NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Press, Volume XV, Issue 2045, 4 November 1869, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

[From tho " European Mail."] The various schemes for connecting Australia with the present Indian telegraphic system demand a few observations. My information is chi-fly,obtained from a private source, ns the proppectueos of two of the companies alluded to in the following remarks, have not been yet published. A company, to bo called The Eastern Oceanic Telegraph Company, with a capital of £600,000 in £10 shares, proposes to lay cables from Rangoon to Singapore and to Batavia, to use the Dutch line to the east, end of Java, and thence to lay a cable to North West Cape, Australia, and there join the land line proposed by a Colonial Company through Western Australia,to Perth, King George's Sound to Port Lincoln, and Berose Spencer's and St. Vincent's Gulfs to Adelaide, and connect the existing lines to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Tasmania. The P. and O. steamers first touch at King George's Sound on their arrival at, Australia. The Company require about 2,300 miles in length of cables to complete the connection with Australia. They also, propose to lay cables from Tasmania to Dusky Bay, New Zealand, from Singapore to and Labuan (Borneo) to Manilla (Phillipine Islands),"and thence to Hong Kong, Amov. Ningpo, and Shanghai (China Treaty Ports), end to Nagasaki (Japan). The Eastern Oceanic purpose to unite New Zealand with Tasmania, ■which, in connection with proposed and existing lines,' will bring the colony within the range of telegraphic communication with Australia, India, China, Europe, and America. A company has likewise been formed in London for thawing a railway from Dunedin to Port Chalmers and to Deborah Bay, converting the latter into an extensive wet dock capable of receiving all the shipping arriving in Otago. It will no doubt beof great advantage to trade, by substituting a rapid delivery of cargo at Dunedin instead of the tedious transit by lighters, which frequently take weeks to perform the distance from Port-Chalmers to the town. The railway will join the one about to be commence 3 from Dunedin to Molyneux.

"While dwelling upon this colony, it ie ■worth while stating that tho import of New Zealand native flax, (phormium tenax) ia becoming of great importance here, and for "clean " parcels, a. market is readily found at Jrom £30 to £40 iOs.per ton. It ie said that tTstere is an opening for the fibre to compete with Manilla hemp, fair samples of which realise £50 per ton. There ia, however, room iqr improvement in the mode of cleaning adopted m the colony, and if the gum and other adherent matter coujd be removed without weakening the fibre, there is little doubt that much better prices would be obtained. This point is commended to the earnest atten* Ijon of producers and shippers. ; . ' . '''/A fine silky fibre is also spoken of, said to be prepared from common tussock grass in Hew Zealand, arid valued at from £40 to £4-5 W ton, of which cample shipments are strongly recommended. ...

The "Economist" says that in inquiring into, what, price our colonic should pay for the Jmpgrial connection, it,is necessary to remember that there Iβ no foreign country so largely enriched and developed .by English capital as the colonies, and if the colonies were foreign too they would soon cease to be so" attractive as they are. What price then should a small stai,e t "seeking these advantages.be wilting to give, and what terms might a lurge state be willing to accept ? It is possible for a.small Btate to confer any advantage equivalent to the rick it imposes by the connection on the larger power? It ia obvious that in answering this question the different circumstances of the email States and the Powers they seek to connect themselves with would hay* to be considered. Some States like Canada may be bo expoeed-j&afe no great power coald be tempt* d on almost any terms to accept the risk which England inherits. I>ney France o? Prussia being invited to accept the protectorate of Canada and the Canadians endeavouring to discover come advantage which would tempt these Powers. Some great Powers on the other hand may not be grea,b enough to c<m far, unless at great ex pense,the protection which a greater Power, or one more favorably situated, could confer with ease. = The risk of JYance or Prussia or the United States in accepting the protectorateof New Zealand would be overwhelming, ij their protectorate was to be worth anything ; and the price the smaller State ought to pay TBTould require to be in proportion. But to take the case of England a* that of an Empire which, except in the case of CanaJa, has the greatest? facilities* ia protecting colonies, we etill find that the colomeV ought not to expect all the advantages they receive without paying a considerable price. It ie certain that they cause a good deal of expense to the mother country, though without them/we should still require large armies and fleets. They are directly a'tnosir burdensome posseesion, exposing our flag to attack in every quarter of the world, so that eren the wieli to Bβ fid of them which finds -iio little support at home is not to be wondered at. We are not disposed to think that were the question now considered for the first time, tha* is, upon the application of some colony for admissions*© the Empire—that the preeeiifr discuesids points to a coDsideration of fhe qUeiiionsTlpon that price which fcedduy would offeracd would be i»k©d c to

pay would be to contribute directly and proportionately to Imperial burdere. No other arrangement would be consistent with their ««'lf-rcfip?ct, or would renlly be a price which the mother country would think of considering. On August 24, Mr Archibald Hamilton read a p.-iper before the nssoom'ion on ihe economic progress of New Zealand. !!•■ strongly advocated Ihe maintenance of s *ye reign rehitio» s between British Colonies and the Home Government He i-aid it was tin* merest assumption that we could felly pre serve our trad*? if the colonies were independent. The Australian and New Ze-dand colonies took nearly of our exports in the year 1866 In tho event of war would surely be a great advantage to u<? to have so many colonial ports open to us all over the world, which, if they were independent, would be neutral ports He believed New Zealand had great reason to complain ol the treatment they had received, and as a consequence the relations between the Coloni 1 Office and the colony had become'truly un fortunate, being little better than snubbing on one eide and snarling on the other. Re specung the Maori question, he ventured to cay that nothing had been so ignominious a< the result of our operations in New Zealand The last item in the etory was, that Kngland bad refused to guarantee a loan of a million and a half to maintain an army to reduce the hostile natives, the Colonial Office saying that if the inhabitants of the North Island were driven into the eea they must accept their fate. Mr Hamilton earnestly trusted that the policy of the Colonial Office might be reversed while there was yet time.

At the latter end of July, the firm of Harwood r Knight and Allen, bankers, of Abchurch Lane, London, discovered that Itills of exchange, amounting at least to £15,000, had been purloined from their premieee. Suspicion at once attached to Clement Harwood, *on of the senior partner, and hisropusin John Hatcher, in consrquence of their absence from business. Inquiries were set on foot, when it was found that two men answering to their descriptbn had sailed for America by the steamer Uiissia. The authorities there were communicated with by telegram, and the runaways were apprehended on the arrival of the sttamer at New York. On their return to England, on August 18, in cuctody of two detectives, they were brought before the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House. Here it was made clear, from a statement made by his fellow-prisoner, that Hatcher acted without a criminal intent, and he was discharged. Harwood, ho wever,wae remanded, but on August 31 he was again brought up at the Mansion House, when, explanations having been given that documents essential to the case were on their way, from America but had not yet been received, the prisoner was further remanded until September 7. On the appointed day, Mi» Straight asked permission to rake a somewhat unusual course in a case of some importance, numely, & withdrawal from the prosecution. It hadbetn an exceedingly painful case, and from the fact that the prisoner's father was the senior partner in the firm, it could well be understood that certain influences were at work which had been brought to bear on tho, prosecutor. Upon the demanding that the prisoner would be sent abroad, he was discharged. We ought to state that nearly the whole of the property was recovered.

A great sensation has been produced by Mrs Beecher Stowe'e vindication of Lady Byron, or, as she calls it, "The True Story.of Lady Byron's Life," which commences the September number, of " Macmillan's Maga : zinc," and. has caused the sale of many extra thousand? of copies l of that periodical. Mrs Stbwe professes to have the authority of Lady Byron herself for the statements'she promulgates,'and if what she says be true, »n addition must be made to the list of those who may be classed as " the brightest, basest, meanest of mankind/ in the person of the " great" Lord Byron. What the grounds were which caused the separation between Lord and Lady Byron has always been a mystery ; though it has been generally understood that Lady Byron's cold, methodical, and unappreciafcing temperament —co little in accordance with the poet's eestacy —was the cause. Lord Byron himself drew hie wife's picture as Donna Inez Jri "Don Juan." and gave currency to thenotioni while his own beautiful "Fare thee well" and other poems were supposed to express the -feelings of his own nature, which met with no return from his ill-matched wife. Mrs Stowe'e paper, which if true, disposes for ever of these illusions, will be read* with world-wide interest. It is but right to say that Mrs Stowe's version ie not accepted/universally as a true statement, of the case; on the contrary, in many quarters the greatest doubts are expressed, both as to her alleged facts and her deductions from them. Perhaps the strongest testimony to the- substantial accuracy of her tale, isthat the lawyers of Lady -Byron's grandchildren, who complain in the strongest manner of Mrs Stowe for pub Hshing the statement, and impugn her motives and good taste in doing so, very carefully avoid committing themselves to a denial of the main allegations, but only say that the " whole truth " has not been told. The question has excited a lively controversy, and the probable result will bo that. Lady Byron's statement, which she confided to certain trustees for publication whenever they thought fit, will be brought out, under the care of some well-known literate, on whom the world can rely to let the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, be known. Mr John Forster's name has already been mentioned.