Correspondents in Italy unite in stating that Menotti Gari- baldi
has a new enterprise on hand,—the settlement of a portion of the southern coast of New Guinea. He has collected 3,000 adherents, many of them gentlemen, and about £120,000, and proposes to found a regular colony, with the complete organi- sation of a State. The only cause of delay remaining is the necessity of asking the consent of Great Britain. We do not see any reason for refusing it. The interest of this country is to see New Guinea settled, not to undertake its Government, and if the Italians like to attempt so dan- gerous and costly an enterprise, it is not for Englishmen to throw obstacles in their way. The Italians will not, we fear, succeed, the climate on the coast being too indifferent ; but they will do a great deal of exploring work, and prepare the way for the Australians, to whom, sooner or later, Papua must belong. We always regret to see the work of colonisation confined, as of late years it has been, to the Eng- lish-speaking peoples ; and the natural work of Italy, the settle- ment of the southern coast of the Mediterranean, is barred by the nominal sway of Turkey in that region.
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