A.—s

552

obtained in them. There was first of all a fair title of our people and their Government to be consulted, and there was next the possession of an intimate knowledge of their local conditions possessed by our missionaries and our traders. On both these grounds we, as representatives of the British people in those seas and deeply interested ourselves, were entitled to be heard. The fact is, however, that this Convention was arrived at without us in a most extraordinary manner. It will be remembered that we have been for the last 24 years corresponding, passing resolutions, and protesting; and when it appeared impossible to make any further advance on the lines that we had been following, about the middle of 1905 I addressed two despatches to this office. The first was in consequence of one of the many deputations which waited on the Government from missionaries and people interested in the islands, asking, as they have asked a score of times, for some settlement of the issues connected with them. My first despatch conveyed their complaints and representations, but.from all the information I had been able to obtain I had become persuaded at last that comparatively little could be hoped for British supremacy in those groups at that time. I consequently wrote another despatch, in which I suggested that a permanent joint protectorate under representatives of both countries and founded upon conditions giving security for investment and settlement, might be worth considering. This is given at page 3of the Blue Book already alluded to. That suggestion was prefaced in these terms: " Your " Excellency's advisers, though most reluctant even to appear to relax " their efforts to secure annexation, are so discouraged by the inter- " minable postponements, and the uncertainties of the present position " that they feel constrained to inquire whether a proposal for such a " protectorate is favoured by His Majesty's Government and the Republic of " France, and if sd, upon what terms." At the conclusion of that despatch we pointed out that the sentiment of the people of the Commonwealth is so adverse to anything resembling a sacrifice of the great Imperial possibilities of the New Hebrides, that this inquiry was tentative only in order to ascertain the prospects of such an arrangement, and afford an opportunity for its consideration in the event of no better alternative being open to us. That was the end of August, 1905. Ido not think anything could be clearer or more explicit than those despatches. We made an inquiry. We wanted to know on what terms a joint protectorate would be possible, and pointed out that our inquiry was tentative only to afford an opportunity for further consideration. To that letter we received no reply — that is to say, no reply for months afterwards, months during which a great deal was happening. This Blue Book renders it unnecessary for me to follow the whole course of the subsequent proceedings in detail. It commences with a letter from the Foreign Office to the Colonial Office of September 1905 The Foreign Office then forwarded a memorandum from the French Minister in London with reference to an examination of title deeds in the New Hebrides. The correspondence which had been conducted between the Imperial Government and ourselves had two or three different lines. One was the main correspondence asking for annexation, another and quite distinct correspondence was being carried on in reference to the titles to land claimed by British or French settlers with the object of getting these in some way settled, in order to avoid the quarrels which were springing up between the settlers and the natives, or occasionally between nationals, either British or French, over their transactions in land There was a third line of correspondence which related to the occasional disturbances in the island or minor squabbles. This despatch containing the complaints of the deputation was written before my despatch of August 29th, 1905, touching upon a possible protectorate. The negotiation in London differs from both

Fourteenth Day. 9 May 1907.

British Interests in the Pacific. (Mr. Deakin.)