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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5159, 4 October 1877, Page 2

It will be remembered that at the last meeting of the Ci ty Council the Mayor read a telegram received from the Lord Mayor of. London, asking for contributions in aid of the fund for the relief of sufferers by the Indian famine. The object is a laudable one, and far be it from us to recommend any one dis2>osed to exercise charity in this direction to withhold his aid ; but at the same time it certainly appears to us that the Home Government should meet the case; and that there should be no occasion for these colonies to bo called upon for a single penny. England holds India by the right of conquest, and her Oriental subjects, for the most part aliens in tongue, religion, and habits, are held in allegiance to the mother country by the power which a strong people exercise over a weak one. It is no doubt better for the millions of native inhabitants in our Eastern Empire that they are governed by a Christian country, whose yoke is doubtless easier to be borne by them than that of any other nation, or of their own petty potentates. We take it that when a calamity like this famine falls upon the land it is the duty of the Imperial Government to afford the necessary relief.

That the Home authorities have clone something in this direction there is no question; but they have evidently not done enough, otherwise appeals for outside assistance would not be made. It seems to us, if we may use the term, ‘ ‘ shabby ” on the part of a powerful and wealthy Government like that of England not to have fully met all the legitimate demands that could be made in respect of the Indian famine, and we feel assured that the requisite funds would be cheerfully voted bjr the British Parliament for such a purpose. That the colonies of Australasia should be called upon for assistance seems hardly right, although when the request is made the kind and charitable hearts of the people will naturally respond to the call. New Zealand, in common with the sister colonies, is remarkably prosperous ; but still she is not without legitimato objects of charity in her midst, and with her rapidly increasing population these are sure to increase. Upon the Home Government, in our opinion, rests the responsibility of providing all the money that is required during the present crisis for her famishing subjects in India, and to shirk that responsibility in the remotest degree is all unwise policy —to put the matter on no higher ground. We remember with pride how liberally these colonies came forward to assist the suffering operatives in the time of the “ cotton famine but that, as it seems to us, was a totally different case from the one now before us. The people here are never deaf to the calls of charity; but we do think that in this instance there should have been no need of the call being made. It seems to us to cast a reflection on the Home authorities, who must have been wanting in their duty, otherwise there would have been no necessity to appeal to the colonies for assistance.