ENGLAND AND THE FUTURE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2042, 21 January 1889, Page 2

ENGLAND AND THE FUTURE

— ,: ♦.„ . '' „ ■'.".■ A New Zealander, at present residingin v England, writes :— " I am tuankfnl that \ England is wakening out of the lethargy and the ebmnambulißtio ata'e m which ale has been for yeais, m reference to the defence of her commerce, her co'oaies, and widely-spread possessions, Md?* her own borne coasts. A b at present positioned, b'- onld any of the two iSuroy- ~f SeanPowers, say, Germany and Italy, or Inssia and Franoe, secretly unite ia hostility against the British Empire, what - havoc would be wrought, and what hundreds of millions of property would be destroyed, even if the foot of the invader were kept from treading her soil! Tha people her : are so engrossed with party strifes and questions/ and so infatuated with that dangerous. sq-eslted •* Grand Old Man," that they look not beyond th» scene of their domestic politics, utfconi eoioas of the threatening war cloud now darkening the po'.itioal horizon m erery ; quarter. It will *e "a rude shock tor tbev y luxurious, ease-loving, money-getting- ? folks here when that cloud bursts, and < the hitherto pent-up elements of deatruc* r . Won oommence their work. ojE^lobjoVrV deatruotion, and doath. Yet theonbment is at hand when the electric spark, will spring the lethal mine, and set all - ' Europe m a blaze. Too late then to bewail ' the culpable Indifference of the past. The invaluable time for preparation Thawing been frittered away In the rivalrfe* and "* strivings of antagonist^ home f actions, ,; the danger Imminent, Bngland*! 'com* meroe In every sea falling a prey to hoitll« " cruisers, her very dosits menaced with descent, the food supply running short, patilo will set In, millions upon millions will be lavishly ■qmndered, and If England does not suooamb, her wound will be severe, and sbe will pay dearly - for her present losouolwoe. and repent t :o of having yielded too w Illlogly to lb»iy tra voloe of Idolised demagogues The oolonies are ftrthe«-*eeing * than, thfl r mother country, their i foreign tfoiltteat" insUnot Indicates to (them the Tinas of * pol'cy that, should; be pursued^ by an Empire so widely spread and so in&ermtly powerful as the British. Had the Horn* Government acquiesced In the lead of the Australasian colonies, New Guinea; % '% Samoa, and others of the South Pacific 3. group of islands would now have been developing under tbe »jls of her fhg, Instead of being harassed by the domineer* Ings of the Teuton and the Oanl.; Bot#9 '-' leave the future of B Itafat and the South r : Sea lales for time to unfold. . ! " -er ;•: