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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2594, 1 May 1877, Page 2

The paragraph from the Timaru Herald, .which appears amongst the items of Southern telegrams, looks rery much like a.stupid hoax. It is not likely that if any such "instructions" as those indicated had been received by Governors of Colonies, they would find their way to the columns of the Herald, nor is it likely that they 'would be published at all—at least not before some time had elapsed, during which the Governors and their responsible advisers could take separate or united action. Important communications of this nature are not likely to be communicated to newpapers in an obscure place like Timaru, being of a confidential character, and we regard the paragraph simply as an attempt to jattract attention t® the source from which it has sprung. We notice our contemporary seizes upoo 1 the paragraph as a text on which to found a short homily on the state of our defences, and urges the Government to avail themselves of the profound engineering talent in the Colony to "fortify" and "take prompt measures to ensure protection to life and property in. the event o£: a visit from a foreign foe." The writer seems to forget that the building of fortifications takes time, and procuring guns to keep them time and money ; and if -New Zealand had unlimited means, the best engineering talent in the world, and all other facilities for fortifying, probably the war would be over before the works could be weir begun. Our safety lies in our defencelessness, not in any attempt at fortificat'rn. Should Great Britain be dragged into t!ie war, our next best protection would be tile ironclads which the Mother Country would send to look after the interest"l of her colonial dependencies. The idea of New Zealand proceeding to fortify on the strength of a paragraph from the Timaru Herald is a palpable absurdity.