ENGLISH NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 876, 12 September 1868, Page 13

ENGLISH NEWS.

To the majority of readers, the most interesting notification in the Suez telegrams is perhaps that which relates to the Duke of Edinburgh. His Royal Highness is to visit New Zealand after all. The palatial residence erected for his reception in Wellington will survive the jokes of Mr Fitzgerald and Bishop Selwyn, and with a little scrubbing and washing will still testify to the loyalty of the Province. Dunedin will also be called upon to build a mansion for the reception of the Prince, and our local authorities will thus have an opportunity of displaying taste as well as zeal. The next telegrams may possibly inform us that the Galatea is under wei/h ; in six months time this magnificent ship may be at anchor in Port Chalmers. The Prince is evidently fond of an active life. After his lengthy voyage in the Pacific, accompanied with the serious fatigues of his reception in half a dozen cities, he might naturally have felt no inclination for a similar trip forsome timetocome. Itwasrumouredthat he would be despatched to India after his return from Australia ; but we are now told that he is to visit China, Japan, and New Zealand. Probably India will be touched at on bis way, either out or home. When he does reach New Zealand, it is to be hoped that the colonists will profit by the experience of the Australians ; that is to

say, that they will leave the Prince as much as possible to choose his own methods of enjoyment, abstaining from too many addresses,, and confining their loyalty within the bounds of reason. The frenzied exhibitions ia the neighboring colonies have brought down upon them the ridicule of leading English journals ; and now that the excitement is over, the Australians have probably begun to feel that loyalty overdone is very nearly as bad as loyalty underdone.

Two Imperial Acts on matters relating to New Zealand have passed the Commons. One of them, refers to the appointment of members of the Legislative Council. It will be recollected that some nine months ago, the Attorney General bf the colony raised a question as to the validity of the appointments to seats in the Council. The points taken by him were these : first, that the instrument under the sign manual to the Governor, authorising him to summon persona to the Legislative Council, should name the persons to be summoned ; and secondly, that persons summoned before the. execution of such instrument and not, expressly re-summoned afterwards, could 1 , not be considered legally appointed.. The appointments were made under a. section in the Constitution Act providing that Her Majesty should authorise the Governor to summon such persons as Her - Majesty shall think fit. Mr Prendergast considered that the proper construe- . tion of this section required that the persons summoned should be specified in the instrument under the sign manual. He also argued that, as the Act did nob enable Her Majesty to delegate the power of selecting Legislative Councillors to any other person, that power can legally be exercised by herself only. The objections taken seem to have been confirmed by the Law Officers of the Crown ; and in consequence of that confirmation the Act alluded to in our telegrams has been introduced into the Imperial Legislature. A second Act sets at rest the question as to the powers of our Legislature with respect to abolishing Provinces or altering their boundaries. This will remove the County of Westland difficulty from the path of our legislators. The Act in ques.tion, judging from a draft of it trans^ mitted to our Government by the Duke of Buckingham some months since, is very brief. It simply enacts that ' the General Assembly of New Zealand shall be deemed to have, and since the passing of the Constitution Act to have had, tho power of abolishing any Province at any* time heretofore established, or which may be hereafter established in New Zealand ; or of withdrawing therefrom the whole or any _ part of the territory comprised herein, and of passing laws for the peace, order, and good government of the territory withdrawn from, or ceasing to form part of, the territory of any such Province — whether such territory shall or shall not be included within the limits of aDy other Province of New Zealand'

The prorogation of Parliament has put an end to those political discussions -which have of late disturbed the serenity of the Commons to so unusual an extent. We shall hear no more for awhile of the Irish Church or of the Suspensory Bill, except in so far as may relate to occasional Public meetings. A singular index as to the state of public opinion on these matters is afforded by the meeting at Guildhall, where the Lord Mayor, °who presided, was struck. It is hardly to besupposed that such a meeting was largelyattended by the ' roughs ' who have figured so much in recent discussions on Eeform ; and if on the other hand it was attended by what are termed the respectable classes of society, their conduct on the occasion is a curious exception to the ordinary rule. The Queen's Speech, announces that there is no reason to apprehend an European war, at present. Expecting as we have been to hear by every mail that war had broken out between. France and Prussia, this information is satisfactory. The opinion it expresses is confirmed by the fact that the French army, recently increased to enormous proportions, has been largely reduced. France and Prussia have been watching each other, both being unwilling to set the example of disarming ; but France, it seems, has at length grown tired of it, and has commenced the operation which announces peace to Europe. The policy of the British Government, we are told, will be the maintenance of peace. A paragraph in the Speech was devoted to the refutation of the argument that the Abyssinian Expedition was undertaken for political purposes. The immediate return of the army, after the destruction of Magdal?, is certainly conclusive on that point. There are few instances in history of military expeditions set on foot, at a cost of many millions of money, for the purpose of releasing a few captives from the hands of a savage. This may be termed war for an 'idea,' as Louis Napoleon phrased it; but such an idea would probably not warrant an expensive military equipment in the eyes of that very practical ruler.