Hawake's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1879. COLONIAL DEFFENCE

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5556, 6 December 1879, Page 2

Hawake's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1879. COLONIAL DEFFENCE

From time t6 time the V^Veijtidh'oHrgan'i _g H hig.a p^niplcU system of defence, .for the," Australasian colonies crops; \ up,. 'in.', the' House o£ Commons, and recently wo were 1 informod that a Eoyal Ooinmission, with Lortl Carnarvon at tlie heajct, had been appointed to inquire into.tlio. subject. The calling, into existence o£ this fcbmiiiissipn is due to the persistent efforts 'of a'few mci, led by Captain Colomb, R.A., sn\iL Colonel Arbuthnot, M.P., wlio tlii»oug^ the|Pressj in tlic House,' and fey^nVeaiii 6J pamphlets, have kept pretty gitomiileiitly before the British public #16 defence o£ the' colonies. Tlic colonies as separate; countries would have ftothift£ b fe&r, biit it is argitcc\> duel with, some show o£ probability, tkit ,oiUr connection- with England-, as an integral ot ihe British Enspirev closes tis to great danger in tile event of England being at war with any power possessing a good fleet. The colonies, it may be admitted, are ; all but absolutely defenceless, and even a small squadron of powerful ships might inflict most serious damage 'oh our seaboard towns. Agairiyt these possibilities, however, must bo set other considerations. lii the first place we doubt whether any country could spare a squadron to send to the southern seas if she were at war with England. Our owii fleet is so large and powerful and ihe character of our sailors so aggressive, that it would, take all tile naval might of any foreign nation to keep them ill elieck. It appears to be accepted aS an axiom of European wd-rfare that England is practically invulnerable. Her enormoua fleet, her numerous land batteries, and her: regular troops and volunteers ready to work these batteries at an hour's, notice, offer almost insuperable diniculties to an enemy Seeking to land a large force in the country, and, even if it lfttt.d<kl, tlie militia, volunteers, and reserve could be mustered at a given place in less than three tkys, and tlie invader would find that his difficulties had only just commenced. Englaud) in any war in which she. may be engaged, must of necessity assume the aggressive. It is she who who would attack the enemy, and no nation is so powerful as to spare a portion o£ her navy from defence purposes in order to invade the colonies . Indeed, there would be little to be gained by such au invasion. We belong to England it is true, and as wo reap the benefits 'b£ the connection we must also take the risk, but England as a fighting power would- sUft'cr little or nothing from the invasion' of the colonies. Thus one of tlie main objects of warfare— the crippling of the antagonistic power— would be wanting, and in this we have a further safeguard. But, assuming lliat any foreign power at war with England could spare tbe necessary fleet to attack the colonies aiid that the advantages would be considered worth the attempt, we come to the question of the possibility of defending ourselves. Canada is in the most dangerous position, but she is also the most favorably situated for defence, while her population is much larger than ours. She has taken some steps towards defending her ports, and lias a considerable force of militia, which, supplemented, by a few regular troops, would give an enemy some trouble. . The Capo can bealso defended with comparative ease, and hero again the colonists have not been backward in preparing for contingencies, though their dangers have hitherto all come fromiwithih. Victoria, New South Wales, aiid Queensland' again, do not' offer insuperabje. difficulties in the. way. of defence, for their seaboard, is small when compared with their totai territory. ' Still, to do what is necessary to protect their few ports would be an enormous strain upon their resources. Victoria would be the most easily and cheaply defended, and some provision in this direction has been made. But how about J^ew . Zealand P With a population as large, as England, and a revenue in proportion, we might defend our coasts as. England has done; but to do so with the means at present at our disposal would be a simple impossibility. Our seaboard is so enormous, and the places where an enemy could land aro so numerous, that we should have to double our present colonial debt if we wished to defend our ports, and the expenses of maintenance would be very heavy. Torpedo corps in the seaport towns might do good by laying torpedoes, but beyond this defence is with us now practically impossible. The commission which has been appointed, however, does not aim at dis-/ covering the mere capabilities of internal defence possessed by the colonies. It seems to be admitted that we could not adequately protect our coasts by batteries, and that to a great extent we must rely for defence -upon British men-of-war. The : commission is therefore directed ,toin-' quire into the best positions for coaling-; stations, and ports where dry-docks could be constructed for the repair of men-of-war. In Melbourne and other large Australian ports there are dry-docks which arc cither sufficiently largo or could be made large enough, but in New Zealand we could not dock even a moderatesized man-of-war. A dock capable of accommodating one of the heavy corvettes or turret-ships would be enormously expensive, and it could never be kept for men-of-war alone. Still something might be done in this direction ,by a union of forces. The dock could be utilised in docking merchant-ships, and though this would not cover the interest on the money expended the deficiency might be defrayed by the Home Government and jiartly by the colony. This part of the commission.'fii programme is not impracticable, aiid it is to be hoped that thoir inquiries may lead • to some practical result.

We received a cablegram at ha££?past 3 o'clock thiss morning, announcing that; the New Zealand five iniUion loan had

been put -upon tKe^> London money | market. r-g- l ss, \ The Ta;rarimj.havi% b^^etainpjl^n ; Wellington -a' day, wiU^'4*6*flsfiyc^K|t'e' until to-morrow.' The la^cliSwill &kel off passenger's, &c.: At ri6onC "^ | J#^ cirtion, hold last evening, a' very lilleral I programme was dtftwn M fer tile* prize firing 6t\ BoMKg Day. The prizes comshape of pups' and trophies. \^|fd.Mayor, , ikihH. .sX-inffM.-M^Majci iomicdgll ; eackiapi'esent'. a- '-valuables-; sUvefr^&tp :■« Mejssrs Kobjohns^ltviiiß.) Sild,,dbT. gK*> a -writing desk Messrs Kinross- And 60.7 a tm ol whisky ; the New Zealand. SMpping Company 1 ,, 'k tJJQS^ \ jfs Rich, a vplllimio j , Miqisjsrs, Stewart and 1 'Co., a case of colonial ( wine and half- a, dozen .slurbs ; Messrs Wardrop and Co., a bbx l o£ ! tea :' Melssrjj aM Go.-, ft cAfie $? \6&i akcl/Xi;%:^M&",ftTaluable ; feocjic. < Befidr'al ladies have" kindly offered :;a;special .prize, but what form it will take is not yet decided. Although Boxing has been fixed for the firing, it is not ' unlikely that owing to the largo number of [competitors; \ on&.j if^jnot ._ raore of-'^the • maiches wdfliave to be postponed till the following Saturday. The total value oi the j)fi£c list ,iS ai)oUfc £100, and it is very prdbaole =that ■■ the list will be increased, 1 should the funds permit, by enhancing 'the value of the cash prizes to the extent 2pf about £20. JWTlie 3?Wal and JfdrUMitufal Exhibi_|jt©ii at.- tll\i i W6rking"H Men's Club was !■ yesterday well attended. In our notice 6i -the prizes in.laSt iss'de it wAs stated that' jsaVetal SpeleiAl: pl'izes. were given by Mil Cdiiei 1 ). . Tile name should have been MrW. 'Col'enso. . Tte folWwitis eMiuips fe feebn feceived folf tlVe Pictane Handicap:— Mr H. PoWdrcirY.c g Hero, Mr'W. Robinson's b g Parawhcuua, Mr W. Douglas's b g Kaokaoroa, Mr Kawepo's c h Otupai, Mr C. C. Mui'ray's br h Tamatea, Mr C. C. Murray'sTc g Repudiator. ;. 'There have been very heavy i?ains during: the week in the WoOdVllle ahd Norsewood districts,, very nulch. retarding farming^ operations > f ; At the meetlhg oIE thoWaip'awa' County CbUncil on Tlmrsday An Application was read froni A \ierso'A. named Martin with respect te a child left with him by a man who had ?shice gone from the district, the mother being in tile" Lunatic Asylum. Martify therefore, applied' to the Couhcil for assistance in supporting the child. The Council decided to lteaVe th^ nidtter in the hands., of tjft cjiaifman. Shortly af teiS Oil th'o Council adjonrniug for lunch, the chairman, ;i on . Jeaving the Coimcil Chamber, was met by a vronian with a child who also wanted reliof. The chairman, while promising to give the assistance asked ,for,v renlarked> " I told the Council at the time they appointed me to . deal with tjic matter" of the' other child that it -\VAs laying down an inconvenient precedent, but I did not think it would be followed lip so iobn." A friendly four-oared rowing match' ha's beqn definitely arranged between the HditALD and Zls^rflr/^-ciiiployds, to come off' to'dfty immediately after the clubs' races. A telegram . received in town yesterday announced' that Mr Justice Richmond will preside at the coming sittings of the Supreme Court. "Until then it was Understood that Chief Justice^ Prendergast would be the presiding Judge. TM hewiy-f ormed Rifle Club at Waipawa already numbers twenty-six members. The following officers have been elected : — President, Lieut.-Colonel Herrick s Vice'Pi'esident, Mr Rechab Harding; Secretary, Mr J. Chicken ; Committee, Messrs J. Gollan, D. Gtly, Chas. Hughlan, J; Craven, and D. Sclby.. Mr Harding has kindly given to the club the use of a piece of r ground for a shooting range. .. ; A match between the Star and Waipawa Cricket Clubs' will be played on Olivesquare this afternoon. Wickets will be })itelied\ precisely at 3 o'clock. : The folowirig are the names of the Star team : — EcS T . De Bdrdt Hovell, Messrs Gould, Edwards, M'lntqsh, Day, Carnell, Hampton, Sidey, E,ose, Hunt, Cornfprd, and M'Kenzie. -The following will represent the Tradesmen's Club ': -^-Messrs Luke, Bristy, Willis, Langhan, Grinlinton, Mogridge, Wi Greensido, R^eardon, Mullany,'and J. Holt.' r ; The Southern Cross brought . yesterday a fine clipper clinker-built, copper fastened, yacht: ■• She is n&rned the Mystery, and has done some good running in the Auckland regattas. She has been brought from Auckland to the order of several gentlemen on the Spit. The example is one which we rwould like to' see followed by others in Napier, so that at some not far distant r date we might have some yacht races, ; for which our bay and inner harbour are so well adapted. The only draws 3 feet of water, is about 5 tons register, and is copper bottomed. ! ; The members of the Union Rowing /Club, are requested to assemble at the boatshed at 1.30 sharp, this afternoon. v We are informed that the rifle range is in a dangerous state ; so much so that it is feared a serious accident will occur some day unless repairs are effected. The Mantalini Waxworks Exhibition Ls doing good business at Waipawa..