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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 992, 14 April 1871, Page 2

Sir Charles and Mrs Clifford left Auckland in the Wonga Wonga for Honolulu on the 7tU instant, on their way to England. The newspapers (say the Sydney Herald) say that Germans bate England, and that their strategists have been seriously discussing the practibility of invading it with a reasonable prospect of success*. The projects said to be entertained are of the wildest character, and one of the most daring of them ia reported to be considered practicable. A small army is to be landed at Dover, or somewhere near Dover, on the coast; this army i>* to entrench itself with earthworks, in order to maintain communication with the sea intact; and a bridge of boats is to be thrown over the Channel, along which reinforcements are to be passed as rapidly as possible, until the army shall be strong enough to commence it* march upon London. In four days the capital will be reached, captured, and sacked; swarms of Teutons will follow the invading army, and eventually England will either become a province of Prussia, or be absorbed into the great Germanic Empire, as one of its insular dependencies. It is stated by a correspondent of the Times, that this project has been seriously discussed, and pronounced practicable by the German strategists. Of course John Bull would be asleep all the time ; no Eng-. lishman would be aware of the impend ing storm until the loar of Prussian cannon announced the arrival of the armed host; a small or large army could be safely landed in spite of the fire of 200 or 300 guns, and 80,000 or 90,000 rifles on land, and a bridge of boats, could successfully resist the puny onslaught of fifty iron-clad ships at sea. Thus far the invading Prussians. Engr lishmen, on the contrary, are bestoted enough to think that if an invasion of this sort were actually attempted, not one of the invaders would ever go back to fatheiland to tell the story of the conquest of the little island. But absurd as the talk of these schemes of invasion is, it teaches one useful lesson, viz., that it is useless to trust in or appeal to the moral sentiments of nations, for the national morals of the present age are so closely akin to robbery, violence, and murder, as to be scarcely distinguishable from these crimes by even the faintest line of demarcation. European nations will have henceforth to stand armed and ready for the fight, in order that they may avert that sort of humiliation that has lately been inflicted on unfortunate France.

The Cornwall Chronicle quotes a case in which a Melbourne passenger landing at Launceston from a steamer the other day, with a hat-box in his hand, found that this article had to pass through the Customs. "Without mentioning names, we give the items as follows, : ' En+rv, 3s 6d ; wharfage, ]«; duty, 8s; total, 12s 6d.' Twelve-and-sixpence for the privilege of bringing one's bell topper to the noble town of Launceston !" Visitors in future would do well to Garry their hats on their heads. From the Thames Advertiser of the 7th instant we take the following : A curious scene took place at Shortland on Wednesday. It appears that the ground at the back of the Shortland Court-house is strictly tapued, the tapu being guarded by the chief Rapana, who says that a hundred of his ancestors are buried there. The ground has, it appears, been let by Mr Puckey to Captain Butt, who, in the afternoon, commenced with others to level it. Rapana, with his son and other native auxiliaries, made an attack on the working party, and sticks and spades were brandished threateningly. Captain Butt, however, desisted, an armis tice took place, and after an interview with Mr Puckey, peace was finally declared. We are not aware of the conditions of peace, but we suspect that Rapana has obtained compensation for the insult offered to his illustrious an-ce.'-tors. A short time ago we called attention to the discovery of a reef of antimony on the banks of the Taieri, on the road to Hindon. Since then a company, with a nominal capital of ,£I,BOO, has been formed to work the reef. Most of the shares were taken up by the original promoters, but some were reserved for the public, and are now on sale. A lease of the ground has been secured, and men are now at work. The company intends, we understand, to confine its operations to excavating and exporting the raw ore as it will be more profitable to do this than to smelt it on the ground. The capital appears small, but as no expensive machineiy is required, it will probably be found sufficient for the present, at any rate. The of the ore which was shown vis the other day was exceedingly rich, but i,t was taken from the surface, and the reef appears to improve in quality .as it is opened up. Although deposits of antimony have long been known to exist in Otago, this is the first company that has been formed here to mine for that metal; indeed, we believe it is the first antimony mining company registered in New Zealand,—r-Otago Daily Times,