PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 61, 30 November 1878, Page 2

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

August Hi.—Parliament was prorogued bv Royal Commission. The Lord Chaneellor read the Royal Message, which wi s in the following terms : My Lords and Gkntlemek, — When, in a critical condition of public affairs, you assembled at the commencement of the year, I pointed out to you that, in the interests of my Empire, precautions might become necessary, for which I appealed to your liberality to provide. At the same time I assured you that no efforts in the cause of peace should bo wanting on my part. Your response was not ambiguous, anil contributed largely to a pacific solution of tho difficulties which then existed. The terms of agreement between Russia and the Porte, so far as they affected pre-existing treaties, were, after an interval of discussion, submitted to a Congress of tho Powers ; and their councils have resulted in a pence which I am thankful to belicvo js satisfactory and likely to lw durable, The Ottoman Empire has not emerged from a disastrous war without a severe loss; but the arrangements which have been made, while favourable to tho subjects of the Porte, have

secured to it a position of iudependoi oo whioh can lio upheld against aggression. I have concluded a Defensive Convention with the Sultan, which has been laid before you. It, given, ax regards his Asiatic Empire, a more distinct expression to the engagements which, in principle, I, together with other Towers, accepted in IS3C, but of which the form has not been found practically effectual. Tho Sultan has, on the other hand, bound himself to adopt and carry into effect the measures necessary for securing the good government of those provinces 0 In order to promote the objects of this I have undertaken the occupation and administration of the Island of Cyprus. In aiding to bring about tho .settlement which has taken place, I have been assisted by the discipline and high spirit of my forces by sea and land, by the alacrity with which my Reserves responded to my call, by tho patriotic offers of military aid by my people in the colonies, and by the proud desiro of my Indian anny to bo reckoned among the defenders of the British Empire, a desire justified by the soldierly qualities of the force recently quartered at Malta. The spontaneous offers of troops made by many of the Native Governments in India wore very gratifying to me, and I recognise in them a Iresli manifestation of that feeling towards my Crown and person which has been displayed in many previous instances. My relations with all foreign Powers continue to be friendly Although tho condition of affairs in South Africa still affords some ground for anxiety, I have learnt with satisfaction from the reports of , 11V civil and military officers that the more serious disturbances which had arisen among the native population on the frontiers of the Capo Colony are now terminated.—European Mail.

Sin.—l am glad th.a General Bii Arnold Kembtll, whose kmjj sod I '-• experianet in India ad Amatii Turkej - Bunentlv fits him to foro a ju»l view ul the.politicaj, militaiy and commercial advantages of an iron road to India, advises this omutry to sat about waking a railway from Constantinople to the Persian Gulf t 1 1 I'ri'i i-- 1 '.•> lu li 1), ami a • , nn the Mediternnoau, hut about T . ■ ■ lII] ::-'•'! at the r, :>. Bussorah, I 1 nstaiitinnple, may probably bo completed in six years, when a through land route would "be obtained from Calais to the Persian (lulf; while the railway from Scaderoon by Mosul to the Persian (Julf would form' an alternative route with the Sue* Canal ami form the main trade route for Asiatic Turkey and Persia. These lines of railway will command a fair local traffic, which as the resources of the country become developed will largely increase, while as a through line it will Connect 2+o millions of people, who have already G,OOO miles of railway in India. with a still larger population in Europe, having .10,000 miles of railway constructed. As there is no instance in the world of a through lino with such a rumificalion of feeders at the two termini, inter--1 lianging the traftio and supplying the ".-.-is of such vast populations, it is ali ,\al>!c to reason that it should ultimately 1 me a very paying line indeed, but in ti..- meantime a guarantee will be required—not a very serious thing, shared between England and India. Suppose these railways earn X:! per cent (which is Kiiid to he the average earnings of all the Indian railways together), and that the guarantee is 4A per cent., thru England would have to supply, say, 1 per cent., and India J per cent. ; e.g.. if the sum guaranteed "be £20,000,000—4J percent, on £20,000,000, £11(10.000 per annum, which would be made up of earnings at, say, 3 per cent. £000.000; English guarantors, 1 percent.. £200,000; Indian guarantor, l . per cent., £IOO,OOO—4J per cent., £900,000. These railways would have to be " British State railways" to secure the objects for which 1 hey would bo made, viz., their free use for military purposes in war as in peace, and uninterrupted communication with India and facilities for trade. As Austria is having (he railways in European Turkey fr Constantinople and Solouica northwards mnd"" Austrian State railways," it ui . ■■ .;■< :•■ ■ thai mutually advantageous interchange of traffic will result, and regulations of an international character be devised. Though the British Government might make these two lines and lease them to Companies for fixed periods on tbn French system, it is no! necessary (hat it should tin so; hut that our Govern nt should be put iii possession, under whatever arr : .litli I'urkey, of the necessary }):•;■.■•;■ -. ■ »!;.! g; mis of land and ports, ~-. niel that :■.'.: niipaUY or companies ■'. in i hoi i the railways from and under English State control. .s>ir Arnold Kemball lias indicated a general line—subject, of course, to careful survey and consideration. Referring, however, to the evidence taken before the Parliamentary Committee, I would suggest that a lino from Mosul, on the left (east) hank of the Tigris, through Erbil mid Kirkuk. though more costly in construction, would be preferable to the lino proposed on the right (west) bank of that river. The east bank of the Tigris is the present highway of trade, is occupied by a settled and numerous population, and is convenient for trade from and to Persia; and, moreover, is best suited for extension of the railway, when the time conies, eastwards to India. Yours obediently, Blantvkf. 41, Berkeley-square, June 22.