ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1970, 4 January 1907, Page 3

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(Special Correspondent.) LONDON, Nov. 23 Mr.'.E. F. Wright is still pqggi 3 away at bis idea ol a fast mail si 0 vice from London to Now Zoala and Australia via Tehuantepec, Mexico. Air. Wright is leaving 1 tho West Indies 011 private businc at t-lio beginning of December, and I is prepared to go on to Afexieo Ci I and •'sound” tho Afexican Cover [ niont us to their willingness to su I port tlio scheme, if the Now Zoalai I Government care to authorise him 1 j make enquiries on their behalf. M | asks no fee for this mission,but is wi I ling to undertake it in return for til I payment of his personal out-ol’-pocki I expenses. Air. Wright is likely t I be remaining for about a year in til I West Indies and at Panama, wlier I lie will report on the Panama Cana j for soino English newspapers. He is I therefore, favourably placed for ox I tending liis inquiries as far as Aloxici I City and Tehuantepec, if desired t< I do so. In conversation with y'Atr corros pondent, Air. Wright advanced soiih further points in connection with his proposal for a new mail route. “If,” lie said, “you take tho subsidies paid to the P. and 0., Orient, Vancouver, and San Francisco sorvices, anil poundage) to direct steamers, it will be found to total close up to PoOO.OOO a year. Of this sum, £250,000 is to bo paid to subsidise a fortnightly service which lias to deliver mails from London to Adelaide in 26) days. “But in less than 12 months, when tlio new Gunarders are at work, mails 110111 London to New York will'be dein ered in five days. These steamers are built under subsidy from the English Government to steam 25 knots equal to h 7 j miles per hour, ilie mails can be carried from Now 101 k to Salma Cruz in four days, or II total ot nine days for half the distance. With steamers capable of maintaining an average of 20 knots rom Salma Cruz to Sydney, mails can )e regularly delivered in 244 days rom London to Sydney. Four steaiiiws ot this standard Could easily dener mails every 11 days for a subicly of £20,000 and six steamers with . subsidy of £300,000 would give a weekly service. 0

,? If t !‘, e subject was placed clear] before the Mexican Government, I ; n,, V V | ttlerc no question that : ii nnrp ay tp percentage—sa g . -0,000 If this could be arrange >r it would mean that Australasia woTil g b a ;' e Jl, B.st u-eekiv mail service, tali P ln o clays between terminals. . In saying tliis Ido not mean a e service as described couL obtained; but that it is tlie goa 1 ahead, and as a first step a fast sor - vice ot two boats must be started ■ Nmf. y, t service was inaugurated ' bv +l, A ?‘ alalld 7?uld greatly benefi t>s the increased tourist traffic, to sai nothing Ot two large steamers callin «ach week at Auckland.” £ ( In tiie current issue of His journal lev ifW 11 ’ 1 J /. r ' Bottomfey, utter much ‘ anxious and sorrowful consideration,” decides to lift the ' real rem) h ° says llas , bidden the - real truth concerning tlie Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain’s illness from the the , 'tojlown?gJ HS al ' ticle 1 extract j lie Press throughout tho country has, with nauseating monotonv, daily proclaimd that ‘Air. ChambeV--lam is making satisfactory progress.’ nny tills toohsli conspiracy of silence, Do not Air. Chamberlain’s family and friends realise that when nA ruth 1S kuo ' Vll the shock will be all the greater in proportion to the country s nnpreparedness for it?

• • 14 we thought that anything we are about to say could by any possibility cause Air. Chamberlain himself a moment’s pain, we could cut off our right hand rather than pen these lines. AVo know too well however, that such cannot be the case—for at this moment the Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain—ho, who a year ago was the most virile, active, j l ’ l ‘- militant political protagonist of the day—is a nerveless, voiceless, and almost sightless paralytic. Tlie original seizure occurred some four months ago, whilst the right 11011. gentleman was absolutely alone. When ho was discovered lie had been lying in a critical condition for nearly two hours. He was subsequently removed lrom London surreptitiously, late at night, to his home at Highbury, where about twice a week, and with the utmost difficulty, be is wheeled into liis iavorite orchid i bouse. Of course it will be denied, but after this specific announcement, nothing short of ocular demonstration will, we venture to think, satisfy the public.” There is, of course, another side to tins picture of th ex-Colonih’l Scretary, Air. Austen Chamberlain, who ought to know, flatly contradicts Mr. Bottomley’s alarmist statements, and records the fact that his famous father was yesterday able to indulge 111 walking exercise in tlie grounds of his residence at Highbury, after many weeks of pain and enforced idleness caused by liis old enemy gout. It is freely admitted that Air. Chamberlain’s illness lias pulled the Veteran Tariff Reformer down very much, that liis physical condition will preclude his accepting any political engagements for some time to come, and that he will not be fit to appear in the House of Commons again tliis year; but the suggestion that he is a mental as well as a physical wreck, is pooh-poohed, and it is pointed out that even during his enforced rest he has managed to get through a vast amount of correspondence, and to keep in close touch with the political mid other organisations m which he is interested.—-Auckland btar,