens. Troops 

 were landed from the transport "Dives" at 

 Havannah harbor, in the island of Sandwich, 

 and the French flag was hoisted on June 1. 

 Another military station was established at 

 Port Sandwich, on the island of Mallicolo. 



The French Government, when interrogated 

 by the British minister in Paris, explained on 

 June 10 that a French company had sent 

 Frenchmen to work in the New Hebrides, and 

 that in March several had been murdered by 

 the inhabitants. The rest called on the com- 

 pany to protect them or to take them away. 

 On the application of the company, the Gov- 

 ernor of New Caledonia sent troops to estab- 

 lish temporary posts where French citizens 

 were in danger, and that they would be with- 

 drawn when the emergency had passed, as the 

 French Government had no intention of vio- 

 lating the agreement made with England in 

 1878 by proceeding to a political occupation of 

 the islands. Orders were sent from France 

 that if the French flag had been raised it 

 should be taken down. The report of the act- 

 ing British consul in the New Hebrides that 

 the French flag had been raised caused much 

 excitement in Australia and England. The 

 commander of the British ship u TJndine " in- 

 vestigated the matter, and reported that there 

 was no formal occupation nor proclamation of 

 a French .protectorate. 



The concessions that the French Government 

 offered for the cession of the New Hebrides 

 were that no more French criminals were to 

 be deported to the Pacific, and that England 

 should be allowed to annex Rapa. The French 

 minister urged that the New Hebrides be- 

 longed to the same geographical group as New 

 Caledonia, that his countrymen had considera- 

 ble and increasing interests on the islands, and 

 that they needed both as an outlet for emigration 

 and a field for enterprise and as a source from 



which to obtain laborers for New Caledonia if 

 the colonization of relapsed criminals on that 

 island were to cease. The Australians, though 

 they have but few settlers and no considerable 

 plantations in the New Hebrides, whereas the 

 French have acquired and cultivated land on 

 the islands, possess the largest share of the 

 trade. The strongest objections to the cession 

 were raised on behalf of the Australian Protes- 

 tant missionaries, who have stations on fifteen 

 islands, have expended $800,000 on building 

 churches and maintaining missionaries, and 

 made 8,000 converts. They fear that under 

 French rule Protestant missions would be dis- 

 couraged through the influence of the Roman 

 Catholic clergy. 



On July 25 Lord Roseberry informed M. 

 Waddington that, in view of the almost unani- 

 mous objections of the Australian governments, 

 the British Government were unable to accept 

 the conciliatory and amicable arrangement for 

 a French protectorate, or to depart from the 

 agreement by which Great Britain and France 

 bound themselves to respect the independence 

 of the New Hebrides. ' Meetings were held in 

 Australian cities, and dispatches were sent by 

 the colonial authorities to Downing Street, dur- 

 ing the summer and autumn, protesting against 

 the continued occupation of the islands by 

 French troops. 



The Germans in the Sonth Sea. About the mid- 

 dle of February, 1886, the German cruiser 

 " Albatross " visited Bismarck Archipelago and 

 inflicted punishment on the natives of New 

 Ireland, who had murdered two white traders 

 named Carr and Campbell. The Germans pur- 

 sued the murderers into the interior, destroyed 

 some houses and plantations, and stormed a 

 fortified village. They then sailed to New 

 Britain to collect fines imposed on the natives. 

 A detachment went inland to seize a recalci- 

 trant chief, but did not venture to attack him. 

 Another detachment was set upon by natives, 

 but drove them away with their swift and 

 deadly fire. The town of Kerberkader was 

 bombarded. On the 9th and 10th of March 

 the "Albatross" bombarded some villages on 

 New Ireland. In the various encounters eight 

 of the Germans were wounded and twenty-six 

 natives killed. In June the " Albatross " vis- 

 ited Mallicolo, one of the New Hebrides Isl- 

 ands, and punished the natives for murdering 

 a German and destroying his property. 



Annexation of the Kermadee Islands, The Ker- 

 madec group, lying between New Zealand and 

 the Friendly Islands, were annexed by the 

 British corvette " Diamond" on Aug. 1. 



The Colonial Exhibition. In the Indian and Co- 

 lonial Exhibition, held in London in 1886, the 

 Australian colonies had large and complete dis- 

 plays showing their productions and their prog- 

 ress in the arts, and sent pictures and collec- 

 tions of natural objects to present to the eye 

 the appearance and nature of the country. 

 From Victoria there were manufactures in 

 great variety, besides wool, wine, and other 



