THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 142, 23 March 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1872.

The Suez telegrams received yesterday contain some important intelligence. The fact that the excitement about the Alabama question is subsiding, and that no war is likely to take place between England and America, will be received with very general satisfaction. It is hardly likelrjthat these two great commercial countries will ever go to war on such a question,., which is especially one adapted to peaceful solution. If it be true that Bismarck has offered to mediate between the parties, the matter could not be left in better hands, aud we look forward to all in reference to this vexed question being soon amicably arranged. One item of news which portends well for New Zealand is that wool has risen twopence per pound. Although this will more directly benefit the rich squatters on the Southern Island than the struggling miners at the North, yet the whole Colony cannot but feel the advantage indirectly from the rise in the price of one of its principal exports. Considering how deeply New Zealand is getting into debt, such an increase in the value of this staple commodity is of great importance. All right-thinking people will be glad to hear that in the Queen’s speech, on the opening of Parliament, a promise is made of the introduction of a Bill to suppress the slave trade in the Polynesian Islands. England stands foremost among nations in what has been done to abolish slavery, and there can be no doubt her strong arm can be effectually exerted to suppress this trade in the Southern seas, as it has been on the coast of Africa, the West Indies, and other parts of the globe. We regret to hear of the death by violence, at the hands of an Andaman Island native, of the Earl of Mayo, the distinguished Vice-Roy of India, who, as Lord Naas, M.P. for Cockerinouth, so long and favourably known in the British House of Commons. The vacant post, it is said, has been offered to Lord Kimberley, and by him refused. The everlasting Tichborne case is still dragging its slow course along, and is still unfinished. The defendant’s case (the tenant in possession) is now being gone into, and the evidence now being called goes, it is reported, to establish the identity of the claimant with Arthur Orton. How the case will ultimately terminate is a puzzle on which it is almost hopeless to speculate. Very likely the jury will not agree, and the parties will stand as they did prior to the commencement of this extraordinary trial, which has been read and talked of with interest wherever the English language is spoken. Those who place value upon titles of honorary distinction will feel the compliment paid to the colony by the Order of St. Michael and St. George having been conferred upon Messrs Fitzherbert, Vogel, and Wilcot. Mr Vogel appears one of those who, if not born to greatness, has, at all events, achieved it and had it thrust upon him, and whatever may be the views entertained as to his individual qualifications for such distinctions, the compliment paid in recognising the leading colonists in these matters cannot fail to be generally appreciated. It is one of those small links in the chain which binds the colonies and the mother country together, and, small as it is, it is a fact not without significance; The labour market is reported to be still in# disorganised state, and it is evident that the old battle between capital and labour has yet to be fought out. Mutual concession, based on the groat law of demand and supply, can alone solve the difficulty. Upon the whole, the news is of a character calculated to be satisfactory to this colony. The probabilities of peace at home and in America, the increasing value in one of New Zealand’s chief products, the recognition of the colony’s importance as evinced by showering! honours on her prominent citizens, and other items of news are all, more or less, subjects of congratulation.