Shutting out the Britisher.

When Germany secured the Marshal Islands in 1884 the trade was in the hands of New Zealand and American firms; but they have long since been squeezed out. The position of Germany in Samoa was steadily improved, mainly through the instrumentality of the large trading firm of Goddefroy and Sohn, which worked under Government control and had especial instructions to discour- page 9 [unclear: British] trade. This policy was very [unclear: useful] in Samoa, and was continued in [unclear: shall] Islands when one of Messrs. [unclear: philp], and Co.'s steamers was aub-[unclear: to] prohibitive charges in the shape [unclear: spelling] the firm to discontinue their [unclear: with] the group. Happily for Brit-[unclear: tiege] the strong protest forwarded [unclear: British] Government on that occa-caused the abandonment of the obrestructions; but there is no that other harassing methods adopted by Germany in the Recent cable advices have with a view to fostering [unclear: Gertrade] and to bar the door against from Australasia and elsewhere, [unclear: valorem] duty of 10 per cent, is to all imports into the German [unclear: sions] of New Guinea, the Bismarck and the Caroline Islands.

The open door policy is maintained in [unclear: British]-owned islands, but if Germany [unclear: going] to play the game fairly, she complain if, in our islands, hea-[unclear: nosts] are put upon her goods than that come from Britain and This, by the way, is one of thing that might very well be [unclear: dissed] by the Island Congress suggested in last article.

The opening of the Panama Canal, by diverting traffic which at present comes by the Suez route, makes the possession of ports within striking distance of Australia and New Zealand of immense importance strategically, to say nothing of their commercial value as ports of call, and the wisdom of the policy of France and Germany and the foolishness of our own must surely now be admitted by everybody.