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New Zealand Mail, Issue 319, 23 March 1878, Page 10

Whatever else one might reasonably expect (says an English paper) of Austria, in the way of superiority, it is certain that few will fail in astonishment to learn that it is in the construction and equipment of a casement war steamer she has excelled anything in even the boasted navy of Great Britain. At least this is the extraordinary praise bestowed upon the Austrian armored vessel the Custozza, by his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and several Bitish naval officers, after a careful examination of that warship, a few weeks ago. The Duke assured the Emperor that “ she was a type of a ship of which there was no example in the British navy,” and he was so deeply impressed with her superiority in several important respects that he requested, as a special favor, permission for Admiral Drummond and other British officer’s to inspect and study her construction. It is a big feather in Austria’s cap, and proves that Francis Joseph is keeping his weather eye open against the probability of a breeze in the Mediterranean, in case the war between Russia and Turkey shall drag or force his Empire and, the other great Powers into the vortex.