The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Ressurexi. TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2908, 11 June 1878, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Ressurexi. TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1878.

Sous time ago we mentioned* that Mr Gt. N. Brassey had made representations to the Government regarding the inconvenience attending the sittings of the District Court being- held at such long intervals. Be this .matter the following letter has been received:—" Department of Justice, Wellington, 6th June, 1878.

—Sir, —l have the honor to acknowledge'! the receipt of your letter of 28th ult., and, in reply, am instructed by the Hon. Minister of Justice to inform you that Mr District Judge Fenton, in Auckland, has hqen informed that it is considered desirable that he should hold a monthly sitting of the District Court at the Tbames.-t-l have the honor to be, sir, your moat obedient servant, R. G. Fountain, Under-Secretary. j G. N. Brassey, Esq., Solicitor, Thames.''

A Revision Court for the purpose of revising the Electoral District of Thames will be held at the Borough Council Chambers to-morrow at'lo a.m. There was a clen sheet at the E.M. Court this moiiiing. The Port Darwin line is interrupted north of Powell's Creek. We are glad to see the Borough workmen employed improving the north footpath and water table of Williamson street from the Prince Imperial Hotel to Renshaw's corner. The drainage of this part of Williamson street has been very bad for years in cjmsrquence of the flatness of the ground, and the Borough authorities have gone to a very proper expenditure in having the drainage of the s veet attended to. Notice is given in the New Zealanu Gazette of a sitting of the Native Lands Court \-i be held at Shortland on Juno 19th, to go into the business of lands over which the Government have obtained claims in the Hauraki end Coromandel distiicts.

A-special meeting of the Thames Water Supply Committee was convened to be held at the Borough Council Chambers this afternoon for the purpose of discussing the.proposed extension of borrowing powers. At the time appointed only two or three tvvned up—none of the County representatives being present— and the meeting lapsed. This matter has been shelved for two or three months already.

We have received the May number of the Illustrated New Z::;land Herald, which is got up in its usual good style. The illustrations comprise several interesting colonial scenes, and amongst them is a view entitled " A Corduroy Eo d," beinj a scene taken from the top of Tararu Creek, and the drawing is, we understand, the work of a gentleman resident on the Thames.

What are we to do if we reclly declare war ? This is the question oq every lip. Soldiers try to answer it as they best can, and aa probably the Russians themselves exp-ct it will be answered. Everything depends, in the first instance, on whether we are to fight with or without allies. If Austria be with us matters will be gre ,tly simplified ; obviously her position threatens the main line of Russian retreat. But that we must fight alone seems a growing conviction, la that case the possession of Gallipoli is both vital and essential. Shall we get it ? The Tarka may have sold it already, or they may refuse to let us in. If the Russians are there before us, can we retake it? We may—it i 3 just possible we must—to secure-the retreat of the fleet. Once holding Gallipoli us a base of operations it would not be difficult t® march our ,two corps d'armee through Asia to Scu' ari, and with the co-operation of the first gain a preponderance in the Bosphoroui in the Black Sea. The, latter line closed, Russia would have to depend upon her land communications, not an easy or satisfactory affair. All this depends on our being in time to seize, or able if too late to recapture, Gallipoli. Failing these operations, our only alternative would be to sit outside the Dardanelles, and do nothing beyond exiricating the fleet. We need not attack, nor could the enemy, easily attask us. Our best policy, then, would be to wait, and see which of us could hold out the longest.—Atlas in The World.

„At St. Petersburg Lord Salisbury's Circular is regarded as a new proof that the British Cabinet has decided upon war. In the official world it is said, that the document is not pleusent reading for those who desire peace; but it has an advantage over its predecessors in being quite clear and intelligible, and in removing the discussion from the region of words and formalities to that of facts and interests. Besides this, it does away with any regrets which may have been caused by the breaking down of the Congress, negotiations, because the Congress could nit have succeeded if the Plenipotentiaries had entered it animated with the spirit displayed in the Circular. The text has not yet been received by the Government, and consequently no decision has yet been taken regarding the answer to be £,iven; but there is reason to believe that it will not be regarded as having anything of the rature of an ultimatum. If the English Cabinet, it :'s argued, is really anxious to avoid war, as some of its members have declared, a pacific solution of the difficulty may still be found.