The Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1869.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 463, 10 November 1869, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1869.

Ip we may judge from an article in The Times, written just after the receipt of a letter from its New Zealand correspondent, the change of Ministry in thecolony is favourably regarded in England. After pointing out tbat the war waa dragging on as unsuccessfully as ever ; that three separate expeditions against the Natives, undertaken at great cost, had come to a thoroughly unsatisfactory end ; and that tbe colonial forces were in a state of disor--•^ganization, Tlie Times says : — " It is, " indeed, time for a change of some ix" ,sort ; happily one has been made, "and we trußt to hear no more of " these glaring and coßtly blunders, " to minister to which the late-Premier " of New Zealand applied for Imperial . ." funds." The change alluded to by The times is, of course, the change of Ministry, to tbe effects of which it looks forward with hope. The policy of the Fox Ministry is then described, and generally accepted as more statesmanlike than, that pursued by Mr Stafford. There is one point, however, in the Ministerial - programme, which The Tunes thinks ought to be re-con-sidered : — At the time the mail left two resolutions were before the House of Assembly, which, if passed, will result in Commissioners being sent home to ask the Imperial Government for two regiments for the North Island, on condition of the colony agreeing to pay for them at the rate of £40 per man per annum. If such an application is made,* it will no doubt be granted, but the colonists themselves must see that the Bending pf Imperial troops to New Zealand under present circumstances will necessarily be coupled with conditions ereatly detracting from .heir usefulness. Tbe Colonial Government know best whether it is worth their while tor pay £40 a year for a soldier who can only be allowed to do garrison duty ; and it is quite impossible

two Queen's regiments can be banded over to fight under the orders of the Native Secretary for the time being, to be marched to Lake Taupo and back again, or anywhere else he may choose. Mr Travers, who is of opinion that his fellow colonists are too rich, or too much addicted to money-making, will no doubt be delighted with the folio-w---ins: extract from The Times -. — There is one thing we must remember in connexion with New Zealand, and which may reassure us not only as to its future but its present state. It is, that while colonial misfortune is loud voiced, colonial prosperity is not so careful to make itself heard on this side of the world. Last mail's news relates so exclusively to native affairs, that those ignorant of the extent and divisions of the colony might reasonably imagine it whs laid desolate by. war from north to south. This is as though colonists were to read of our own late Irish disturbances with no thought or knowledge of tbe peace and prosperity of England and Scotland. It is true New Zealand is the seat of an obstinate rebellion, wliich has retarded its progress and embarrassed its resources, but it is also true that, the Middle Island and a great part of the North are studded with flourishing towns, with no beggars in their streets, and that on ths many large tracts of cultivated land and rich gold diggings, dwell a people better clothe 1 and better fed th*n our own millions will ever be.