LONDON LETTER.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1881, 4 March 1880, Page 3

LONDON LETTER.

[pBOH THE PEEBS COEBEBPONDBNT.] LONDON, January 16.

The Earl of Derby, who has just been on a brief visit to Yorkshire, has delivered to the member* of the Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce a long address, which will not be altogether pleasing to that large section of the Liberals who have not only blamed the Government for all the bad times we have suffered in trade at home, but have reckoned on the active co-operation of the noble Earl in turning out Lord Beaconafield’s Ministry on account of its foreign policy. Lord Derby could not resist the opportunity of having one sly little hit at the Government, whom he accused of having engaged in the “gunpowder and glory business,” and thought it necessary to utter a solemn warning against the perils of such a traffic; but this was only an incident in some measure provoked by his more solid argument that Continental states, given up to what he calls “ militaryism,” can never successfully be our industrial rivals. I gather from a close perusal of this pregnant speech that Lord Derby does not attribute our present condition to any default of the Government, and indeed he does not believe our condition to bs nearly so bad as is generally assumed. Unsatisfactory he admits it to be, but then he re-

minded his audience that England not only did not suffer alone, but that she had not fallen behind in the competitive race. He thinks it necessary that still more should bo done to lessen the conflicts between capital and labor—and I may here remark that since the beginning of the New Year agitation for an increase of wages has been universal in every important department of trade throughout the country—but he argued, and with unassailable truth, that there has never before been such an industrial crisis as that which we have gone through during the last two years, which inflicted so little acute suffering'on the working classes. “Are we,” asks Lord Derby, in his matter of fact style, “ Are we growing richer or poorer ? ” meaning, of course, as a nation. Everything, he thinks, gives conclusive evidence of advance, and shows, after making allowance for the increase of our population, that we possess a larger income in money or in money’s worth than we did ten years ago, while owing to the cheapness of commodities, life is easier to men of small fixed incomes. Then, again, we have heard a great deal, especially the past year, of the decline of our foreign trade, but the profits on this Lord Derby reckons at only one-seventh of our total national income, so that our industrial life or death does not so much depend on our exports being kept up. But Lord Derby goes further, and argues that our foreign trade is not really falling off. We have received a check, he admits; but even the Americans, he points out, will not fight us in the open market, but entrench themselves behind a protective tariff, which has not wholly checked the import of English manufactures into the States. This cheering and convincing speech must have been very welcome in a district which has felt the very earliest symptoms of a revival in trade. The price of iron is bounding upwards from the minimum at which it was stagnant for so many months, and the mills and forges of West Yorkshire are now doing an amount of work which has not been required of them for several years. An instalment of £1,250,000, due on the New Zealand loan, was paid yesterday, and caused a decidedly more active demand for money in the city than has been experienced of late. There is still plenty of money on offer, but the rate of discount is very low, and holders of large sums do not care about lending it for only a short time. I believe, however, that the bulk of the money paid yesterday was a genuine investment in a colonial security. I have received the report of the directors of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, which shows that the net profits for the year 1879, inclusive of £3824 brought forward, amounted to £53,215. _ Out of this it is proposed to distribute a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent., and a bonus at the rate of 5 per cent., for the year, leaving £BI7O to be carried forward. In July last an interim dividend was paid, amounting, with interest on calls, to £14,358, so that there is now left for distribution the sum of £80,686.

The Bank of New Zealand have just closed the list of subscriptions for a city of Wellington 6 per cent, waterworks loan of £130,000 in debentures to bearer of £IOO each, the object being to provide waterworks on the Wainui-o-mata stream at a distance of fifteen miles from the city, the present works, it is announced here, having proved inadequate to meet the increasing requirements of the growing population. The allotment was expected to be made to-day, but up to the hour of writing I have not been able to ascertain the result.

I do not know whether the ship Maraval has reached Now Zealand, but if any of the passengers by that vessel should chance to read this letter they may be interested to hear that, according to a report which has just been received in London from Killorglin, in the county Kerry, Ireland, a bottle containing two notes was picked up on Oromane Point beach, on which the following was written :—“ Ship Maraval, Nov. 2nd, 1879. Had a gale of wind last night passing Plymouth Sound. It did not last more than an hour. Fine breeze this morning. Every prospect of making a fair passage to New Zealand. About 250 passengers on board; most of us very sick. Joseph Hbebeet Phillips, Winlescome, Somerset, England.” “ Ship Maraval, Nov. 2nd, 1879. —Lovely morning ; sea rough; all well. Last night experienced a sudden severe gale. Many of us very mnch terrified. Please God we are all well. From John Bobinson, of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England.” Although the session of Parliament will not begin for these three weeks to come the rehearsals for that event are now in full progress, and for the next twenty days members of the House of Commons will be allowed a larger share of the columns of our newspapers than they will be able to get when the business of the Chamber has begun, and a crowd of other demands leads to a curtailment of the reports of their harangues. January is always a month of terrific speeches in the provinces, and this’year it threatens to be worse than usual. The first shot has been fired this week by Sir William Haroourt, who, having been chatted about his ill success as a prophet in the past, has ventured upon one more prediction, which will probably be as unsuccessful, viz., that the first day of the next Parliament will be the last day of the existence of the present Government. Therefore he, in common with the Radicals, wishes to hasten the date of dissolution. They feel something like French convicts sentenced to the guillotine ; they know that the end must come and come speedily, but they have to live in constant dread that any morning may suddenly bring them face to face with the executioner. Indeed, Mr Chamberlain and the very “ advanced ” though small party that he leads would have the Government adopt the altogether impracticable policy of dissolving at Easter, a course which would leave the whole financial administration of the country in a hopeless muddle. Not so fast is Sir W. Haroourt, who is content to wait for any reasonable time, in the firm belief that the longer the present administration lasts the greater will be the Liberal victory at the polls. It may be so, but such speeches as that of last Tuesday night will not hasten nor increase it. Nor will the Government go to the country without having the whole of their case amply put before the electors in the best light,_ Two of their members, who command the highest respect from men of all shades of opinion. Sir Stafford Northoote, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr W. H. Smith, the Eirst Lard of the Admiralty, made last night two admirable speeches in defence of their conduct of public affairs. In one matter Sir Stafford was particularly forcible. He accepts willingly the challenge from the Opposition, that they will fight the battle of the next election on the question of the foreign policy of the Government, and he plainly tells the electors that the issue is one which concerns not themselves alone, but the whole of Europe if not the entire world. For whatever may be the verdict of the constituencies, and whatever may be the opinion of history on the proceedings of the Beaconsfield Ministry during these recent most eventful years, it cannot be denied that contemporary opinion on tha Continent has been more strongly in its favor than any support it has derived from the Ministerial party at home. Russia is the only Power in Europe that has any desire for a change of Government in England, because she knows too well that the Liberals would allow her to pursue unmolested her plans of conquest and rapine. One of the greatest and most difficult problems with which the present Government will have to deal before Mr Gladstone and Sir Wm. Haroourt return to power, is the state of Ireland, where severe distress prevails amongst a very large proportion of the population, and notably in the western province. This may fairly be said to be the result of a series of bad seasons, combined with that political disaffection which has been brought about by Mr Parnell and his band of Irreconcilables. Mr Parnell has gone away to the United States, whore he is now engaged in disseminating about as many untruths as any individual could crowd into his speeches. For instance, he told a reporter of the “New York Herald’’ that during the distress in 1847 Queen Victoria was the only sovereign in Europe who gave nothing out of her private purse to the starving Irish, the simple fact being jhat her Majesty headed the list of subscriptions with £2OOO, to which the Prince Consort added £SOO. From all we hear, Mr Parnell’s campaign in the States will be a failure from a political point of view, as it deserves to be, though he can hardly fail to obtain, in aid of his distressed fellow countrymen, a large sum of money from those of his race who have successfully settled in the States. It is noteworthy, however, that the latter were not found to be imbued with Repeal or Home Buie ideas, and that one of the earliest stops which Mr Parnell found it necessary to take after his first appearance in New York was to start two distinct funds, one for the

political part of bis project, the other for the far more deserving social one. The relief fund which the Duchess of Marlborough has started in Dublin has proved a great success, and has been considerably elped by the contributions which have freely flowed in from this country. At the same time the anti-rent agitation which was commenced last autumn, and continued until the Government commenced a prosecution of four of its principal apostles on a charge of sedition, is bringing about the most distressing results. Advised not to pay their landlords, the tenants have in too many eases yielded without reflection to such plausible sophistry, and paid no regard to the fact which is well established, that in many instances the landlord is but a nominal or part owner, and that not only himself but his sisters and other relatives are dependent on the receipt of the rents for their means of subsistence. But whether they need the money or not, the landlords have only one means of meeting the blank refusal which has widely met their demands for the payment of rent—viz., to appeal to the law for the ejectment of the tenants. It used to be thought that the Irish were a chivalrous race, but that is now only a superstition, for when the process servers, backed by the constabulary, proceeded to serve the notices upon the recalcitrant tenants, the latter set their women folk to stone and fight the police, while in one instance a vagabond picked the agent’s pocket and stole from him all his legal forms.