English and Foreign Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 783, 2 May 1870, Page 3

English and Foreign Items.

NEWS BY THE FEBRUARY MAIL. Thebe is a rumor afloat, and we give it only as a rumor, that Capt. Charles Fellows will relieve Commodore Rowley Lambert on the Australian station. Colonel Maude, C. 8., V.C., recently made a proposition to Earl Granville to raise a volunteer force for New Zealand, but has been referred by his lordship to the Commissioners, Messrs. Featherston and Bell, who are now staying at Charing Cross Hotel, and who, it is understood, have not been able to persuade the Colonial Secretary to alter his decision in respect to the permanent withdrawal of troops from the colony and other matters. Earl Granville, in replying to Lord Carnarvon, in the course of a discussion on New Zealand affairs, enforced the departure of the 18th Eegt. The officers and men are to be permitted to enter the colonial service. Honors have been conferred upon Colonel Whit more, Mr M'Lean, and the friendly chiefs. Our colonial affairs will, it is feared, give us some trouble this session. The Commissioners from New Zealand, deputed to this country to expostulate against the proposed withdrawal of troops, have been unable to extort from Lord Granville any change in the decision he had come to. Indeed they were not authorised to accept of any compromise, and their return home may be the signal for a dispute with the Colonial Government which may prove very unpleasant. Sir George Grey, the late Governor of New Zealand, met with a severe accident on the 24th February, near Storey's Gate, St. James's Park. A boy was leading a large dog by a chain, when by some means the dog got his chain round Sir George's legs, and he was thrown violently down on his forehead. He Was much shaken, but after half-an-hour's rest he was able to return home. A Blue Book appeared on February 18 containing the correspondence between the Colonial Office and the Governors of the Colonies relative to the proposed Conference, from which it appears that New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia » Queensland, and Tasmania, all threw cold water upon it, and repudiated connection with the Cannon-street patriots. The Committee of Merchants is sitting on the question of wool sales, and their report is just ready. There have been amusing scenes with the brokers, and a certain Sydney baronet has made himself troublesome and conspicuous. The merchants are not inclined to reduce their charges. The directors of the London and St Katherine's Docks have anticipated the advantage expected to be derived from an increase in the number of sales of wool yearly by a reduction of 3d per bale in their charges. Messrs Brown and Eagle proprietors of the "Public Wool Warehouses," and Messrs Gooch and Cousens, wool warehousemen, have also reduced their charges. The subject of emigration continues to excite the greatest interest in the country, and a deputation of the National Emigration League had an interview with Mr Gladstone on February 3, to ask for State aid to enable the poor to emigrate. The Premier promised that the subject should receive the earnest attention of the Government. The League afterwards held a conference at the house of the Society ol Arts, when Mr E. Wilson, of Australia XT ' and the Eev. Harry Jones, who had just returned from New York, addressed the meeting. The latter proposed a poll-tax of five shillings per head to be charged on every emigrant, in return for a Statft guarantee for five years of work, and if ill> of medical comforts. Sir W. Denison was in the chair. The League has also held meetings at Leeds, and other parts of the country. A meeting of the Colonial Emigration Society was held on the 2nd of February, at the Mansion House. The total emigration from Liverpool for January was 239 in excess of that for the corresponding period of last year. All the passengers —numbering 3,095 —under the Act proceeded to the United States. Mr Thomas Hughes, M.P., and Mr J. W. Chesson, have written letters with the object of showing that emigration can be made self-supporting. The Emigrant and Colonists' Aid Corporation have been in correspondence with Lord Granville on the subjeot of emigration. A paper was read by Colonel Maude before the Royal

Colonial Society, in which he advocated a scheme of self-Bupporting emigration, by lending the emigrant money with which to purchase land in the colonies. A monster petition, praying the attention of the .Government to the vast importance of [maintaining the existing relations between England and her colonies, was presented to the Home Secretary on the 15th of February. It was signed by 104,000 working men. A scheme for a regular system of military emigration has been proposed by Lieut.-Col. Bray. The Bank of Australasia has forwarded, through the Eight Hon. the Lord Mayor, a donation of 100 guineas to the National Emigration League. A New York journal says that fifteen ' men, escaped Fenian convicts from Australia, have landed at San Francisco. The released prisoners who arrived by the Suffolk have been very enthusiastically received at Dublin, Cork, and elsewhere. ■ It is said that the Cerberus will soon be ready to leave for Port Phillip. Considerable misapprehension seems to exist among many of our friends respecting the mails from the Colonies to England. All letters come together to Alexandria, but from that port those addressed via Marseilles are so sent, and reach London generally on the Monday before the departure of the outward mails leaving London on the foilowing Friday. The letters addressed via Southampton come round by sea, and reach London generally six or seven dajs later than those via Marseilles, and thus a day or two after the departure of the outward mails, so that there is a delay of a month in replying to them. It thus follows that all correspondence requiring attention or. reply by the return mail should be addressed via Marseilles. Letters addressed via Messina generally roach London two days before those via Marseilles; so that letters of special import should be written in duplicate, one copy via Messina, one via Marseilles. Punch is very severe upon the " Queensland Slave Trade," as it is called. The following appeared, February 19 : —" Mutato Nomine. We have done away with slavery in the British Dominions. 'No I slave can breathe where Victoria rules.' There seems to be one exception to the vaunt, and strange to say, it is in Queensland of all places. Here is Lord Belmore's account of the way ' free labor' is introduced into that favored region, from the South Sea Islands :—'A vesse' goes to one of the cannibal islands, thickly populated, and under the control of a chief. The chief wishes to reduce his population, and to pocket the premium the trader is ready to pay for each laborer. He calls his people together, and says:— * Here is a chance for thirty or forty of you to engage with the trader.' The number required go on board. They are asked whether they are willing to go away to the vessel; they declare their willingness, and the terms of the law are apparently complied with p But they know very well that if they refuse to go they will be killed and eaten. No comment seems to be necessary upon this, if it is true.' We decidedly agree with Lord Belmore. No other comment is necessary than that of Mr Murdoch, of the Emigration Board :—' No authority short of Imperial legislation can put a stop to proceedings of this description, nor would an Act of Parliament be much avail unless cruisers were employed in the Polynesian seas to carry it into effect.' Here would be a nice job for one of Mr Childer's ' flying squadron.' John Bull would not begrudge the cost of a cruiser to put down this kind of rascality, which is sowing the seed in Australia of that very curse of slavery which it has cost us and other nations so much to get rid of." The late Mr W. E. Williams, of Pwllypant House, Caerphilly, Glamorganshire, has left the whole of his property, estimated at £200,000, to the Marquis of Bute. The will was prepared by Mr Llewellin, solicitor, Newport, and executed about three years ago, Mr Dewellin, it appears, suggested to the deceased gentleman the advisability of not passing by his own connections j but his directions were imperative, and he would permit no deviation from the instructions given. He had one Bister and three half-brothers, with all of whom he was on friendly terms, and hence the motive for disposing of his property in such an extraordinary manner appears to be more inexplicable than was at first anticipated. The Marquis of Bute was at Some, attending the (Ecumenical Council when he received the intelligence of this further addition to his already enormous fortune.

The* superiority in many respects of the Brindisi route for the quick despatch of letters, has been the subject of recent newspaper controversy. The Duke of Richmond has accepted the leadership of the Conservative party in the House of Lords. Further agrarian outrages have occurred in Ireland. An awful explosion of gunpowder occurred on the 14th February, at the Morfa Collieries, near Neath. Twenty-throe deaths are reported. Another explosion occurred at the colliery, by which several men who were searching for the bodies of those who were killed in the previous explosion, were themselves killed or injured. The Government have decided to prosecute the father of the Welsh fasting girl, at the forthcoming Carmarthenshire Assizes j and Mr Giffard, Q.C., has received an intimation from the AttorneyGeneral that he will be required to conduct the prosecution on behalf of the Crown. The Admiralty have consented to place at the disposal of the board of management of the Forest Gate District Sohools, the Goliath, one of the vessels how laid up at Sheemess, as a training ship for pauper boys. The Admiralty will fit the vessel for 500 boys on the managers agreeing to pay £5,497. The managers have consented to the terms proposed, provided the vessel is guaranteed to be sound, and not likely to require any repairs at an early date. By the accommodation thus obtained, they will be spared the necessity of a proposed enlargement of their school buildings, at a cost of about £25,000. The training-ship will be moored off Northfleet.

In the House of Commons Mr Childers, replying to a question by Colonel Taylor, stated that the Australian squadron wa sufficiently strong to carry out the recommendations made by Lord Belmore for checking irregularities in the deportation of South Sea Islanders. Nevertheless, they were determined to detach additional ships for the express purpose of repressing these irregularities. In reference to the colonial debate in the Honse of Lords, the Times says that Lord Carnarvon has rendered a public service in calling attention to the relations between the Colonies and the mother country, but the chief good effected was in eliciting the fact that the Colonial Office was not very serious in giving an offensive answer. It was a matter for discussion, and for conference of opinions. The present system, by its very pliancy, produces mutual friendship, which rigid political bonds might perhaps stifle.

The Economist says;—The reports in the American papers of a proceeding which has just occurred at the New York SubTreasury are of some interest as illustrating the difficulties of the United States Government as owner of a large hoard of gold. The Assistant-Treasurer is held personally responsible for " every penny " which the Treasury vaults oontain, and at every change of appointment the money must be counted, so that the new appointee may have his responsibility defined. As there are now about 75,000,000 dollars in gold coin (£15,000,000) and about 40,000 dollars in silver in the vaults, it may be seen what labor of counting is involved in the transfer rendered necessary by the recent removal of General Butterfield. Of course it is not necessary to count every coin, the chests and bags being equalised, and only one or two counted against which the others may be weighed ; but much as the process may be abbreviated, it still takes a long time —occupying on the previous occasion twelve days. The arrangements for the custody of the money are of a most solid kind. The vaults are " two in number, and situated on the main floor of the building. The sides and roof of each are of eight feet granite masonry and two feet iron plates. Between the plates are musket balls laid in loose. The floor is thirty feet of masonry and two feet of iron plates, also with a layer of musket balls. Each vault is closed by four iron doors weighing two tons each, and fastened by two combination looks each door. The three inner door are locked with a key, while the locks on the outer ones are operated by means of an instrument about an inch long by half an inch wide, which may be carried in a vest pocket. Each vault is about twelve feet square. On the sides of each apartment are built 120 chests of iron, each of the capacity of a quarter of a million in gold coin. Each chest when full is closed by an iron door, and fastened with a lock which is sealed,

so that the door cannot be tampered with without breaking the seal.*' In this way the United States Government performs its business as the second or third largest holder of gold in the world—the Bank of France being the largest, and the Bank of England only sometimes exceeding tbe usual figure of the American Government. The inconveniences to a government in such a work are very great, and the won* der is that the onerous labor has not been transferred to a great national bank as in older countries. But this is a small mat* ter compared with the inconvenience to the business of the country of so great a hoard, from which large sums are issued at distant intervals. Mr Henry Beecher has, with thanks, declined the proffered increase of his salary from $12,500 to $20,000. He "is satisfied." Lord Hatherley will resign the Chancellorship at the end of the present session. He will in all probability be succeeded by Roundell Palmer. Green peas, we are told, were selling in Philadelphia in February at 2£d a-piece. Jonathan must expect all outside the States to be more than ordinarily veadant to believe this announcement. Mr Barry Sullivan has accepted an engagement at Liverpool. It is reported that he has received from a noble lady a cheque for the munificent sum of ten thousand pounds to cover his losses at the Holborn Theatre. The King and Queen of the Hellenes are to pay a visit in the spring to Denmark and Russia. Prince John of GHucksburg, uncle of George I, had been requested to again undertake the regency during their absence ; but, in consequence of his refusal, the Government will be confided to the Ministry. Mr Leonard Edmunds has notified that he intends to apply next term to the Queen's Benoh for leave to file a criminal information against Mr W. E. Gladstone! the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr James Stansfeld, and Mr George A. Hamilton, who signed the Treasury minute branding him as a "public de« faulter." A strange robbery was perpetrated in Dublin on the night of February 7. The bags, which contain the books, briefs, and other papers of the members of the bar are usually taken by a messenger from the Four Courts in the evening in sacks to the respective residences of the owners. The messenger who performs this duty for the district between Stephen Greeu and Fitz william Square, was on the night ni question robbed of a saok containing five bags. A report very creditable to dogs comes from Amsterdam. A few days ago an old lady, nearly blind, attempted, during a gale of wind, to make a visit to her daughter, guided by her dog Cffisar, whom she held by a string. The cord broke, the dog ran off, and the poor woman, in a lonely neighborhood, walked into a canal. Struggling and soreaming for help, she was de--1 lighted to hear the barks of Cfflsar, and the voice of her son-in-law. It appears the dog ' ran on to the daughter's house, barked and 1 howled at the door, and literally brought 1 help in time to save his nearly exhausted 1 and drowning mistress.

A poor young widow in Berlin, on returning to her house after an hour's absence, recently, found this note lying on her fable:— "Madame,—l came here with the intention of robbing you, but the sight of this respectable and peaceful little room decorated with religious pictures and adorned with pious souvenirs, and, above all, your two little children, which were quietly sleeping in their little beds and smiling in their dreams, hare touched my heart, and instead of depriving you of the little money I found in your drawer I take the liberty of leaving here fifty dollars, hoping that you will accept of them as a tribute of my respect and admiration."

A sad accident has occurred at Loch Leven. The lake was frozen, and three young ladies, daughters of Mr Steedman, a merchant of Kinross, were on the ioe. They had with them a large dog; and the animal having fallen through the ice, one of the young ladies attempted to help it out, and in doing so fell in herself. One of the sisters went tu her assistance, and she too fell in; and then the third, going to the aid of the other two, shared their fate. Efforts were made to resoue them, but in vain; and all three were drowned. Two of them were about to be married. In another part of Scotland, on Loch Leggan, two boys, of fourteen and sixteen years of age, were also drowned while amusing themselves on the ice.

MR. POX'S LETTER TO THE UNITED STATES CONSUL. LFrom the Otago Daily Times, 12th April/] The more closely Mr Fox's letter to the United States Consul is scrutinised, the more extraordinary it appears. It is undignified in tone, weak in reasoning, and slovenly in composition. Its tone is unpleasantly suggestive of a small boy asking a favor of a big one. The New Zealand Government, says the Premier, " will be glad to learn that, under the circumstances, your Government will in future be willing to allow the Government of this country to communicate with them direct in matters affecting the relations of the two countries." Mr Fox evidently considers it would be a great privilege for us to negotiate with the United States and deems it, unnecessary to conceal that opinion. Modesty is a charming quality, no doubt, but there is such a thing as self-respect, and the colonists of New Zealand would feel in no way honored by being " allowed " to treat with the United States. We are, it is true, a small community, but we are members of a nation which holds at least as proud a position in the world as the United States. What we desire is simply the establishment of direct commercial relations with America, by which each party will be benefited. We are not, humble suitors for an alliance. Bub supposing the American Government to "allow" us to enjoy the supreme honor of conferring directly with it, it does not seem to have occurred to Mr Fox that another Power may not be so complaisant. There is such a place as Downing street; and such a being as the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It is by no means improbable that an attempt on the part of New Zealand to initiate a treaty witli a foreign State, without leave and license first obtained from the Home Government, may be regarded as a studied offence by the latter, and resented accordingly. Had tli e Ministry followed the course which i* rendered necessary by the existing relations between the mother country and the colony, the negotiations might have been conducted with far more dignity on our side, and without any fear of their being stopped by a voice speaking ex cathedra Probably the Government thought th it any appeal to Earl Granville on the subject was hopless; but we should like to know how the difficulty is got over by the present course. The Premier seems to think that the United States Government is in K sl state of the densest ignorance re-

garding the Australian colonies. He gravely informs it that colonies are peopled by a rac3 speak ing the same language, and acknowledging many of the same traditions and associations which belong to the people oi the United States." The. American Government will, of course, feel giateful for the information; but Mr Pox evidently does nor read the New York papers, in which he would find regular correspondence both from Australia and New Zealand. Otherwise, it would have occurred to him. that well-educated Americans are acquainted with the fact that these are English colonies. Moreover, American vessels are not unfrequent visitors to Australia and New Zealand ports; and if the masters have not written accounts of their voyages in these seas in the ytyle of Captain Cook, they have no doubt reported the color of the inhabitants. Over modest in one respect, Mr Fox is too conceited in another. Humble as is the position which New Zealand occupies in relation to the great Eepublic, yet she possesses such a treasure in wool as to make its acquisition a full equivalent for any alteration in a fiscal policy rigidly adhered to for years. Mutual concession lies at the root of all commercial treaties; but Mr Fox coolly asks the American Government to admit our wool into its ports d'lty free, without even hinting at a change in the colonial tariff by which American importers would be benefited. In his opinion, an abundant supply pf wool appears the one thing needful to consummate the greatness of the United States. That country is promised all sorts of blessings if it will only take our wool. Among other things, it would be come a "leading market" for that commodity. Unfortunately, it is not shown how ihis result would be attained. We are not aware that there are any large manufacturing countries in the immediate neighborhood of the United States, for whose supply that country might be made the entrep6t. The woollen stuff's ol Canada, Mexico, or the South American States, are still unknown in the commercial world; and by what means wool could be carried more cheaply from America to Europe than it is now from England to the Continent has yet to be explained. Nor is it very clear how the mere circumstance of the United State obtaining the raw material in! large quantities "would give a great impetus to their worsted and woollen manufactories," and be the means of "opening up a trade with countries which will not enter into manufacturing rivalry with it, but consume its products and manufactures. The United States," continues Mr Fox, warming with the subject, "with an adequate supply of wool would become one of the largest woollen and worsted manufacturing countries in the world." Surely, if abundance of wool at a cheap rate be all that is requisite to make a large manufacturing country, Australia and New Zealand ought to supply the greater purt of Europe with woollen stuffs. It is not want of raw material that has kept the United States low in the scale of manufacturing nations, but many other causes which it is unnecessary to mention here, and with which American statesmen are far better acquainted than Mr Fox seems to be.

We have so frequently urged the; advantages of shipping wool direct to the countries where it is consumed, that it will not be supposed our reremarks on Mr Fox's letter have been provoked by a feeling of hostility to its object. Every year the inconvenience of having a single market is more keenly felt ; and the opening of the San Francisco line i* a very suitable time for negotiating with the United States on the subject. But we fear that the letter of the Premier, instead of bringing about the desired result, is only likely to make the colony look ridiculous, and to defeat its purpose. Any proposals that may emanate from the New Zealand Government should not only be reasonable in themselves, but be made in a proper form and with a due regard to the dignity of the colony; otherwise they can bear no fruit, and may prejudice subsequent negotiations. One

good result, however, may flow from this epistle; and that is, that as it 1 will come before the General Assembly, it may possibly cauwe more judicious action to be taken in the | matter.