OUR HOME LETTER.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10068, 9 February 1909, Page 4

OUR HOME LETTER.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) London, January 1, 1909. Mr L. S. Humphries, of Wellington, who has been, in London, is on a business trip. He spent six months in Canada, and the United States on the way. Since being in the Old Country he has paid. a short visit to Yeovil, whence he left for New Zealand in 1841. He has just left again for the United States for a few weeks, and will then return to England. After his return he will probably do a uood deal more travelling in the interests of his company. Mr and Airs T. "S. Tankard, of Christchurch, will return to the Dominion early in the New Yearly the Vancouver boat. They, also, have gone to America. They spent the oast summer in the United Kingdom, and Mr Tankard took the opportunity of studying the most recent methods of physical culture. Crossing the Channel to visit Paris, their steamer was run into by a torpedo boat at two o'clock in the morning— an alarmins experience, for which, however, no one was any the worse. They spent- a fortnight in Paris, and afterwards visited Holland, Belgium, Southern Germany, Lucerne, Como, Milan, the Riviera, Venice, sailing from Naples for New York. Mr W. H. Bird, well known in Wansanui, who has been referred to in former letters, tells me that he had not had time to do much more than attend to the tyre business which has brought him over. Ho is now cntraied in perfecting this, and the past year has been devoted to the initial stages, with results which are considered satisfactory by those who have followed the progress made. He has had many difficulties to overcome, but is now at a st:ue where he can make much more rapid progress. He has just left the village of Ley land, where his work last year was conducted, and is making arrangements to work on rather "a larger scale. From all I can hear these tyres are going to have a zr.ind success when thev once set on the market.

Mv Addison J. Newbold, of Napier, arrived here about three months ago, and has been staying with relatives at Darlington. He is now in London for a few weeks, after which he goes to Torquay, then to the South of France, returning 10 England in the soring. Ho expects to be back in the Dominion about next November.

In reading over my notes of last -ureek. I notice that the name of your Chief Inspector of Fisheries, is spelt ow-in-r to the indistinct writing of the original note containing- the information, Mr L. F. Ayson is. of course, the correct name of this official. I just learn that the Commissioners Denartment are well on with their arrangements for the shipment of ihe second consignment- of salmon ova.

}fr John i Linden. w"ho appeared very successfully at a concert in Glasgow the other day. played on the Strad 'cello preRented to him by your late Premier Mr Seddon.

The Hon. "W. T. Reeves, referred to in another part of this letter in connection with the London School of has been appointed a member of the Royal Commission whieh is to examine schemes for securing a more fully representative r haracter for popularly elected legislative Lord Richard Cavendish, the yoiuiger brother of the Duke of Devonshire. is the chairman. Two deaths of Xew Zealanders are vec corded during the past week. On 24th nit., at BrownhUls, St. Andrews. Fife, Mr James Fanner, formerly member of the Legislative Council of ss"ew Zealand, in his 37th year: and on 22nd ult.. Captain Jas. A. MaeMahon. at the Pines, rei'jnmouth. Captain MacMahon was a : former resident of the Doxiinion. YOL'XG IXDIAXS AND THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS. A cabl» from Madras, dated 27th inst., fii-ites that Professor Lees Smith, of the I.or.don Schoul of Economics, who is lecturing in India tinder the auspices of the Government, with a view to the promotion of commercial education, addressing the Industrial Congress on that day. announced that the London School of Economics was arranLfinj a scheme for enyouni: Indians to visit England to study politic a 1 life and institutions with the object of ultimateiv assisting in the smooth and successful workinu .f Lord ? s reforms. It will be fresh in the memory of a]} your readers that Mr Pember Reeves r-..si::ned the Hijrh omrnis&ionership to become the Principal of the London School of Economics. Hehas been interviewed by the representative of a well-known daily, to whom he explained that the Professor's lectures in India had been arranged before Lord Moneys reform scheme had been nronnd-

.ated. It is therefore but a happy coincidence thai he should be speaking on the subje-t at- that moment. "This is no new idea. " said Mr Reeves, "but an out-<-ome of the L. r oner;d policy of ihe school. We are anxious thot younir Indian students who hav«- taken degrees in their own land should study erormmhs and and it is admitted that no school in the empire'is better equipped than ours to i\"e such a and iounde<l edu•atinn in administrative work. Mr Lees Smiih is on leave to crive lectures in India, at the reoucst of the Government of West, em Indii. and wluit we shall aim at is to do .=onie unolil' ial spade work for Lord Morley's reform ech'-me. Yoit!u r India is tor the Ifi'st- time to be asked to serve on Legislative Councils, and otherwise to betr a part in government by representation. and the training we i;ive. not only in economics and history, but in consiitntional Imperial and local government administrative work, trade, and finance should be invalwable. Alreadv we have 85 foreign students at the school, including about IS Asiatics, and we hope i.ow to increase their number. We have been fortunate cnouirh to secure as a governor of the school Mr Morrison, a member of the Indian Council, and thus we shall keep more in touch with the needs and movements of that areat Empire.

THE ALL P,LACKS AND THE WALLABIES.

I cull the i from the columns of a well-known daily:—The record of the Wallabies, who to-day play the twentysevomh match of their tour, against a North (JlamorLran Fifteen, at Penydaren I'ark. Merthyr, though not quite so" great as that of either tVie All Slacks oi~ the Springboks. i.<. nevertheless, surprisingly !-ood for a team that has met with more than its fair share of misfortune in the mutter of injuries to players. Of the twenty-sis names which have been played up to date, twenty-one have been won outright, three lost, one drawn, and one abandoned. Two of the defeats were sustained in Wales, the Welsh international fifteen defeating them at Cardiff by a penalty goal and two tries, while Llaiiely heat them by a uoal and a try to a try. The third Teverse, the most severe cf the tour, was sustained in a match against a combined team of the Midlands and East Midlands at Leicester, which the Englishmen won by two goals and a penalty goal and a try to a goal. The All Blacks, who were the first touring team to demonstrate to lis that the standard of football in the colonies is higher than our own. only met with one reverse in the course of their tour. Wales beating them at Cardiff by a try .-to nil. The Springboks from South Africa were twice defeated, first by Scotland at Edinburgh. : and afterwords bv the Cardiff team in the last match of their tour. British successes atrainsi colonial touring teams have thus been on an ascending scale—one against the Ail Blacks, two against the Springhoks. three, and perhaps more, against the Wallabies—and it may fairly be claimed that this Has been as much due to improvement in our own men as to any falling jiff in the quality of our opponents. ■* * * THE WOOL MARKET. I have the fallowing notes from Bradford : —What happened at Liverpool last week lias given added interest to the wool situation. Last week-end it seemed as though the Bradford market ha<l settled down to a state of comparative stagnation which would last to the end of the year, in fact quotations showed signs of easing off. particularly for merinos. Two or three topmakera who had been rather above the market came into lino with other firms. Yesterday, however, crossbreds sold at Liverpool from 5 to per cent, above London, and this had the effect of sending up quotations to the extent of a farthing to a- halfpenny per pound for medium and coarse sorts in Bradford. Thus we have a farther example of the Home market being dominated from the raw materia;l end. Private reports from. Dunedin indicate that an attempt which had been made to bear the market out there bad not been a success, and that wool had sold above the Bradford level; in fact, Bradford amply sustained its reputation for being the cheapest wool market in the world. Topmakens are very cautious abont making reductions, notwithstanding the great difficulty they have in getting orders, but they act with re-

markable unanimity when there is an upward' snore at the raw material end. Developments in the immediate future will be watched with, special interest, in view of this Liverpool movement. Offers have been received from the Continent for tops and yarns at within a farthing of Bradford prices, but have been firmly rejected, and it is now a moot'ypoint as- to whether the buyer or the seller will have to give way. There generally speaking, a very hopeful tone about the market, and a very oonfident anticipation of developments favorable to Bradford early in the New Year. It is pleasant to be able to record that the percentage of unemployment in the textile trades of the City is now lower than at any other period of the year, and it may fairly be said, that the crisis has passed from a worker's point of view. The mail from New Zealand includes one or two items which are being read with peculiar interest in Bradford. Here is a paragraph from the Lytte'lton Times which is an example of how others see us :—"Woolgrowers .generally are inclined to look upon the buyers from Bradford as the only men in the Sydney wool market worth thinking about. Everything appears to depend upon Bradford. While it must be admitted that the centre is of very great importance, holding, as it dties, such a high place in the wool industries of the world, it must not be forgotten that- other centres are also largely represented each season at Sydney. It is estimated that some 200 buyers attend the sales. Included in the number are about 47 from France, 55 from Germany, 32 from England, 26 from Belgium, 12 from America, 6 each from Russia and Japan, and about 30 local men." Another extract from a New Zealand newspaper may be worth reading in the Dominion again just now. It Ims often been said that one has to go away from home to hear news about one's native place. Sir W. Hill, a wellknown Christcliurch. wool-broker, was interviewed recently on his return from a visit to Great Britain. Here is an extract from a report of the interview in the Canterbury Times : —"The depression ! in Britain," said Sir Ilill, "'seemed to be very great. lie knew of one mill in Bradford that was working fifty looms out of ■ one thousand, and in many places mills were standing idle or even incomplete, the depression having occurred while they were being erected. The manufacturers had been willing to carry on and add to stock if the operatives would accept a 10 per cent, reduction in wages, but the hands had refused this. The result had been that thousands of men and women were out of employment, and the distress in many places had become keen."