The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1878.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 46, 20 March 1878, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1878.

! The news by th,e San Francisco mail I is of at m.o».t cheering na^ure^ a,nd j notable for the. absence, of the sa^d ; catalogue of accidents whicli, unfor- ; tunately u^suajly forms the. bulk; of j its items. Although the- bull dogs i of war have been, muzzled for a, time, ! and; hopes are entertained that the j sanguiinary conflict ij3 at a»n. en.d,. the. British Ghbyern.mpn.t have exhibited , a most commendable, foreth.ought m I p repairing- fou the . v^orsi^.. In* the ' House- of Lords, ia response to the 'Du]j.e of' Argyle,. the. Premier- boldly staged 1 that although- En?la,nd ha,d so ■ far majn-tained a neutral pplijoy, she was no.w, as always,, prepared, to. assert her independence,, andi vr.a& not going to be dictated t0.%- any Po,we/r. The sta,tejnent oi the. noble- peer has, been fully endorsed! by the. action of the House., and i,t 13... gratifying to. learn that a supplementary grant of , £6,000^000 haji, been readily voted,

to be apportioned m the following manner : — Army, £8,000,000 ; navy, £2,000,000; the remaining^ 1,000,000 being reserved for contingencies. The firm'stand taken by the British Government ..would appear to have had a most salutary influence on the Russian swaggerer, the conditions which it at first put forward have since been most materially modulated, and it is not too much to assert that to the bold front exhibited by the British nation may be attributed the prospects of the ratification of peace between the Turkey and Eussia. Unfortunately the straggle between Labor aud Capital is still being carried out with unabated vigor, and from one end of England to the other strikes and looks-out are the order of the day. Twelve thousand weavers m "Wiggan have resisted a reduction m their wages, aud m many mining and agricultural districts great distress consequently prevails. But it is m America that the contest has waged most fiercely, and the feeling of opposition between master and man has been most intensified. From the Atlantio to the Pacific the cry is heard, aud the wave of anarchy rolls from Boston, iti the east to the Golden Gate of San Francisco m the west. In the former City ten thousand laborers appealed to the Mayor for work ; while m the capital of California, poverty aud distress prevailed to such an extent that soup-kitchens for the preservation of the starving had to be established. Notwithstanding, however, that commercial depression, which America ia at present laboring under, the news from the. Old World, and the New, presages a brighter aspect of affairs than that presented for some time past ; and when the war clouds which have lately obscured the horison are entirely cleared away, and the preYa.ilin.«* depression overcome, European and American affairs will wear a brighter hue than has been the case for some considerable time. News from Asia, however, is of a totally different character, and a despatch from the United States Consul at Shanghai, proclaims a state of things little less deplorable than the recent famine m Indian. In some portions of the Celestial Empire the horrors existing exceed even those lately passed through. The authority referred to slates that an appalling famine is raging throughout four provinces of North China, aud millions of people are repoi^ted to be destitute, while children are daily being sold m the markets for food. Let us trust, however, that as it resembles the Indian visitation m $t& extreme severity, it may also be of an equally short duration, and that next mail may bring the glad tidings that the" woes are at an end.