ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. [FROM THE .AUCKLAND " STAR'S LONDON CORRESPONDENT.]

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 76, 15 November 1884, Page 6

ANGLO- COLONIAL NOTES. [FROM THE .AUCKLAND " STAR'S LONDON CORRESPONDENT. ]

London, September 26. Revival in New Zealand Shipping. Tick lluapehu sails to-day with a largo cargo and full passenger iisfc» Things have been looking up In the shipping business for some time past ; indeed, the New Zealand brokers declai-e they have booked more passengers during the present month than they did during September and October last year. It is satisfactory, too, to state that there seems every prospect of this desirable state of affairs continuing. The Lady Jocelyn (postponed from the 20th) leaves to-morrow with a large contingent of settlers for Auckland and the Waikato, and the Northumberland (advertised for next month) is filling up fast. The New Zealand Shipping Company's new steamer Kaikcura has already all her best cabins engaged, and a similar remark applies to Shaw, Savill's Coptic. By the last named steamer the Agent-General intends sending out a few single women emigrants.

The Agent-General's Office. At Westminster Chambers there is (owing to the recent changes of Government in the colony) very little doing at present. I called there on Wednesday, and found Mr Kennaway gone away on a well-deserved holiday. Sir F. D. Bell is busy revising the proofs of the long-promised third part of the new handbook, which will be published in about a month. Parts one and two have not. up to the present, enjoyed a very great sale.

New Zealand Produce. The fimen mutton per Ruapehu was landed in prime condition, and sold at the improved price of 5Ad. There seeing every prospect now of the market hardening. Cold weather has set in, and Michaelmas is approaching. None of the compressed beef or cheese that came by the Doi ie has been sold yet. lam not sure whether the consignees .vish to dispose of the former, or merely to show it about and ascertain its mercantile value.

Various Notes. Those who remember Sir James Fergusons Governorship of New Zealand have doubtless agreeable recollections of his charming daughter Ethel, and will be glad to learn, that it has pleased the Queen to confer on the young lady the decoration of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India. This order was established some little time ago in order to enable the Queen to recognise special merit in the great ladies of India, native begums, etc. , and has as yet been given to very few persons. The Admiralty have directed the new crews for the Australian ironclad Kelson and sciew corvette Diamond to be selected at the various naval stations by the end of October (not the beginning, as I said in my last), in readiness to leave England "for the Australian station early in November on board the troopship Tamur, which is to be commissioned specially for the voyage, the new crews taking her to Australia, and the present crews of the Nelson and the Diamond navigating her back to England. The P. and 0 Company's steamers Deccan and Australia have been hired as transpoits by the Government, and are now engaged taking stores and men, Sec, on board for the coming Nile expedition. Messrs Shaw, Savill'snews.s. Arawawill, it is hoped, be ready to come round to the Thames and commence taking her cargo on board at the Royal Albert Docks by the 20th proximo. The following is a complete list of the Auckland passengers by the New Zealand Shipping Company's Ruapehu, which leaves Plymouth to-morrow for Otago, Wellington, and Canterbury. First saloon — For Auckland: Mifes M. A. Barstow, Miss E. M. Carpenter, Miss Ruth Cope, Mr P. R. Fraser, Mr W. Moore, Mr E. W. Payton, Miss J. Roskruge, and Mr Fred Syme.s. Second saloon Mr ond Mrs Andrew and family ((>'), Mrs A. Bews, Misses Alice and Annie Bews, Messrs AY. (*. and R. K. Bew«, Mr and Mrs Boalton and three children, Mr A. Hay ward, Mr Stanley Knight, Miss Mutton, Miss Strong, Mr E. P. R. Trega.'kis, and Miss Strong.

General and Personal Notes. Most of the English provincial papers warmly approve ot Lord Kosebery's idea that something like the Trades Union Federation would be possible amongst the colonies. The " Statesman " (for instance) says :—" There is reason in the conjecture. Such meetings as that of the British Association show how international objects can be promoted by means unlikely. The Canadians, for instance, fear federation for Imperial objects. They will never be asked to enter into any such scheme. Still, they deserve closer or other union than that which now prevails, a few colonial congresses would soon disclose what is possible in these directions. A colonial congress once assembled would do moie than any scores ol committees in London can accomplish." Lord Ko.«ebery's many friends in Australia and New Zealand will regret to learn that he h;u-! throun from his horse and broke his collar-bone on Tuesday evening Though confined to his bed, he is doing as well us possible, and will, it is -.hoped, be well in time for the autumn session of Parliament. Spoiforth is not returning with the other Aufetralian ciieketers by the Mirzapore. He means to ?tay a few weeks longer in England. Mra Langtry has finally given up all idea of visiting the Australian colonies for the present, and leased the Princes Theatre in London for a seven months' season, commencing in January. According to the "World," Melbourne society has been stirred to fierce wrath by the conduct of the wife of one of the officers recently detailed from the Home Army to commands in the colonial forces. Their wives seem from the first to have made themselves at once ludicrous and unladylike; but if there be any truth in the uncontradicted statements appearing in the local papers, the wife of an artillery lieutenant has been guilty of an outrage that ought to make her a lonely woman during the rest of her stay in Australia. The story as told is that having been named a member of a ladies' committee in connection with a public ball, she sent her maid to represent her at one of its meetings, and that when Borne ladies called on her and were admitted to her drawing-room, the servant informed them that her mistress must have gone out, when the feet of the said mistress were visible projecting from below a sofa under which she had hidden herself. From the same journal I cull the following paragraph :— " At the recent election in New Zealand, the candidates for the representation of Oamaru were Mr Shrimski (a Polish Jew) and Lord Reidhaven (theheir to the earldom of Seafield), who, I mentioned recently, is a denizen (and auctioneer) of that colonial seaport. I suppose the Oamaruians know their own business best, and I am not in a position to say whether or not it is a matter of regret that the British nobleman suffered an overwhelming defeat at the hands of the Polish Jew,"

Considerable activity is being displayed at Sheernee* Backyard in the refit of Her Majesty's Übarmourod composite ploop Gannett, which is being brought forward for another tettn of foreign service. In order to atfoixl increased accommodation for Wq officers and men, she is being fitted with ft poop w hich will be protected with Bessemer steel plating. The Gannett will probably proceed to the Pacific station to relieve Her Majesty's ship Sappho. "Australia's Artist," as Mr Nicholas Chevalier is sometimes called, has just finished a large and highly dramatic picture called " Buddha" for exhibition at the Royal Academy next year. A New Zealand agent attended the great Yorkshire horse-fair held at itowden last week, and made large purchases of cart and plough horses on behalf of a syndicate of Canterbury farmers. The animals are to be shipped by the first available opportunity. Mr W. M. Maskell, F.R.M.S., sends "Nature" along and interesting account oi the scale insects of New Zealand. To get rid of this pest Mr Maskcll suggests cutting down all infocted trees ; but before proceeding to such an extreme " Nature " thinks kerosene should be tried. The Hon. Cecelia Clifford, nieco of Sir Charles Clifford (who is so well known in New Zealand) was married on Wednesday to Viscount Fielding, eldest son of the Earl of Denbigh. The wedding was celebrated by Bishop Clifford and the Rev. Walter Clifford, I.J. Miss Emily Clifford, Sir Charles Clifford's daughter, was one of the six bridesmaids, and looked charming in pink silk veiled with ecru muslin and lace, with a lace bonnet to match. Among the guests were several Anglo-Colonists, notably Mr Charles Clifford, Mr George Lane Fox, Mr G. Pulford, and Mr Marcus, Hare.

Shipping and Passenger Notes. The N.Z.S. Co.'s Tongariro, homeward bound, passed Rio on the 22nd September. Messrs Slaw, SaviU's Coptic, s., with 23,000 carcases frozen muttcn, is expected at Plymouth to-day or to-morrow. The Cunoi'd Company are determined not to lose the carriage of the American, Australian, and N.Z. mails. On Saturday last they launched a new steel liner of S.OOO tons and 12,000 horse-power, which will cross the Atlantic within si.i days. The vessel was christened the " Etruria" by the Duchess of Manchester. The tria trip of the Union Company's new steamer Kaikoura will take place on the 10th prox. (Ociober). The New Zealand homeward mails have, on the last two occasions, been brought across the Atlantic by the North German Lloyds Imperial mail steamers. An Auckland gentleman, who crossed in one of them — the Eider, says thoy are more than ecpal in accommodation, fittings, and appointments to any of the English liners, and very speedy, but that the food is teiTibly German, i.c.> plenty of giease, garlic, and saver kraut. Th# Cunard s.s. Oregon recently mado a most noteworthy round voyage. She left Queenstown on August 17th, at 3.21 p.m., and completed the trip to New York and back (a total distance of 5,701 miles) in 12 days 21 hours and 31 minutes. The P. and O. ?.s. Mazapore, which left London on Wednesday, takes the following through passengers to Auckland :— Mrs Thomas and 2 Misses Thomas. The following passengers have been booked per s.s. Coptic since last mail :—: — Mr S. Adam, Miss Salter, Mr, Mrs, and Miss White, Mr Robert Wilson, and H. C. McElwain. The n©n-arrival of the Coptic is causing a little anxiety in the city just now. She left Rio 23 days ago, and has notbeea heard of since. The delay may be caused by the refrigerating engines taking more steam than they ought, as the vessel has 23,000 carcases on board but fears are entertained that she has broken down, as her voyage to Rio was not longer than usual.

Te Wheoro at Clapham. On Tuesday afternoon I went down to Clapham to pay a visit to Major Te Wheoro and see how he and Skid more •neve getting on by themselves. I was shown upstairs, and found both of them asleep— the Major in an armchair, Skidmore on a sofa. After listening for pome minutes to the snoring of the pair, I awoke Skidmore, who soon routed the Major from his after-dinner nap. The Major was very glad to see a visitor, for except Mr Spencer, hardly anybody ever calls on them, and was soon busily engaged in asking a series of que.« tiong about the Ministerial crisis in the colony. After laughing heartily at the various changes of Government, the Major furnished me with his ideas on all the principal colonial topics, and also told me the history of his political career. Since the King and the rest of the party returned, the Major and Skidmore have been very dull ; they find the quiet life in Clapham a great change after the continual bustle of Montague Place. For a week or so after their removal, Te Wheoro wa suffering from a bad cold, and placed himself in the doctor's hands. He has got better lately; but the climate, I am afraid, does not agree with him, and he still coughs frequently. Mrs Grace kindly invited the Major and Skidmore down to Rickmansworth last veek, and they . "pent three very pleasant days there. This it the only "dissipation" they have had during the past month, if 1 except an occa sJonal visit to Mr." Saintsbury's lor letters, or a trip to the city for shopping purposee. The pair spend the greater part of their time in dozing on sofas, or walking about the quiet streets near them, the Major occasionally varying this by reading hia Maori Bible and spelling out the explanations of the pictures in a book of *' Bible Stories for Children," presented him by Miss Weale. Mr Grove, the Secretary of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, has expressed his intention of presenting them with a lot of books, but they have not yet arrived. The other day a letter was received from Hori, posted at Port Said, in which he said the King and all his suite were well and happy. The Major is very comfortable in his apartments, but I must say I pity the poor fellow having to stay in England during November and December with only the companionship ot the faithful Skidmore. The Australian Cricketers. " Truth " says :— " There are three features of the Australian play which stand out prominently — Spofforth's bowling, Bonnor's hitting, and Blackham's wicket-keeping. If we claim that Sherwin, and perhaps Pilling, are the equal of Blackham behind the sticks, we must cheerfully admit that we have not — and, what is more, never had— so deadly a fast bowler as Spofforth, or so mighty a slogger as Bonnor, with whom even Thornton in his best days could not have compared for an instant. In the matter of general batting, however, we more than hold our own, for good as Murdoch is, he does not equal se reral of our cracks. McDonnell, however, deserves special mention as a splendid specimen of a very valuable a '.'1 r ather rare typ 3 of batsman," Varships on Colonial Stations. For some time past the "Pali Mall Gazette" has been publishing a series of articles that Britainna no longer " rules the waves," that any of the great Foreign Powers could easily tackle us at sea. In the course of one of these articles the writer *

remarks \ — " On thG Australian station j where our trade is £102,000,000 per annum, we have the Nelson, a powerful secondclass ironclad, eight years old, of 7,030 tons, with Din, aymour and four 18-ton gune-. On the Pacific station w> htlVo iho Swiftsure> ft ifaul'to&n i 'year-old second-class ironclad, 6,J)10 tons, with Sin. armour, and ten 12-ton guns, as against the third-class French ship Reino Blanche, 3,650 tons, 6-in, armour, carrying 6 8-ton guns ; co that although the French have ten vessels carrying 50 guns in the Pacific, and four oai'l'ying thirteen guno in Australian waters, we are in those regions safe as against the French ; but wo could not face the Chilian ironclads without reinforcements. On the North American station, where our trade amounts to £200,000,000 a-year, wo have the Northampton, an eight-year-old secondclass ironclad of 7,300 tons, with four 18-ton guns and 9in. of armour $ and as no other Power has any ship that could face this vessel, our interests may be regarded'safe in that region. On the southeast of America, where our trade is over £45,000,000 per annum, we havo no ironclad ; the Amethyst is our best ship, and tho ironclad that Sir YV. G. Armstrong has just despatched to tho Brazil Government, constructed from stem to stern in two years, could sweep every ship off tho station,"without any serious risk to itself. At the Capo and West African stations we have the Boadicea, an unarmoured iron-screw corvette, carrying sixteen guns, but twice the size of the best French ship on tho station. The French have 13 ships with 42 guns, as against 9 ships of our squadron carrying 64 guns. On the East Indian station, where our trade, including that which passes through the Suez Canal, is £239,750,000 per annum, Admiral Hewett in the Euryalus has a force of 11 ships carrying 7S guns, as against 10 French ships with 67 guns. The net result of this survey is that only on the Australian and North American stations have we an incontestable superiority over any enemy that we could encounter. On the Pacific we hove a better ironclad than the French, but it is not better than any single ship in the Chilian navy. On the east coast of America we could not hold our o\\ n against Brazil. Neither on the East Indian or African station have we an ironclad, although on both ours is the preponderating force. Only on the Chinese station are we hopelessly outnumbered and overpowered ; but that exception, considering the state of a flairs in the far East, and the immensity of our interest in those parts, is serious indeed." London, September 27.

Increased Demand for Frozen Mutton. Thk Dock Companies have consented to meet tho wishes of importer of fro/.on mutton, and will reduce the storage rates about 25 or .SO per cent. The sales of frozen muttonatthotfealtherieshaverecommenced, and are larger than over. On Saturday evening 1 last ovory scrap of mutton in the refrigerators was cleared out. Mr Tomkins, the proprietor of the Australasian Grill at the Exhibition, was about to start New Zealand restaurants in various parts of London (Kensington and the city to begin with), where a chop and bread or potatoes can be obtained at the same price as at the Heatheries, viz., Sd. The sales of frozen mutton in the provinces continue to increase. At the Bradford depot last week 300 carcases were cut up and disposed of. New depAts have just been opened at Charley Stafford's, Newmarket, and Lesminster.

New Steamer for the Union Company. William Denny and Brothers, of Dumbarton, who have built so many fine boats for your Union Company, launched on Tuesday a steel-built screw steamship of 765 tons and 600 horse-power for them called the Ohau. She is double-bottomed, except in the machinery space, and will be fitted with refrigerating chambers for conveying meat from port to port in New Zealand. The machinery will be of the usual compound type by Denny. The vessel was christened by Miss Mills, of Dunedin, daughter of the energetic manager of the Union Company.

Miscellaneous. Sir Hercules Robinson, who has had a terribly responsible time since he undertook the Governorship of Cnpe Colony, writes to a private friend that ho deeply regrets leaving New Zealand. Ho resigns his present post shortly, unless the Home Government agree to support him in some decisive action in Beehuanaland. It is probable that Mr Walter Severn, a water-colou r artist of considerable eminence, will visit New Zealand next year, with a view to painting a series of pictures of the West Coast Sounds and Hot Lakes of Auckland.

The Australian Cricketers Tour. The tour of the Australian cricketers came to an end on Saturday last, and during the current week most of our great journals have contained long critical articles analysing the play of the team and their principal matches. The " Field " (usually considered a leading authoiity on the game) thinks the question of supremacy between England and Australia still unsettled. " Against the Players the Australians vere twice victorious, but on neither occasion were the elevens of the former at all representative ; the matches against the gentlemen resulted in a victory apiece, and of the three against England only one was finished. On that occasion the victory of England was decisive, but in the drawn matches Australia had each time the advantage. The question of supremacy, therefore, can scarcely be said to have been decided, nor is there any great reason why it should be." After analysing some of the principal matches, the " Field" continues : — " Enough has been said to show, however, that in the .o-called ' representative ' matches the Australians have not proved themselves .superior to our men as cricketers. On the other hand, they have shown that they can hold their own with even our most care-fully-selected elevens. Such, at any rate, j is the conclusion we have arrived afc after watching carofully their career this season. It is not, however, easy to say where their strength lies. We certainly have plenty as good batsmen in England as they have — some, indeed, better. We have bowlers who have at times proved themselves as good as theirs, though we have no one who could go through the season like Spofforth, who has scarcely fallen off for a day ; and the fielding of some of our elevens has been quite up to their high standard. We ought, therefore, to be able to win when ever we put a picked eleven in the field. We have not done co, however ; and though tho element of luck is strong in cricket, our reversesmust notbe attributed to it alone. The secret seems to He in the fact that our cricket ers have not yet fully developed those qualities which are so striking in the Australians. They have not the same staying powers, the same resources undor adverse circumstances, and the same determination in playing an uphill game. These are qualities for which the Australian elevens have always been famous, and which are only to be found in teams that have constantly played together and acquired the habit of mutual confidence. As cricketers, on the other hand, Englishmen have quite held their own, and as long as the game is played as it is, there is no fear of an Australian eleven ever showing a decided, superiority over ug,