LATE ENGLISH NEWS.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2274, 20 August 1870, Page 2

LATE ENGLISH NEWS.

The following items ate from the European Mail and other home papers The New Zealand are enjoying their otium cam at Charing Cross Hotel; for, haying obtained; almost all they desire on the part of the Colony they so ably represent, they have little more left than to amuse themselves in the, best manner they can. I understand .that the. hill embodying the, conditions of the million .loan so tardily guaranteed by the' Home', Government, will not be ready till after the out-going mail starts, and Although one might expect that it would not he otherwise than brief, it will, I hear, embrace some twenty clauses or more. Mr Stansttcid, who is principally occupied in arranging the details of the loan, is eager to meet the Commissioners on every point, in a most courteous and conciliatory disposition. As soon as the draft bill is prepared, it will be submitted lo the House of Commons at once, and will ho passed through Parliament, I doubt not, with sufficient alacrity. Great praise is due to Dr Feathersfcon and Mr Bell for the delicacy and ability with which they have managed : the negotiations that have led to so favorable a result; and they will, it is not to be doubted, receive the grateful acknowledgments of their fellow* colonists on their return to New Zealand. At the State .banquet gj vein by Farl Granville, on the Queen’s Birthday, the several agents for the different Colonies were among the guests. One or two:,bf them found their Colonial Civil Seryice uniforms of service on the occasion. Cithers of them had to don Court dress, which is not the moat comfortable in the world to unfamiliar wearers. Such invitations are a sign that the Colonial Office feels, at all evi nts, impelled to pay more deference to the representatives of the Colonies than hitherto. Some of the agents, I know, have never before been invited to a State banquet, of any kind. Two’ or three of them have also received invitations to the ' State ball to'-bh'givcn at Buckingham Palace on 21st June?’"' l Aiter this, Who shall dare to say that the much-ridiculed /Canon street meetings have (lone no good ? 'lt will be as well, however, for the Secretary of State for the Colonies to include Messrs Youl, Sewell, and Blaine, in his list of guests for the future ; otherwise those gentlemen will have good reason to be jealous.'' ;Some scribbler in one of the' multitude of so-called ‘ ‘ comic ” prints pours forth a series of doggerel verses of intended satire oh the Colonial agents who were at Lord Granville’s State dinner. Hero is a sample of his poetical lucubration “ New Zealand’s agent, too, was there, To whom Earl Granville spoke so blaudly, Ho quite forgot the;lomlyair, , * That usually suits him. so grandly ; Determined to do naught, by halves, ’ • Along with /sword and tassel fines, Ho’d bought a splendid pair of calves Which—while ho quaff’d his wine— . _ ... He thrust straitlout beneath the table (To prove'he felt , himself at home) As far as ever he was able; Contented with the ‘million loan’— In that soft moment of delight— As though the money were his own, And.he to be a peer that night.” The Atlantic and Pacific Steam Navigation'' Company have abandoned that portion of their scheme between Milford Haven and San Francisco, and nqw only contemplate running steamers from the latter place to New ’Zealand. They propose to go first to New f a’edonia, - tlienoe—to~ -Sydney where branch steamers will start for Tahiti and New Zealand. That Colony will, it is expected, be induced to accord the company a subsidy of, say £25,000, New South Wales' a like sum ; while France, wlficfi' has strong political considerations at stake, will probably be willing to grant. A; much larger , amount. Another company, it is said, is ready to take up the same lapsed portion of of the enterprise between Milford Haven and San Francisco. , :;. ~, ;; ’ The prospects of Zealand flax have> decidedly improved this month. A greater', quantity of it is scllipg, .and at a, sligdit ad-, vaiice. TTiehnydrs are prindpaUy exporters, j \yho are tempted by the low rates. It is pronounced by competent’judges to be likely to coipo into demand foe shirtings. ,It is mo-t convenient to handle, and has a .larger per ce'ntage of fibre in it thaii'TUiea grass. Evep at present prices, -the cultivation of New Zealand■ flax, as I san, leern, would pay. A correspondent writes ;—“ It is reported that aii American publishing., firm endeavoured to ipakc an arjAhgr|eit with tfie Anglp: American Tclegyapli Company to have transmitted to them, from London, the whole of Mr Disraeli’s “ Lothifir,” ou the hypothesis that ten days start' of'tlreir flval publish, era wonld compefriatc thierti fof the outlay, The following figures exhibit the 'nature of pages in the three volumes of “ Lotbair,” with an average 1 of 160 words fierpage, giving a total of 157,120 words, The prese nt rAtjjffor American messes jssSOs Id* ten words, and the

cost of ‘wiring’' Lothair’ would -therefore' amount to ,£22,51)8. Supposing the company were willing to work this lengthy .and in.teresting message at half price, the cost would still aanQunt’to £11,784. This sum at one dollar per copy retail (which would probably be the American price), would necessitate the salary of nearly 80,QQO copies before this primary cost of telegraphy was covered, without reckoning the ' cost of ’production.” '