Oceania, the island division of the world, includes Australasia and the great groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the larger islands are regions of great productivity; others are important as coaling-stations; still others have positions of great strategic value.

When it is considered that more than half the people in the world live on the slopes of the Pacific Ocean, and that they depend on the metal-working and manufacturing people of the Atlantic slopes for clothing and commodities, it is apparent that the commerce of the Pacific Ocean must reach enormous proportions.

For this reason the various island groups of Oceania have been acquired by Europeans, and from the moment of their occupation their commercial development began. The great majority of these groups are within the limits of the sago-palm, bread-fruit, cocoanut, and banana, and these yield not only the food-stuffs of the native people, but the export products as well. Copra, or dried cocoanut meat, is the general export. It is marketed in Marseille, London, and San Francisco. Sago is prepared from the pith of a species of palm. Considerable quantities are also exported, and it is used as a table delicacy. The banana is the food-stuff upon which many millions of people must depend. In spite of their small aggregate area, the food-producing power of these islands is very great.[83]

On account of its central position, Honolulu, the capital and chief port of Hawaii, is the most important mid-ocean station of the Pacific. It is almost in the direct line of traffic between the Pacific ports of the United States and Canada on the one hand, and those of Australia, Japan and China on the other. It is also in the route of vessels that may hereafter use the American isthmian canal in going between European and Asian ports.

In the cultivation of export products native Malay labor is almost always employed, inasmuch as Europeans cannot bear out-of-door labor in the tropics. The natives are generally known as "Kanakas," and there is not a little illicit traffic in their labor. Chinese and Japanese coolies are also employed as laborers.

The Commonwealth of Australia.—The commonwealth of Australia consists of the various states of Australia together with Tasmania. Their position corresponds very closely to that of Mexico and Central America, and the climate and products are not unlike. A considerable part of Australia is a desert, and a large area is too arid for the production of bread-stuffs; the eastern coast, however, receives abundant rains.

Australia produces nearly one-third of the wool-clip of the world. On account of the climate, the quality of the wool, much of it merino, is excellent. More than half the clip comes from New South Wales. Two-thirds of the wool goes to Great Britain to be manufactured; nearly all the rest is purchased by France, Germany, and Belgium. Less than two per cent. is sold to the United States.

Since the introduction of cold-storage plants in steamships, Australia has become a heavy exporter of meat. Areas long unproductive are now cattle-ranges; mutton constitutes the heaviest shipment. Inasmuch as the transportation is almost wholly by water, the cost is very light, and the mutton can be sold to London dealers at less than four cents per pound.

Wheat is grown mainly for home consumption. Grapes for wine and for raisins are good-paying crops in Victoria and New South Wales. Both products find a ready market in Great Britain. Australian claret is a strong competitor of California claret for public favor, and the two are similar in character. Cane-sugar is grown in the moist regions of Queensland; it is the chief supply of the commonwealth and the neighboring islands. The forests produce an abundance of hard woods, but practically no building-timber. Jarrah wood paving-blocks are an important export. British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon supply much of the building-timber.

Gold has been the chief mineral product since the settlement of the country. The mints convert the metal into coin. As a rule the value of the exports exceeds that of the imports, and the excess swells the amount of metal exported. The most productive mines are in the district of Ballarat. Coal is abundant on the east coast, and a considerable part is sold to California, and more to Asian ports. Tin is extensively mined in Tasmania.

More than fifteen thousand miles of railway have been built to carry the traffic of the country. Most of them were built by private corporations, but on account of financial difficulties and poor service they were acquired by the government. The policy proved a wise one.

Great Britain encourages the trade of her colonies, and gets about three-fourths of the traffic of the commonwealth, the imports being manufactured goods. Of the foreign trade the United States has about half, nearly all of which is landed at San Francisco and Puget Sound. Wool, cattle products, and coal are exported to the United States, and the latter sends to Australia structural steel—mainly rails—printing-paper, and coal-oil.

Melbourne is the largest city. Sydney is the port at which most of the ocean trade is landed. Brisbane, mainly a coal and a wool market, is connected with British Columbia by an ocean cable. Steamships by way of the Suez Canal generally call at Perth and Adelaide. Hobart and Launcestown are the markets of Tasmania.

New Zealand.—This colony is one of the most prosperous and best administered states in existence. The cultivable lands produce enough wheat for home use, and an excess for export. Cattle and sheep are the chief resource, however, and pretty nearly everything—meat, hides, wool, horn, and bones—is exported. Dairy products are not forgotten, and under the management of an association, these are of the best quality.

New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), a kind of marsh hemp, yields a fibre used in making cordage. The kauri pine furnishes the chief supply of lumber. A fossil kauri gum is collected for export; it makes a varnish almost equal to Japanese lacquer. Gold is mined, and there being no mint, all the bullion is exported. The only manufactures are those which are connected with the meat export and the dairy industry. The exports noted more than pay for the manufactured goods. Most of the trade is carried on with Great Britain. Wellington, the capital, and Auckland are the centres of trade.

New Guinea.—This island, one of the largest in the world, is somewhat larger than the State of Texas, or about one-third larger than Germany or France. The gold-mines first led to the exploration and settlement of the island, but it was soon apparent that the agricultural resources were even more valuable, and it was divided among the British, Germans, and Dutch.

The western part of the island is distinctly Asian in character; the eastern and southern parts resemble Australia. Coffee, rice, and tobacco plantations have been established in the former; grazing is the chief industry in the latter. Ebony and bamboo are among the forest products.

British Possessions.—The Fiji Islands are among the most important British possessions. They number about eighty habitable and twice as many small islands. Sugar is the chief export product, and it goes mainly to Australia and New Zealand. Cocoanuts are also a large item of export trade. Suva is the chief trading-port.

The Tonga Islands are nominally independent, but are practically a British protectorate. Among other British possessions are Cook, Gilbert, and Ellice archipelagoes, and Pitcairn Island.

German Possessions.—The Samoa Islands are perhaps the most important German possession, and German planters have made them highly productive. They were formerly held under a community-of-interest plan by Great Britain, Germany, and the United States. A joint commission awarded the greater part of the territory to Germany. In addition to the ordinary products, pineapples and limes are exported. Most of the trade is carried on by way of Australia. Apia is the trading-port.

Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon, Marshall, and Caroline groups have also been acquired by Germany. The last named was purchased from Spain at the close of the Spanish-American War.

French Possessions.—New Caledonia, together with Loyalty Islands, Fortuna, and the New Hebrides group, have great wealth in the matter of resources. New Caledonia, a penal colony, has productive mines of chrome iron ore and copper. It is the source of a considerable supply of nickel and cobalt. A railway to the coast has been built for the carriage of these products.

Tahiti is the principal island of the Society group, and under the missions long established there, the natives have become civilized. In addition to the usual trade, sugar and mother-of-pearl are important exports.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

How will the commerce of the Pacific be changed by the construction of an isthmian canal?

What has been the effect of the Australian wool-clip on the cloth-making industry of England and Germany?

How will the acquisition of Hawaii and the Philippine Islands affect the commerce of the United States?

From Commercial Australia find the trade of the United States with the Commonwealth.