West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 266, 31 July 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1866.

Although doubts are entertained as to the authenticity of the telegram purporting to be dated London, June 13, and announcing the actual commencement of war in Europe, the '■ntrance of Gnrabaldi at the head of his volunteers into Venetia and tho rliylit of the Pope from Rome, it cannot be denied that the state of affiirs, at the date of the latest undoubtedly •genuine telegram, was such us to render ( the occurrence of these events not in the remotest degree improbable. It was understood when the May mail left that the maintenance of peace depended ! entirely upon the successful issue of the j projected Conference of Powers, and Reuter's telegram of the st.h June announces that this Conference was abandoned, and that Austria bad positively refused to discuss the question of territoral changes. * Rightly-^to estimate tho chances of peace or war, we must look first to the attitude assumed by that new leading power in Europe to whose action the apocryphal telegram we have referred to assigns the merit of having struck the first blow. There can be no doubt that an . extraordinary military furore has taken possession of the whole Italian people, and that the Government of Victor Emmanuel, which has hitherto i recognised its soundest policy in restraining the extreme or radical party, now unites with it heart and soul in demanding the annexation of Venetia. j It is for this service that an immense j volunteer army has been enrolled, and Garibaldi been summoned by the King | to take its command. The wonderful ' spell of his name has produced a magi- ! cal effect throughout Italy, and it was estimated that not less than a hundred thousand would rally round his" banner. Already 50,000 volunteers had inscribed their names, of whom 20,000 were in the depots waiting to be equipped. The Italian Parliament have voted full wai 1 power to the Government, which has borrowed L 10,000,000 slerlmg from the National Bank, and empowered that establishment to suspend cash payment for its notes, which are a legal tender. Under these circumstances it is maintained by those who are the most critical and the best informed observers of events, that not only is Victor Emmanuel bent upon an immediate policy of action, but that no alternative is now left him. Austria seems wilfully to have precipitated this crisis. By the conscription iv Venetia, calling out the reserve for service in Hungary, she has drafted off large numbers of both old- and young men to perform military duty ■in a distant country. She has exasperate.d to the last degree the feeling of Italian patriotism, and hatred to the foreigner All these facts are consistent with the truth of the telegram, said to be d ited the 13th of June, following so closely' upon Reuter's message of the sth, announcing that the Conference — the sole hope of peace — was abandoned. We notice iv some of the home papers indications of a belief that a secret understanding exists between the governments of France and Italy, aud that Louis Napoleon, whilst refraining from committing himself by any public declaration, is encouraging the war policy of Victor Emmanuel. The " Economist," one of the mo&t cautious of the Knglish newspapers, says :—": — " We feel a strong conviction that, without the tacit sanction of France, Italy would not be yielding to the delirium of this war fever as she is now doing. And it is in this presumption that the French interest is engaged in the impending conflict no less deeply than the Prussian, Austrian, and Italian, that the great gravity of the crisis seems to us to consist. Nojone knows better than the French Emperor the difficulty of keeping two high-spirited armies face to fane with each other well in leash — and he would probably interfere peremptorily at once if he intends to part the combatants at all. On the whole, we are disposed to think that all the indications are at present indications of war — that France holds the key to the situation, aud that she would have used it already to prevent war if she had wished so to do."

It is assumed, also, that Prussia and Italy understand each other, each having a common hatred to Austria, and an -equally strong interest in defeating her. If these conjectures are true—and they appear not unreasonable — everything appeal's to point to the probability that the first blow, whenever it might be struck, would come' from Italy. Abetted, if not actively aided, by the two great military monarchic* of Frauoe and Prussia, and] btwl^l by an nlmoifc utjoi&mpled &*■> !

/l.iy of popular cntliusiusiu and militan v dor — by the daring genius of Gariualdi, the most successful irregular soldier of any age — and the intense hatred of Austria that pervades every •irele in Venetia, the rescue of that line province from the grasp of the • lapsbuTglis seems to be an almost easy ichievement. But if this be the beginling of the war, there, is no seeri unongst 'us wise enough to foretell its course and its issue.

The Bank of New Zealand is an institution too well established, aad resting upon too substantial a basis, to have' been affected, in even the slightest decree, by the confusion of names which has been occasioned by the circumstances attending the formation of the Commercial Bank of New Zealand. The latter establishment was originally formed in England by an English prourietary, under the designation of the New Zealand Banking Corporation ; but on its agents in the colony applying to the General Assembly for the "necessary authority to issue its notes, the authority was refused, except on the condit^ja of an aHeration in the name of the Corporation. This was effected so far as the colonial institution was concerned. But whilst the proprietors, in consequence, traded — to a very limited extent — in the colony (hav.ng offices only at Dunedin and Waipori, both in the province of Otflgo) j under the designation of the Commercial i Bank of New Zealand, they continued, it appears, to conduct their business ~in London under the original stylo and title of the New Zealand Banking Corporation, which they had not been allowed to as ume in the Colony. What has recently taken place in connection with the commercial panic in England], more than justifies the foresight .with which the directors of the prosperous Bank of New Zealand appealed against the assumption, by the projected ne,w institution, of a trading style so closely corresponding with that of their own company. It was not, of course, within the scope of colonial legislation to determine under what title the London company should conduct its business. That thi-y continued to retain the designation of the New Zealand Banking Corporation, and that trader this designation they stopped payment, were circumstances very well calculated indeed to act prejudicially to the " Banli: of New Zealand," on the receipt of the hurried telegraphic communication of news brought by the mail. It is satisfactory to know that the reputation of one of our leading colonial institutions was too high to be affected in the slightest degree, by a mistake which might have proved serious in its consequences to an establishment of more doubtful resources. We may mention, as a curious coincidence, that the credit " of one of the soundest commercial institutions in tho world, Xvas threatened to be affected by a similar confusion of names, the announced stoppage of the " Oriental Commercial Bank," being for the moment supposed to mean the failure of the " Oriental Bank Corporation." It is certainly very desirable that some more effective measures should be taken to prevent this confusion of trading styles, which may both enable bubble companies to cai'ry on business under false colors, aud cause serious injury to the mos'. respectable firms.