No nation in the past has possessed so great [unclear: as] influence in the Pacific as the British, [unclear: and] no nation in the future should. We [unclear: have] had the greatest share hi naming and [unclear: ating] the islands; we discovered many [unclear: of] them, policed them with our own men [unclear: of]-war, and sent missionnarise, out from the [unclear: very] earliest times—to whose efforts the [unclear: case of] civilistation enjoyed is very largely [unclear: due]. Half the groups of Oceania, first [unclear: angelised] by British missionaries, have [unclear: fallen] into foreign hands, and now, in [unclear: some] case of these places, the British [unclear: mission-try] is not allowed to labour, and the British trader has been squeezed out.

From Port Jackson and the Waitemata went the men who founded the inland trade, In those old days, dozens of hardy traden used to leave Auckland in their schooners to competo with the equally hardy Sydney adventurers. At that time the trade was almost wholly British. But a change lias come over the scene. Little by little the foreigner has got a footing; little by little New Zealand has lost. Australia has not suffered so much, though she is Ending difficulty in keeping hold of her trade in those islands where German companies are operating, and in some cases has been driven out by them. But it is New Zealand, which might to do most of the. South Sea trade, and which at present does the least, that needs to bestir herself if she is to make any progress in this direction instead of going further backward.