The discussion as to the possession of Samoa has advanced
a step or two this week. The American Government has notified officially its wish to relinquish its share in the tri- partite protectorate, and the future of the island rests therefore with Germany and Great Britain. The Germans claim it because they hold a larger stake in the soil, and the British ask for it because the Australians think they may want it. some day, as a resting-place for steamers and telegraph cables on the way to America. The island is not of immediate value, as it is nearly 1,600 miles from Auckland and 2,500, from Sydney, but if the German Emperor has anything else
to ask which we can readily grant, it might be well to con- -ciliate New Zealand. The only thing we protest against is a joint dominion, which invariably ends in bad government and -quarrelling. The Germans will, we suppose, govern decently, though they certainly display quite unexpected harshness in dealing with dark races. It is actually asserted, though we -cannot believe it, that one of their Colonial agents recently issued a decree threatening that any negro who failed to salute a European should be flogged. That would be monstrous, -even if it were the way to govern, and it is not.
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