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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5012, 17 April 1877, Page 2

The news received by telegraph cable and published in another column is important, and to this colony is reassuring. There seems little doubt that the chances of war which have so long hung in the balance seem now falling altogether on one side, and everything points to a declaration of hostilities between Russia and Turkey; indeed, at ,thjs moment hostilities may have been declared. It is hard to predict the issue of the combat. Good authorities at Home do not consider that Turkey has more than her match in her opponent; on the contrary, indeed, many writers and speakers, whoso opinions are worthy of weight, do not hesitate to declare that in every respect Russia is tho inferior of Turkey in tho field. And it must bo remembered that Turkey in the first instance will have tho advantage of fighting on tho defensive, for it is not likely that tho diversion the Montenegrins are effecting will count for much. Should, ’ however, Russia prove the victor, she will have gained an advantage by the

peace recently concluded between Servia and the Ottoman Empire. By that peace Servia has become once more in war an integral portion of Turkey, and can therefore ho fairly claimed by Russia as hers by right of conquest. That puts matters in a very different position to what they would have been in had Russia interfered actively for the protectionof Servia during the contest between that State and her suzerain. The defeat of Turkey would have given Servia actual _ independence, but would have given her ally nothing but the glory of having made war in the cause of Christianity and humanity. It is probable that so much glory would scarcely have pleased Russia as much as the territorial aggrandisement which, if conqueror, she can now secure. Early in the Eastern imbroglio which has led to the present crisis it was made palpable that England had determined that in no case should Russia seize the keys of the Bosphorus, and from tho proceedings in the House of Commons which have been telegraphed, it is tolerably evident that England X'eserves to herself the right to interfere, and hold the lines of Constantinople, permitting tho Turkish rule to disappear, but, at tho same time, in the interests of Europe, denying to Russia the complete grasp of the Black Sea. As wo have said, it is reassuring to notice that the imminence of war has not affected colonial securities, and that local loans wanted by places in this colony—like that of Oamaru, for instance —are easily placed. In fact it is not unlikely that the downward condition of European stocks may prove all the better for those of the colonies ; and should war be declared, it may, unless it should become one of general European participation, have a favorable effect on the .wool .market.