CHAP. V] TREATY RELATIONS 1137 
October 31, 1903, in which Mr. Lyttelton set forth his views 
on the guestion! 
Such feelings [‘ that in the Samoan arrangements the 
interests of Australia were too lightly regarded ’| appear to 
His Majesty’s Government to ignore the vast extent of 
territory in the Pacific Ocean which has been definitely 
brought under British control during the last thirty years. 
The whole of Fiji, some 88,000 square miles in the part of 
New Guinea nearest to Australia, almost all the great chain 
of the Solomon Islands, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, the 
Cook group, and a large number of scattered islands have 
been added to the Empire during that short period. Most 
of those acquisitions have been made in consideration mainly 
(sometimes entirely) of the interests and sentiments of 
Australia and New Zealand. In the face of that record His 
Majesty’s Government leave it to your Ministers to say 
whether the Government and people of this country have 
been unmindful of the wishes of their kinsmen in the Southern 
Seas. 
Turning to the particular question of the New Hebrides, 
His Majesty’s Government observe that your Ministers 
suggest that a definite attempt should be made to secure the 
possession of the Islands by some readjustment, whether of 
territory or of privileges, elsewhere. They must see, how- 
ever, on reflection, that it would not be fair that a sacrifice 
should be made of another part of the Empire in deference 
to Australian wishes. Nearly thirty years ago Lord Carnar- 
von pointed out, in his dispatch of July 9, 1875, to the 
Governors of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and 
New Zealand, that © it would be impossible for a very large 
proportion of the taxpayers of this country to understand 
on what principle they should bear, whilst the Colonies 
immediately concerned should be exempted from, the 
burden of any expenditure that may be incurred in connexion 
with such places’ as Fiji or New Guinea. It would be no 
less difficult to explain to His Majesty’s subjects in another 
part of the Empire why their interests should be sacrificed 
in order to obtain for Australia the whole of the New Hebrides. 
His Majesty’s Government have felt it their duty to put 
before your Ministers as plainly as possible a side of the 
New Hebrides question which is sometimes forgotten. They 
have constantly to remember the fact which your Ministers 
also recognize, that they are trustees for the whole of the 
Lt Parl. Pap., Cd. 3288, p. 64.