CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1128, 18 July 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

h<: COOLONIAL : DEFEN CD. •&-'< s C E3DXTOH.' . Sie. —lt is devoutly to J3O hoped that •tMre aitfnot many, of yWrway of; t hink-ing-on the subject of the defences of the colon;. There doe a not-seem, to be much if'any, danger :of. these colonies being visited by .large hostile fleets, the nations of Europe want their iron-cluda and. armies ne»e(- home;. Butfithere is ,at "sudden visits IroLj 'eueniies' cruisers for the purp'oaes of pillage, arid it wdujd be a .very great mistake to trust to the.tender meroieeof the sort of-people whiigo.abnut oh expeditions of this kiud days of easy and powerful appliances foreshore defences, a moderate expenditure on this account, atmost'iif.the ports of the polony would place them in a,state of /preparation Buch as would tend to deter such_, visitors from venturing inside..- Siioh defences might improved upog. and strengthened ju'the future. Defencelessneaa simply invites attack from in I "search of plunder. At present) a ksuiall' Bohoonei; might enter.)Veljinijfonj harbour and dictate' termstn (he Government, and perhaps compulsorily invite 011 bunrd till the honorable members in Parliament assembled, detain,them there onjji/ery low diet, until a- heavy ransom haAeu paid for them, at per head, aud'uopnill other demands had been paid up in full, or failing this, oarry them.off to Unknown climes or consign them to the depths below. ' lom &c. {?' iV J. Valentine Smith. SIR , BUCHANAN ON THE • DE- • ..FERRED.PAYMENT SYSTEM.

_ • (To the editor of the Daily.) - 'SIB--I : have just noticed that you have copied jthe N Z. Times summary of my reinarks on the Land Bill now before the Bouse.' .; While r admitting .'-the ■ general excellence of the Times repirts : of: this 'fießSidti.i would at' the same titoe point out that summaries are very often unintentionally misleading The oile in question, for'inataiiae, would seem to indicalo that Lwas altogether.ayainat the deferred payment system and advocated a return to sales for cash only. What I wished to convey was that no cash purchasers of land should 1)6 turned the proceeds embled the Government tivopen up the land by means of the roads which were indispensable to all classes of settlers. . /With regard to' Hie deferred -payment system, nothing was further from my intention than a condemnation of it. I merely pointed out that the vpetitiuns lately presented to the House were a firoof that the system had not been uniformly successful and urged as one of tho principal remedio't' fl seleotmn df the heit land for this oians.of sgtilers.- The last sentence of the quotation is suchan evi : - dent,absurdity that it. needs no comtnent, 'liam &e., • .... W« P.!BDOIIANAN.