The Colonial Office is clearly determined that the question of
annexing, or not annexing, New Guinea shall remain iu its own hands. It awaits the result of the Federal Conference on the subject to assemble in Sydney in November. Meanwhile, an expedition has been organised, under Mr. H. R. MaoIver, to make a descent on the island, and organise a local Government, as the North Borneo Company did, and so force the hand both of the Colonies and of Great Britain. The project appears to be serious, and Lord Derby, therefore, on the 24th inst. addressed a letter to Mr. (or "Brigadier-General ") MacIver, informing' him that "he finds himself under the necessity of informing- him especially, and without delay, that the contemplated operations cannot be permitted ;" and that if they are- persisted in, the High Commissioner in the Western Pacific, and the officer commanding her Majesty's Naval forces on the station, will be ordered to "interfere." In plain English, any ships landing an expedition will be sunk at sight. That is, at all events, a decisive policy, and, in view of the con- templated Conference, is quite justifiable, though Mr. MacIver is right when he says that New Zealand was acquired by an expedition similar. to his own. It has become quite impossible for the regular Governments to tolerate irregular adventure; and their strength, with the modern developments of ironclad& and swift armoured corvettes, has become irresistible. All the- filibusters of England and America together would be sunk in an hour now-a-days, by a Power like Holland.
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