The Evening Star. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4086, 31 March 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1876.

The colonists in the Colonic- s ought to be very much obliged to the cole mists at Home for the kind interest manifest ;e d by them in aU that concerns their welf are> Those at Home are hot always wise i‘ their proceed*

inland a little knot o£ them congregated in London sometimes take upon themselves the liberty of doing very silly and unaUtho-

riged acts on behalf : pf, aqd in £ fhe name of I th® latest of jKSSe nbuoefi of we rebMvid j^orma-{ tjon,,if we th£p?iegram thei memo Hal members of Institute “ to have tbo'JOtdbniea 1 recognised ill the Queen’s new title.” It is 1

not very clear what is meant by the term “recognised,” but the fair inference is that they wish Her Majesty to take to herself

the - title of Empress of her Colonies. Such an assumption we regard as I 'totally'at wanahce ‘‘with" the borne by. the Colonies to the. Mother Coun- ] try.- There is no analogy between the posi- ] tion of colonies, the offspring of Great Britain, country ruleAoriginally <by= I a,,number of native princes, many of whom ! have been nominated by, and others retained in the nominal government of their territory for political purposes; We have not yet had opportunity , of knowing the reasons -'that J have induoed'the English Ministry to adopt I the title of Empress of India.. Our cable

messages indicate that it has been assumed through political considerations. : The Boynl Title Bill, after- a long and animated | debate, was read •a. -third time by 209 toi’l44. >Mr I Disraeli pointed out that all political reasoning was in favor of the Bill, and especially as the advance of Russia towards the Indian frontier, and the intended conquest of Tartary by “Bussia was weU r known throughout India, the assumption by. the Queen of .the title of “ Empress, of India" would | be regarded as an unmistakeable sigh of tberbso* lution of the British Government to maintain the Empire intact. Mr Lowe and Mr Fawcett strongly 1 censored the Premier for his allusion to the probable design of Bussia as incautious and unwise. From this it would appear that the object is to adapt our policy to the peculiar cbu- | stitution of the Asiatic, mind .that has

not yet .learned that Emperprs are but flesh and blood' like the meanest of their subjects. . .We need not inform pur readers that the title Empress or Emperor seems to imply more than,mere Queen orKing.,, : So far. as degrees .of rank, are concerned, .an Empress or Emperor is chief over Nizams and Begums, and Princes,' Kings, ‘ and Queens ; and as Asiatics are given to .exaggerated' ideas of the importance of thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers,., it is supposed they will submit more cheerfully to be governed .by a monarch with, an imposing title than to one bearing ah inferior one. The British Government, : therefore, has adopted a designation for Her Majesty, equivalent to, Queen over Kings and timer over Lords, judge of. Judges, Mid Commander of Armies, in order to compete ’ with the claims of the Celestial Eye of China and the Conqueror and Ruler over Monarchs

of Russia. But we in the .Colonies ,do not desire to Be placed, in the position of, inferiors, nor to,,have the Queen entitled Empress of the Colonies, Our desire is to form part of a grand federation of British nationalities —to .be .part of the dominant ra.ce; not numbered among ( the rapes filled over by an Empress., - This is just the point

wherethe ambiguity, p£ the-telegram meets us. What really did the Colonial Institute ask ? Did they ask to be included in the list of 4 ,thQse ruled over by an Empreps, ordid they wish to be included in seme, way other in the title of “ Queen of’ Great and : Ireland and the Colonies f! ~ If the latter,the inclusion might be. considered as recognising us as a component element of the : dominant. - British Kingdom, as integers of the paling rape, and to some extent give us importance in Asiatic , eyes that might benefit our commercial relations with those countries with whom, sooner or later, we nmat have extended and be_ one step to that grand, federation to. which events . seem tending. Therefore, to assume the title of Empress of the Colonies seems to us objectionable. Some twenty years since, there were politicians in the Australian Colonies who could not forget their old world notions, and who imagined that there could be no good government apart from aristocracy and monarchy. With them it was a favorite idea that one or other of Her Majesty’s, sons should be invested with the title of King, either of Australia, or Victoria, or New South Wales : it did not seem to matter which, so long as Australia, or some part of it, was exalted to a kingdom. The late Hon. J._ P. Fawkner, of Victoria, tried, but without finding many to secure a constitution of that character. Had he succeeded in creating a number of kingdoms the title of Empress ■ might have been applicable. It would have implied that Her

was supreme ruler over her dependent princes. But we seek no suck position. What should be aimed at should be incorporation with the kingdom of Great Britain. We do not know that it is possible to enjoy more true freedom than we do at present. So far as mere title is concerned our domestic position would not be altered although the Queen were styled “Empress!” We should still eat and drink, buy and sell, produce and consume, make bur own laws, and squabble who should be law-makers, as we do now. But we regard it as implying a subordinate relative position to whatever country it is applied, and our object should be recognition of equality, with a view to ultimately having of influence in the common concerns of a vast federation of British-speaking nationalities.

The following telegram from Dunedin appears in a Southland contemporary “The Criterion Hotel has changed hands, Mr Thomson, late of the Red Lion Hotel, being the purchaser at a price withheld.”-

A collision occurred on the Northern railway on Tuesday afternoon, when the Christchurch and Amberly trains ran into eaob other at Rangiora. The passengers were severely shaken, and some slightly injured, but nothing serious is known as yet.

At the Queen’s Theatre last evening the comic opera, “La Fille de Madame Angot,” was again performed to a good house. The piece went with spirit throughout, and several encores were demanded and acceded to. Letmcq’s opera has drawn so well that it will be repeated this evening and tomorrow.

Starlings are very numerous in the Tokomairiro district, and several large flocks of these birds have lately been observed in the vicinity of the Gorge. Har s are frequently seen all over the plain ; and those persons who take out licenses for pheasant shooting will have some splendid sport when the season opens.

The body of James Bain, one of the men drowned recently at Timaru by the upsetting of a surf-boat, was recovered on Saturday last. It presented a frightful spectacle. The head and neck, two hands, and the left foot were minus, and the trunk was denuded of clothing excepting a portion of a pair of tweed trousers.

A providential and exceedingly narrowescape from a fatal accident at Messrs Reid and Douglas’ steam saw mills, Waihola, on Monday afternoon last, is reported in today’s ‘Bruce Herald.’ The logs are hauled up from the lake side into the mill by a pulley, which is attached to the engine by a connecting rod, and thus worked by steam power. While a log was being hauled up to the mill, one of the hands, named Dugald Campbell, had hold of the “taut” portion of the line, the slack portion became eu tangled, and in his endeavors to unloose it his leg became entangled in the rope, and hie body was speedily thrown to the ground,

and wheeled rollhdttntll he ftftghed the pulley, over theft sSeifted no of esOiMll'irdin suddeh death 4eirihiia|p Mr Eei«||igeiug du ftxejto out th|p|», at aafiefeeling that &&ase was impeplble.j %.t tbwpaoment, the the mon, a severely leg, f

We take the following items frqm-yester-day’s * North Otago Times! store, at Port Moeraki, has been burned down. Not a vestige was saved out of a stock which he estimates at about L6OO. < He is partly inloser. The cause of the fire is unknown, Mr Baptist not being at home at the time.— The Kakanui Harbor Board have accepted Jte^Jtgnder^of and : Stumbles for I L 14,084. The other"tenders Markham and Cb., :: L15j567; John Gwynneth, L14j248 ;. A. J. Smith, L 14,472; H. Calder (by tenders (rejected) t Allan and L 11,736; James Markham ahd’Co.i L12,906y John Gwynneth, L 11,836; A. J. Smyth, L11,620.—We are informed that thestatements made in a letter we published con Tuesday will’form the subject of an official inquiry, as anything approaching the ‘‘ truck system ” will not . Mr Naumann met the.ratepayers in ,S6uth Dunedin last night, and explained to them at some length the reasons that had induced him to tender his resignation as a Councillor. It appeared that he had taken legal opinion as to his position in. the Council, and-learned that it was untenable, inasmuch as he was resident oh a 1 block that, had not been in-; eluded within the municipality, wherefore he- was not : a ratepayer. By the: advice of his counsel he was determined not to take any further part in the Council’s proceedings, as he in Ids present position' could, be made personally, responsible, for any expenditure the Council might sanction.. ‘ There was a good, deal of sparring between Mr Naumann and Councillor Barrowman, who assured the meeting that the former could not be held to be personally responsible for any act of the Council. A motion he made, to the effect that Mr Naumann Should retain his seat, was objected to and ruled out of order. It was next moved that the ratepayers Would ■ make .themselves responsible foT any penalty Mr Naumann might’incur through' sitting as a Councillor; and this was met by ah amendment endorsing the latter’s action. The amendment was carried all but unanimously.

We have received the April number, of the ‘ Temperance Advocate,’ as will be 1 seen from I an advertisement in another column. Its con- I tents are varie*, and will reward a careful perusal. The paper by Dr.; Richardson, is specially worthy of attention.-' ; * v ■ The second number of ' the New Zealand I ‘Press News ’ is. a,very creditable production. 1 It contains a greatfleal of matter of interest to the trade. The :following changes, actuator contemplated, are 1 noticed in its columns :-rTue I vacancy on the reporting staff of the _ Daily 1 Times,’ caused by the translation of Mr Wil* liamson from if to another position, has been offered to and accepted by Mr Donnelly, chief reporter of the ‘ Guardian.’ - There-.is.-notm.ffln-ber of the Press more highly re-peotedthanMr ] Donnelly, or one whose abilities are more freely acknowledged By his severance the ‘ Guar dian’ has lost a hatd-working, energetic servant, and the < Times’ secured amost valuable acquisition to its staff.—We understand that Mr Pritchard, tho managing director of the Christchurch ‘ Press,’ intends shortly resigning the onerous position which he has so long filled ■with such credit to himself and advantage to future, we believe, Mr 'Pritchard will devote his attention ' to the evening ‘Globe,’ which is his individual property. It is . further reported that Mr Briggs, the accountant of the* ‘ Lyttelton Times,’ will be his successor.—From Christchurch we learn further that Mr James Gray, who has been ’ connected with the ‘ Times ’ for the past .twelve years, purposes becoming tho‘proprietor of a journal in the Timaru district; while Mr Feldwick, lately attached 1 1 the Press in the city,:becomes sub of the * Southland Times,’ in winch he has purchased an interest. We fnay add that Mr fitting, late sub of the ‘Guardian,’ joins the ‘ Press ’ reporting staff.