NEW ZEALAND AND THE SMALLER BRITISH PACIFIC COLONIES
A thousand miles east of Australia is another aggressive young democracy
preparing to arm to the teeth for the conflict of the Pacific, and eager
to embark upon a policy of forward Imperialism on its own account: with
aspirations, indeed, to be made overlord of all the Pacific islands
under the British Flag.
New Zealand had a softer beginning than Australia, and did not win,
therefore, the advantages and disadvantages springing from the wild type
of colonists who gave to the Australian Commonwealth a sturdy
foundation. Nor has New Zealand the "Bush" conditions which make the
back-country Australian quite a distinct type of white man. On those hot
plains of Australia, cruel to a first knowledge, very rich in profit and
welcome to the man who learns their secrets, most potent of attraction
with familiarity and mastery, Nature exacts from man a resolute wooing
before she grants a smile of favour. But, once conquered, she responds
with most generous lavishness. In return, however, she sets her stamp
on the men who come to her favour, and they show that stamp on their
faces. Thin, wiry, with deep-set peering eyes, they suggest sun-dried
men. But whilst leaching out the fat and softness from them, Nature has
compensated the "Bush" Australians with an enduring vitality. No other
men, probably, of the world's peoples could stand such strain of work,
of hunger, of thirst. No men have finer nerves, greater courage. They
must dice with Death for their lives, time and again staking all on
their endurance, and on the chance of the next water-hole being still
unparched. This gives them a contempt of danger, and some contempt of
life, which shows in a cruel touch in their character.
Imagine a white man who, keeping all his education and maintaining his
sympathy with modern science and modern thought, withal reverts in some
characteristics to the type of the Bedouin of the desert, and you have
the typical Australian Bushman. He is fierce in his friendships, stern
in his enmities, passionately fond of his horse, so contemptuous of
dwellings that he will often refuse to sleep in them, Arabian in his
hospitality, fatalistic in his philosophy. He has been known to inflict
torture on a native whom he suspects of concealing the whereabouts of a
water-hole, and yet will almost kill himself to get help for a mate in
need. He is so independent that he hates working for a "boss," and will
rarely take work on wages, preferring to live as his own master, by
hunting or fossicking, or by undertaking contract work for forest
clearing.
There is material for a great warrior nation in these Bushmen, with
their capacity for living anyhow, their deadliness as shots, their
perfect command of the horse, their Stoic cruelty which would enable
them to face any hardship without flinching, and to inflict any revenge
without remorse.
New Zealand has not the "Bushman" type. But as some compensation, the
early New Zealand settlers had the advantage of meeting at the very
outset an effective savage. The Australian learned all his hardihood
from Nature; the New Zealand colonist had the Maori to teach him, not
only self-reliance but community reliance. Whilst Nature was very kind
to him, sparing the infliction of the drought, giving always a
reasonable surety of food, he was obliged to walk warily in fear of the
powerful and warlike Maori tribes. The phenomenon, so frequent in
Australia, of a squatter leading his family, his flocks, and his herds
out into the wilderness and fighting out there, alone, a battle with
Nature was rare in New Zealand. There the White settlers were forced
into groups by the fear of and respect for the Maoris. From the first
they knew the value of a fortified post. Until a very late period of
their history they saw frequently the uniforms of troops from Great
Britain helping them to garrison the towns against the natives.
As was the case with Australia, the British Empire was very reluctant to
assume control of New Zealand. Captain Cook, who annexed Australia in
1770, had visited New Zealand in 1769, but had not acquired it formally
for the British Crown. The same explorer returned to New Zealand several
years after. But from the date of his last departure, 1776, three
decades passed before any White settlement was attempted. In 1788 the
colonisation of Australia was begun, but it was not until 1814 that a
small body of Europeans left Sydney and settled in New Zealand. The Rev.
Samuel Marsden, who had been Chaplain to the Convict Colony of New South
Wales, was the leader of the band, and its mission was to Christianise
the natives. A little later the Wesleyan Church founded a Mission in the
same neighbourhood. In 1825 a Company was formed in London to colonise
New Zealand, and it sent away a band of pioneers in the ship _Rosanna_.
The wild mien of the natives so thoroughly frightened these colonists
that almost all of them returned to England. Desultory efforts at
settlement followed, small bands of British subjects forming tiny
stations at various points of the New Zealand coast, and getting on as
well as they might with the natives, for they had no direct protection
from the British Government, which was entirely opposed to any idea of
annexing the group. There was no fever for expansion in England at the
time. The United States had broken away. Canada seemed to be on the
point of secession. The new settlement in Australia promised little. But
the hand of the British Government was destined to be forced in the
matter, and, willy-nilly, Britain had to take over a country which is
now one of her most valued possessions.
Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield was responsible for forcing on the British
Government the acquisition of New Zealand. The era was one of
philanthropy and keen thought for social reform in Great Britain. The
doctrines of the French Revolution still reverberated through Europe,
and the rights of humanity were everywhere preached to men confronted
with the existence of great social misery, which seemed to deny to the
majority of mankind even the degree of comfort enjoyed by animals.
Wakefield's remedy was the emigration of the surplus population of the
British islands--well, the British islands except Ireland, to which
country and its inhabitants Wakefield had an invincible antipathy. The
prospectus of the Company to colonise New Zealand stated:
"The aim of this Company is not confined to mere emigration, but is
directed to colonisation in its ancient and systematic form. Its object
is to transplant English society with its various graduations in due
proportions, carrying out our laws, customs, associations, habits,
manners, feelings--everything of England, in short, but the soil. We
desire so now to cast the foundations of the colony that in a few
generations New Zealand shall offer to the world a counterpart of our
country in all the most cherished peculiarities of our own social system
and national character, as well as in wealth and power."
In due time twelve ships carrying 1125 people sailed for New Zealand.
That was the beginning of a steady flow of emigrants mostly recruited by
various Churches, and settled in groups in different parts of the New
Zealand islands--members of the Free Church of Scotland at Otago, of the
Church of England at Canterbury, men of Devon and Cornwall men at New
Plymouth.
The British Government could hardly shake off all responsibility for
these exiles. But it did its best to avoid annexation, and even adopted
the remarkable expedient of recognising the Maoris as a nation, and
encouraging them to choose a national standard. The Maori Flag was
actually flown on the high seas for a while, and at least on one
occasion received a salute from a British warship. But no standard could
give a settled polity to a group of savage tribes. The experiment of
setting up "The Independent Tribes of New Zealand" as a nation failed.
In 1840, Great Britain formally took over the New Zealand islands from
the natives under the treaty of Waitangi, which is said to be the only
treaty on record between a white race and a coloured race which has been
faithfully kept to this day.
"This famous instrument," writes a New Zealand critic, "by which the
Maoris, at a time when they were apparently unconquerable, voluntarily
ceded sovereign rights over their country to Queen Victoria, is
practically the only compact between a civilised and an uncivilised race
which has been regarded and honoured through generations of
difficulties, distrust, and even warfare. By guaranteeing to the Maori
the absolute ownership of their patrimonial lands and the enjoyment of
their ancestral rights and customs, it enabled them to take their place
as fully enfranchised citizens of the British Empire, and to present the
solitary example of a dark race surviving contact with a white, and
associating with it on terms of mutual regard, equality and unquestioned
loyalty. The measure of this relationship is evident from the fact that
Maori interests are represented by educated natives in both houses of
the New Zealand Parliament and in the Ministry. The strict observance of
the Treaty of Waitangi is part and parcel of the national faith of the
New Zealanders, and a glorious monument to the high qualities of one of
the finest races of aboriginal peoples the world has ever seen."
The New Zealand colonists, having won the blessing of the British Flag,
were not well content. Very shortly afterwards we find Mr James Edward
FitzGerald writing to Wakefield, who was contemplating a trip to New
Zealand.
"After all, this place is but a village. Its politics are not large
enough for you. But there are politics on this side the world which
would be so. It seems unquestionable that in the course of a very few
years--sometimes I think months--the Australian colonies will declare
their independence. We shall live to see an Australasian Empire
rivalling the United States in greatness, wealth and power. There is a
field for great statesmen. Only yesterday I was saying, talking about
you, that if you come across the world it must be to Australia; just in
time to draw up the Declaration of Independence."
But that phase passed. New Zealand to-day emulates Australia in a
fervent Imperial patriotism, and at the 1911 Imperial Conference her
Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, was responsible for the following
proposal which was too forward in its Imperialism to be immediately
acceptable to his fellow delegates:
"That the Empire has now reached a stage of Imperial development which
renders it expedient that there should be an Imperial Council of State,
with representatives from all the self-governing parts of the Empire, in
theory and in fact advisory to the Imperial Government on all questions
affecting the interests of his Majesty's Dominions oversea."
He urged the resolution on the following grounds:
(1) Imperial unity; (2) organised Imperial defence; (3) the equal
distribution of the burden of defence throughout the Empire; (4) the
representation of self-governing oversea Dominions in an Imperial
Parliament of defence for the purpose of determining peace or war, the
contributions to Imperial defence, foreign policy as far as it affects
the Empire, international treaties so far as they affect the Empire, and
such other Imperial matters as might by agreement be transferred to such
Parliament.
In advocating his resolution Sir Joseph Ward made an interesting
forecast of the future of the British nations whose shores were washed
by the Pacific. He estimated that if the present rate of increase were
maintained, Canada would have in twenty-five years from now between
30,000,000 and 40,000,000 inhabitants. In Australia, South Africa, and
New Zealand the proportionate increase could not be expected to be so
great, but he believed that in twenty-five years' time the combined
population of those oversea Dominions would be much greater than that of
the United Kingdom. Those who controlled the destinies of the British
Empire would have to consider before many years had passed the expansion
of these oversea countries into powerful nations, all preserving their
own local autonomy, all being governed to suit the requirements of the
people within their own territory, but all deeply concerned in keeping
together in some loose form of federation to serve the general interests
of all parts of the Empire.
At a later stage, in reply to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Prime Minister of
Canada, Sir Joseph Ward indulged in an even more optimistic prophecy.
The United States, he said, had something like 100,000,000 people. The
prospective possibility of Canada for settlement purposes was not less
than that of the United States, and the Dominion was capable of holding
a population of 100,000,000 in the future. Australia also was capable of
holding a similar number, although it would necessarily be a great
number of years before that position was reached. South Africa, too,
could hold 100,000,000 people. It was no exaggeration to suggest that
those three Dominions were capable of holding 300,000,000 of people with
great comfort as compared with certain overcrowded countries. New
Zealand, in the opinion of many well-qualified men, could carry upwards
of 40,000,000 people with comparative ease and comfort.
But these figures are hardly scientific. Climatic and other
considerations will prevent Canada from reaching quite the same degree
of greatness as the United States. British South Africa could "hold"
100,000,000 people, but it could not support them on present
appearances. The possibilities of Australian settlement are difficult to
be exaggerated in view of the steady dwindling of the "desert" area in
the light of recent research and exploration, and of the fact that all
her area is blessed with a genial climate. New Zealand, to keep
40,000,000 people, would need, however, to have a density of 400 people
per square mile, a density surpassed to-day in Belgium and Holland but
not reached by Great Britain. A fairly conservative estimate of the
possibilities of the British Empire would allow it for the future a
white population of 200,000,000, of whom at least half would be grouped
near the shores of the Pacific. Presuming a British Imperial Federation
on Sir Joseph Ward's lines with such a population, and the mastery of
the Pacific would be settled. But that is for the future, the far
future.
Sir Joseph Ward, in the event, was not able to carry the Imperial
Conference with him, the majority of the delegates considering that the
time had not yet come for the organisation of an Imperial Federal
system. But it is possible that with the passing of time and the growth
of the population of the Dominions overseas, some such system may
evolve: and a British Empire Parliament may sit one day at Westminster,
at Vancouver or at Sydney. Certainly the likelihood is that the
numerical balance of the British race will shift one day from the
Atlantic to the Pacific.
Following Australia's example, New Zealand has adopted a system of
universal training for military service, but there are indications that
she will not enforce it quite so rigorously as her neighbour. In the
matter of naval defence, at the Conference of 1909 the New Zealand
attitude was thus defined by her Prime Minister:--
"I favour one great Imperial Navy with all the Overseas Dominions
contributing, either in ships or money, and with naval stations at the
self-governing Dominions supplied with ships by and under the control of
the Admiralty. I, however, realise the difficulties, and recognise that
Australia and Canada in this important matter are doing that which their
respective Governments consider to be best; but the fact remains that
the alterations that will be brought about upon the establishment of an
Australian unit will alter the present position with New Zealand.
"New Zealand's maritime interests in her own waters, and her dependent
islands in the Pacific would, under the altered arrangements, be almost
entirely represented by the Australian Fleet unit, and not, as at
present, by the Imperial Fleet. This important fact, I consider,
necessitates some suitable provision being made for New Zealand, which
country has the most friendly feeling in every respect for Australia and
her people, and I am anxious that in the initiation of new arrangements
with the Imperial Government under the altered conditions, the interests
of New Zealand should not be over-looked. I consider it my duty to point
this out, and to have the direct connection between New Zealand and the
Royal Navy maintained in some concrete form.
"New Zealand will supply a _Dreadnought_ for the British Navy as already
offered, the ship to be under the control of and stationed wherever the
Admiralty considers advisable.
"I fully realise that the creation of specific units, one in the East,
one in Australia, and, if possible, one in Canada, would be a great
improvement upon the existing condition of affairs, and the fact that
the New Zealand _Dreadnought_ was to be the flag-ship of the
China-Pacific unit is, in my opinion, satisfactory. I, however, consider
it is desirable that a portion of the China-Pacific unit should remain
in New Zealand waters, and I would suggest that two of the new "Bristol"
cruisers, together with three destroyers and two submarines, should be
detached from the China station in time of peace and stationed in New
Zealand waters; that these vessels should come under the flag of the
Admiral of the China unit; that the flagship should make periodical
visits to New Zealand waters; and that there should be an interchange in
the service of the cruisers between New Zealand and China, under
conditions to be laid down.
"The ships should be manned, as far as possible, by New Zealand officers
and men, and, in order that New Zealanders might be attracted to serve
in the Fleet, local rates should be paid to those New Zealanders who
enter, in the same manner as under the present Australian and New
Zealand agreement, such local rates being treated as deferred pay.
"The determination of the agreement with Australia has, of necessity,
brought up the position of New Zealand under that joint agreement. I
therefore suggest that on completion of the China unit, the present
agreement with New Zealand should cease, that its contribution of
£100,000 per annum should continue and be used to pay the difference in
the rates of pay to New Zealanders above what would be paid under the
ordinary British rate. If the contribution for the advanced rate of pay
did not amount to £100,000 per annum, any balance to be at the disposal
of the Admiralty.
"The whole of this Fleet unit to be taken in hand and completed before
the end of 1912, and I should be glad if the squadron as a whole would
then visit New Zealand on the way to China, leaving the New Zealand
detachment there under its senior officer."
From the difference between the naval arrangements of Australia and New
Zealand can be gathered some hints of the difference between the
national characteristics of the two young nations. Australia is
aggressively independent in all her arrangements: loyal to the British
Empire and determined to help its aims in every way, but to help after
her own fashion and with armies and navies recruited and trained by
herself. New Zealand, with an equal Imperial zeal, has not the same
national self-consciousness and is willing to allow her share of naval
defence to take the form of a cash payment. Probably the most effective
naval policy of New Zealand would be founded on a close partnership with
Australia, the two nations combining to maintain one Fleet. But that New
Zealand does not seem to desire. She is, however, content to be a
partner with Australia in one detail of military administration. The
military college for the training of officers at the Australian Federal
capital is shared with New Zealand. The present Prime Minister of
Australia, Mr Fisher, is taking steps towards securing a closer defence
bond with New Zealand.[4]
In an aspiration towards forward Imperialism, New Zealand is fully at
one with Australia. But she has the idea that the control of the
Southern Pacific, outside of the continent of Australia, is the right of
New Zealand, and dreams of a New Zealand Empire embracing the island
groups of Polynesia. It will be one of the problems of the future for
the British Power to restrain the exuberant racial pride of these South
Pacific nations, who see nothing in the European situation which should
interfere with a full British control of the South Pacific.
In addition to Australia and New Zealand, the British Empire has a
number of minor possessions in the South Pacific. In regard to almost
all of them, the same tale of reluctant acceptance has to be told. New
Guinea was annexed by the Colony of Queensland, anxious to set on foot a
foreign policy of her own, in 1883. The British Government repudiated
the annexation, and in the following year reluctantly consented to take
over for the Empire a third of the great island on condition that the
Australian States agreed to guarantee the cost of the administration of
the new possession. The Fiji Group was offered to Great Britain by King
Thakombau in 1859, and was refused. Some English settlers then began to
administer the group on a system of constitutional government under
Thakombau. It was not until 1874 that the British Government accepted
these rich islands, and then somewhat ungraciously and reluctantly,
influenced to the decision by the fact that the alternative was German
acquisition.
It was no affectation of coyness on the part of the successive British
Governments which dictated a refusal when South Pacific annexations were
mooted. Time after time it was made clear that the Home Country wanted
no responsibilities there. Yet to-day, as the result mainly of the
impulse of Empire and adventure in individual British men, the British
Flag flies over the whole continent of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand,
a part of New Guinea, Fiji, and the Ellice, Gilbert, Kermadec, Friendly,
Chatham, Cook, and many other groups. It is a strange instance of
greatness thrust upon a people.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Since writing, in March 1912, there has been an attempt on the part
of the Australian Prime Minister to come to some closer naval
arrangement with New Zealand; and the attempt seems to promise to be
successful.