§ MR. JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, For what reason Her Majesty's Government assent to the abrogation of the Convention of 1847, whereby the independence of the Islands of Huahine, Raiatea, and Borabora, near Tahiti, was guaranteed; and, why the protection of life and property in Raiatea was not secured, as in the New Hebrides, by a Joint Commission, instead of handing over that Island to the French?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N. E.)The reason why Her Majesty's Government assented to the abrogation of the Convention of 1847, relative to the Islands to the leeward of Tahiti, is stated in a despatch addressed to Her Majesty's Minister at Paris, which is printed along with the Convention relative to the New Hebrides, lately presented to Parliament. The last paragraph of that despatch is as follows:—
The result of this failure upon Raiatea has been that, contrary to all expectation, the 1474 French Protectorate has never teen made definitive. It does not, however, appear to Her Majesty's Government desirable, or, indeed, practicable, to remit to an aboriginal administration an Island which has been for some years under French government, as well as in view of the peculiar circumstances attending the failure of the Convention of 1885. They are willing to transfer the stipulation in question to the present Convention, subject, of course, to the undertakings given in a note verbale to Lord Lyons on the 24th of October, 1885.