Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 80a

The Cook Islands

The Cook Islands.

Speaking of the Cook Islands, Mr Seddon spoke of the time when Sir Julius Vogel and the then Premier, Sir Robert Stout, were ready to go by steamer to annex Samoa, when they were stopped by a message from Downing street. Where, asked Mr Seddon, is Samoa today? One portion had gone to Germany and the other to America. He held, in regard to Greater New Zealand, that the expansion of our boundaries was an advantage to us, not only from the sordid view of trade, but from the national standpoint, for he maintained that we had a right to select our neighbours. It was much better to have these islands forming part of New Zealand than that they should be held by a foreign Power. Those islands were capable of great development. There were tons and tons of tropical fruits wasted annually which ought to go to the children of the workers of this colony for their good. They ought to be within reach of the men, women and children of this colony, and not be left to a select few. He had no doubt that when the members who were now on the island trip returned to the colony, and when tho people had more information, the carping critics would come to the conclusion that the right thing had been done in the annexation of these islands. We had just had accomplished the extension of the boundaries of the city of Wellington. It was a wise thing to have this Greater Wellington, and to have a greater and wider municipal life—of which there was not enough in New Zealand. We wanted in this country a wider freedom, a wider franchise in the municipalities, with the power of self-government in the hands of the people, and what applied to the cities in this respect applied to the extension of the boundaries of our colony. (Applause.)