ENGLAND AND THE FUTURE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1844, 24 January 1889, Page 4

ENGLAND AND THE FUTURE.

A Kew Zealander, at present residing in England writes: —I am thankful that England is wakening out of the lethargy and the somnambulistic state in which she has been for years, in reference to the defence of her commerce, her colonies, and widely-spread possessions, and her own home coasts. As at present positioned, should any of the two European Powers, say, Germany and Italy or Russia and France, secretly unite in hostility against the British Empire, what havoc would be wrought and what hundreds of millions of of property would be destroyed, even if the foot of the invader were kept from treading her soil! The people here are so engrossed with party strifes and questions, and so infatuated with that dangerous, so-called “ Grand Old Man,” that they look not beyond the scene of their domestic politics, unconscious of fhe threatening war cloud now darkening the political horizon in every quarter. It will be a rude shock to the luxurious, easeloving, money-getting folks here when that cloud bursts, and the hitherto pent-up elements of destruction commence their work of blood, destruction, and death. Tet the moment is at hand when the electric spark will spring the lethal mine, and set all Europe in a blaze. Too late then to bewail the culpable indifference of the past. The invaluable time for preparation having been frittered away in the rivalries and strivings of antagonistic home factions, the danger imminent, England’s commerce in every sea falling a prey to hostile cruisers, her very coasts menaced with descent, the food supply running short, panic will set in, millions upon millions will be lavishly squandered, and if England does not succumb, her wound will be severe, and she will pay dearly for her present insouciance and repent too of having yielded too willingly to the syren voice of idolised demagogues. The colonies are farther seeing than the mother country, their foreign political instinct indicates to them the lines of policy that should be pursued by an Empire so widely spread and so inherently powerful as the British, Had the Home Government acquiesced in the lead of the Australian Colonies, New Guinea, Samoa, and others of the South Pacific group of islands would now have been developing under the aegis of her flag, instead of being harrassed by the domineering of the Teuton and the Gaul. But we leave the future of Britain and the South Pacific for time to unfold.