l'i!< 



Tliis suggests the idea that, as already stated, tin- <|iies- 

 tion has its moral side, that the evolution which is going 

 on among the nations, is a social evolution, and one where 

 the best interests of the world at large may be involved in 

 the holding of the tropics by white races as a trust for 

 civilization. If the coloured races are markedly inferior 

 not only in civilization but in moral character, the greater 

 or less development of which may well measure the future 

 stability of the race, may it not be incumbent upon the 

 white races, as the finest product of civilization, to under- 

 take this development of tropical and sub-tropical regions 

 in the best interests of the world, as witness already the 

 work performed under British guidance in Egypt and in 

 India. This is totally opposed to the idea current among 

 some people in our day, that the government of a large 

 native population means the creation of a permanent 

 European caste, " cut off from the influence of the political 

 and ethical conditions and social traditions which have 

 been the source of the development of the European race." 



Australian Sub-tropics.— We cannot, however, consider 

 Australia in this connection as being truly tropical, except 

 in very limited areas, if we mean by ''tropical" regions of 

 monotonous heat with a relatively high humidity leading 

 to great raukness of vegetable life. 1 We cannot compare 

 the hotter districts of Australia with the climate of Java, 

 India, the Philippines, or Hawaii, for example, and other 

 countries where the seasons seem not to exist since the 

 variations of temperature are comparatively so slight. If 

 we accept Goldwin Smith's dictum (referring to the 

 British rule in India) that " no race can forever hold 

 and rule a land in which it cannot rear its children "; are 

 we to conclude that this condition holds for Northern 





