NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1108, 10 December 1869, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

; THE MOTHER COUNTRY; AND ' " HER. COLONISTS. ' The Spectator remarks that lf tho British' , taxpayer does not like his colonies nothing is easier than to cast them off. He need 1 ; no more hive the expense of colonies than he need have the expense of a throne, if he does not choose to afford it. But in faot he does like the dignity both of a throne and of a great empire. He sees in his dull way, the advantages of the constant stream bf emigration which enriches England and the colonies at once. He is aware that the existence of a real Imperial tie is a necessary condition of much of that emigration, and a vast addition to the political influence of England. He sus- % pects pretty shrewdly that, as a mere Seouniary bargain, England gains a great eal more than she loses by her colonial empire,' even though she has to put her hand in her pocket oftener than she likes to help colonial misfortune. But the British taxpayer would be glad to have all this advantage and not pay its needful price, aud so is on the high road to paying a great deal more than the needful price, by rendering the connection hateful, even while he grudgingly doles out what would be, if cordially given, enough to render it cordial. It seems to be the fate of Great Britain to sow •" sentimental grievances" broadcast amongst her dependencies ; to treat them flippantly, as if thore were no grievances; to pay dear for them; and never to recover either the lost money, or . the more irretrievably lost regard and , affection. The Standard warns vs — "Impatient as the British public habitually is of colonial quesfcions/it must now be prepared to face that most important of all colonial questions— are the colonies to remain a portion of the Empire or not? The Ministry of Mr. Gladstone have apparently made up. their minds to answer in the negative. Is it true that the . great majority of Englishmen aro agreedto accept this decision— to cut off their outlying limbs, one after the other — to adopt as the highest wisdom that which may be called the crustacean policy, which consists in letting your members fall off lest they should be violently captured ? If the colonies are not ourchildren, they must either be allies or rivals. We shall not put tho (not impossible) hypothesis that at some future day they may be our enemies. Is it not, then, worth while to cultivate the colonies, if only as allies P But are we going the right way to keep them friendly in the future by our manner of treating them now ? Even if we should prefer to cast them off as children (for which we hold there is not the slightest reason) it is still our duty surely to let the separation take place in such a way as not to leave behind it a feeling of bad blood. What our Liberal stafcesmon seem to be utterly unable to understand is, that there are two ways of turning colonies into enemies : one by forcing them to remain in subjection as children after' they had arrived ,at their full stature, which was Lord North's plan;, and the other, which is not less efficacious, of turning them off abruptly while still children, which is Lord Granville's method." . The Telegraph says : — Why should there not be here, ih the metropolis of the Empire, a consultative assembly of Colonial Notables P They might be freely chosen, in numbers proportioned to the population of the colony /rather, than its wealth ; they might, possibly, form one section of the Privy Council -— a . position which the colonists would assuredly not dislike ; and they might be in constant and intimate relations with our own Colonial Secretary. The amount to be borne by local resources for the sake of local defence ahd many similar '-points; which will steadily increase both in dumber and importance, could bo best discussed and determined by such a Colonial Council; ; the Home Ministry would have the inestimable advantage of trustworthy aud authoritative information; and if such a body existed, no. long time would elapse before Parliament would decline to pass measures bearing on colonial interests that had not been submitted to ithe Council. Years ago, the scheme might have been rendered impracticable by considerations of time and space ; but time and space are np.longer such formidable bugbears. With the electric wire for questions of emergency, London might be in constant communication with Melbourne and other colonial capitals." ' The Court Journal remarks : — " Are we to lose our colonies ? That such is the logical result of the policy of the present Government seems feasible enough; that such a line should roally bo taken by this country -seems quite • incredible. If we have one faculty, it is that of founding empires. Surely the British Parliament will have a word to say before we distinguish ourselves by permitting them to fall away from us. France, Germany, the United States— all the great ■powers are intent' upon increasing their territories. We are indulging recklessly a whim for giving up those we have. Let these depart, and we become citizens of two little islands without prestige or reputation, ex- , cept for bad statesmanship and folly. This is not a destiny which will suit the British nation, however it may tickle the vanity of conceited journalists and statesmen to speculate upon it." The Broad Arrow, gays : — " What Sir Robert Napier did in Abyssinia at a cost . never before incurred.for an almost bloodless victory has to be i- done in New Zea- , land on a much smaller scale, and on a basis of tho;tnost reliable data.. .. Commu- ; hications have to be opened from the coast to the interior * military posts established, and a military camp formed in the open country around Lake Taupo. Wo see no reason why this occupation of the key of the position should not assume the character of a military settlement. The colonists cannot put the necessary number of men in tne field, and keep them there, in consequence of the valuo of labor. Hero, at home, however, ib would be perfectly easy to form a little corps d'armee of discharged soldiers and other ; men of good character in the prime of life, who, under a leader like Chinese Gordon, would settle down to tho work, and, at the same time, constitute the nucleus of a flourishing community. The idea of obtaining assistance in some form from the Home Government has now been revived in the House of Representatives, and we see no reason why the question should not bo considered in connection with the important subject of military colonisation. A sadden inarch, to Taupo. fdr tho sake of punishing the rebels, and retiring again, is ono thing ; an occupation in force of the lands bordering on the Lake is quito another. There may be great, almost insuperable, difficulties in laying out a little, campaign in a wild and comparatively unknown 1 country, which difficulties would at onoe yield to, a comprehensive plan for doing the work in the spirit of determined conquest. Thedatfningpros-* perity of {the North Island, consequent on ytlle .development' of it's abundant minoral, .and especially those of tho goldfields iv t jjo ' i^ jamy^cj is jtr-ic t,;.i_ lull ol pro-; ; mise s fpi\ l lio future, .jt would be cjjsci;edit-: ■ able to the Government if this-. pxomise. were allowed to be blasted by the con*

tinued mismanagement of the' military affairs of the colony."