eneficial to the race as a whole, stands but a poor chance of being
introduced.

The products of the islands are coprah, coffee, corn, cocoa and, of
late years, cotton. The chief item, however, is coprah, for the islands
seem specially suited for the growing of cocoa-nut palms. Rubber does
not seem to thrive.

In spite of the great number of officials, the Government does not
make itself much felt outside the larger settlements, at least on the
French side. There are not yet magistrates on each island, so that
the Government hears only so much about the crimes committed on the
islands as the planters care to tell, and naturally they do not tell
too much. The British Government is represented by two inspectors,
who frequently visit all the British plantations and look into labour
conditions; the activity of the French authorities is restricted to
occasional visits from the Resident.

Thus the natives have no means of complaining about the whites,
while they have to submit to any punishment they may get on the
accusation of a colonist. This would be a very one-sided affair;
happily, the missionaries represent the interests of the natives,
and the power of the Government does not reach far inland. There the
natives are quite independent, so that only a few hours away from the
coast cannibalism still flourishes. Formerly, expeditions from the
men-of-war frightened the natives; to-day they know that resistance
is easy. It is, therefore, not the merit of the Government or the
planters if the islands are fairly pacified, but only of the missions,
which work mostly through native teachers. Still, the missions have
had one bad effect: they have undermined the old native authorities
and thus created general anarchy to complete the destruction begun
by European civilization.

In the Santa Cruz Islands there is only one plantation, worked by boys
from the Solomon Islands, as the Santa Cruz natives are not yet used to
regular work. But to-day they frequently recruit for the plantations
on the Solomons, and there come into contact with civilization. There
the labour conditions are strictly watched by the British Government;
still, boys returning from there have sometimes imported diseases,
generally tuberculosis, which have reduced the population by half.

Commerce

Communications with Sydney, the commercial centre of the Western
Pacific, are established by means of a French and an English line
of steamers. A few small st