Mr. Corry, First Lord of the Admiralty, attended the annual
dinner of Australian Colonists, and made an interesting state- ment. Victoria has organized a Naval Reserve ; the Nelson, a fine line-of-battle ship, has been presented to the colony as a training ship, and an iron-clad is building for the defence of Melbourne. The cost of maintaining both will be defrayed by the colony, but the iron-clad will be under the orders of the officer in command of the station. Victoria has set an admirable precedent, and if the other colonies will imitate her, Australia will have a powerful little fleet. She will want one, should it ever be her destiny, as we believe it will be, to conquer and utilize the islands of the Indian Archipelago, a dependency which may be worth more to her than India has been to us, and which no other nation can hold.
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