Assisted Passages for Small Farmers. London, January 28.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 145, 13 March 1886, Page 4

Assisted Passages for Small Farmers. London, January 28.

New Zealand's bid for small farmers and other fairly well-off agriculturists — for this, I take it, is what your new departure in emigration means — seems not unlikely to be highly successful. Tho experiment is being watched with tho keenest curiosity by the representatives of the other Au&tralasian colonies, who are quite resolved to follow suit directly they observe symptoms of its answering. Sir F. D. Bell's advertisement specifies that he is ready to entertain applications for assisted passages by the direct steamers from farmers and agriculturists who are desirous of taking up and settling on land in New Zealand. Families receiving third class passages will have to pay t'lo for each adult and £5 for each child between 1 and 12 years of age. Each head of a family must show he possesses £100, also £50 for every member of his family over 12 years of age. Families approved for third-class can travel second if they like to pay the difference between the passage?. A steerage passage usually costs from £10 to £20, according to the accom modation.

Mr Fronde's Book : Its Success. Mr Froude's book " Oceana," is proving' an ,_ immense sucess, and will completely annihilate Sala's "Land of the Golden Fleece." There is, indeed, no comparison between the two, Froude's work being as solid and full of thought a3 Sala's is generally pronounced florid, vapid, and wearisomely discursive. For the North Island of New Zealand Mr Froude has done the greatest service such a man could. Beside his ingenuous delight in the people and the country, and the expressions of admiration and approval for upcountry life that so constantly escape him, the complaints of unsuccessful "new chums," of which we have had such a number lately, will fade into insignificance. " Oceana "is full of oddities, some of them most interesting. For example, Mr Froude entirely disapproved of Auckland's ambitious harbour improvements, &c. It was all very spirited, he thought, but not wholly satisfactory The English race should not come to New Zealand to renew the town life, which they leave behind them with a hand-to-mouth subsistence, as earners of wages on improved conditions. They will never grow into a great nation thus. They will grow into a great nation when they are settled in their own houses and freeholds, when they own their own acre 3, grow their own crops, and live out their days with their children and grandchildren around them. The high wages are the town attraction now, but they cannot remain so for ever. The young men bred in such town 3 as Auckland will be good for little. Country children can alone be reared in simple tastes and simple habits, <fee, &c. Mr Froude did not find the streets oi Auckland particularly interesting. He liked the fruit shops best. The other stores were full of English wares, noticeable only for being extravagantly dear. Amongst the people he met in Auckland Mr Froude appears to have been most impressed by Sir George Grey, of his visit to whom more anon ; by Professor Aid is, who " but for English intolerance would never have been lost to Cambridge ;" Mr Ashbury, ''a sort of modern Wandering Jew, in appearance an athlete, who might have sat or stood for the model of some ancient seaking ;" Mr F a tall, elderly gentleman evidently a person of some importance. " Mr F (umnistakeably Mr J. C. Firth) talked incessantly, and perhaps bored the historian a little, though he afforded him much valuable information on a number of colonial matters. Several of Mr F 's choicest yarns are reproduced. Mr Froude gives a vivid description of the Lake country, which impressed him much, as it does e\eryone. The Maori girl guides at Rotomahana havecon&iderablespace allotted to their peculiarities. Kate's business-like and imperative uays greatly tickled the historian. "A fixed number of minutes ie allotted for each of the sight 9 at the Terraces. Kate was p?remptory with E and myself Miss Marileha had charge of my Eon. ' Come along, boy !" I heard her say to him.' When Mr Froude returned to Auckland he found everybody talking and longing for war with Kussh, in fact, the entire city seemed bellicose, not to say pot-valiant. Mr Froude grew weary of the non&enEe he heard talked. There was an officer at the Club who "had fought in Afghanistan, and insisted on proving to everybody that unless we seized Russia by the throat and hurled her back upon the Caspian «c were a ruined nation," The good citizens of Auckland agreed with this worthy. Mr Froude found himself in a minority of one, and was not sorry when Sir George Grey's summons to the Kawau arrived. The week Mr Froude spent at the Kawau was a delightful one. Every day he had fresh reason to wonder at the wealth of Sir George Grey s varied knowledge. Many pages are devoted to a description of the views and hobbies of "this great statesman." On their return again to Auckland, Mr Froude and his son saw a good deal of Professor Aldis and his m ife, and found they contrived to pass life pleasantly at their pretty home under Mount Eden, "though it was a strange place to find the most brilliant mathematician that Cambridge has produced for half a century." Had Professor Aldiß belonged to the Established Church, Mr Froude thinks he might very likely have risen to an Archbishopric • * There was no distinction which he might not have claimed, or for which the completeness of his Christian belief would not have qualified him." It is a pity Mr Froude saw only North New Zealand, and so few of your public men. In Auckland, of couree, he must have met some notables, but they seem to have left rather less impression upon his mind than the Maori girls at the Lakes. Professor Aldis and Sir George Grey are the only New Zealand colonists Mr Froude haß really much to say about. This is the more remarkable, as the Australian portion of his travels teems with personal descriptions, &c.

The Emigration Movement. The Agents-General were invited by the Lord Mayor to attend a meeting of the British and Colonial Emigration Society at the Mansion House on Tueeday last, but only Sir S. Samuel and Mr Garrick saw their way to being present. Sir Saul attended with a purpose. Mr J. A. Froude, whose

tour in the Australias seems to have converted him into an imperative authority on all colonial questions, proposed a resolution, the effect of which was that deserving paupers in distress should be assisted to emigrate to the antipodes, where there was enough and to spare for everybody. The I Mayor of Eaglehurst (Eaglehawk?) in Vicoria had assured him they could take the whole population of Glaegovv tomorrow and find employment for them. Mr Lionel Cohen, M.P., seconded Mr Froude's resolution. But Sir Saul Samuel dipapproved it. They wished, he understood, to relieve distress by shipping their paupers to the colonies. Well, he was quite certain the colonies would be no parties to a scheme of the kind. The colonies strongly objected to receiving unsuitable emigrants. Moreover, if they insisted on sending them they would probably be sent back again, as a lot of Irish were from the United States recently. The resolution, however, was carried, and so was another to the effect that lists of suitable and deserving families should be made in districts and towns in which distress prevails. The Society also resolved to petition the Government for assistance in money and in the matter of transport. I therefore apprehend that a pleasing consignment of paupers will shortly be despatched to the Australias. Sir A. Roberts goes out to the Colony par P. & O. s 8 Parramatta, sailing to-day. Mr and Mrs J. B. Russell have transferred their passages from the Kaiser-I-Hind to the Sutlej, sailing Feb. 11th. Mr W. Courtney is here again vaunting the superiority of Taranaki over all other parts of New Zealand. He lectured to the V.M.C.A. at Exeter Hall last Saturday evening, and had, I believe, a very successful meeting. The peculiar advantages of Taranaki as a health resort were, I gather from the reports, specially dwelt upon. The Deceased Wife's Sister Marriage Bill has already been introduced into the newHouse of Commons. Mr Edward Heneage, the member for Great Grimsby, has the measure in hand Dr. Posnet, the new clas?ical master at Auckland, who, as I have before informed you, is a bachelor, takes out his brother with him to the colony. The latier will probably engage in agricultural pursuits somewhere in the North Island. The Queen ha* promised that should no unforseoi obstacles interfero, she will herself open the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, which was to have been held at Earlscourt at the same time, have with commendable fact postponed their show till ISS7. Despite its swell house dinners the new Colonial Club in Hanover Square is not acquiring a very savoury reputation. Rumoura of a disgraceful fracas in the card room one day last week are current in clubland, and I am sorry to siy have got into one of the " society " journals. Of the merits of the quarrell I have heard little save that a Canadian gentleman, who had lost a considerate sum at "loo," suddenly discovered or thought he discovered he was being sharped, and wanted to assault some of the other player?. When stories of this description become rife about a new club its doom is sealed. You will I expect have heard by cable that your late enterprising visitor, Mr Sheehan, has confessed to the Castletownroche murdeis. He states that he killed his brother Thomas in the haggart with a griffaun, whatever that may be, his sister in the stable, and his mother in the hou«e, cutting their throats with a razor. He made no reference to the presence of Brown, who wa3 acquitted, nor to Duane. The sale of Millia's picture "The Ornithologist," exhibited in last Academy as " The Rulling Passion," to a wealthy Australian Colonist, is once more rumoured. A special exhibition of the works of Australian and New Zealand artists will open this month at 27, Bond-street. Pictures by Nichols, Nicholas Chevalier, Chas. Gregory, Wm. Strutt, C. F. Horn, H. Dicksoy, E. Papi, E. W. Cooke, and A. Strutt are promise J. The now Doctor Baronet Sir Crichton Browne is the lunacy specialist who coached Miss Lingard for her famous mad scenes in " Called Back." The scene of Miss Jane Spettigue's new novel, "Jepthah's Daughter," is partially laid in New Zealand. A fraudulent bankrupt, named Carl Yon Buren, who escaped from Sydney by the ship Loch Vennachar, was arrested the other day by three officers, who hired a lugger and boarded the ship off Margate. An extradition warrant was granted at the Mansion House the following morning, and Mr Yon Buren is now on his way back to New South Wales. A number of names familiar to New Zealand ears are to be found in the Hat of members of the Australasian Club at Cambridge. I asked the Secretary to kindly send me the names of any New Zealanders who distinguished themselves of late years at the 'Varsity. Hs replied briefly "New Zealanders never distinguish themselves." But then he ia a South Australian. I learn from " Society " that the Earl of Bantry — whoeverhe maybe- hasabandoncd his "pastoral pursuits"' in New Zealand, and means henceforward to reside amongst his own people. The marriage is announced of Mr Arthur Patchett-Marten. the well-known Melbourne litterateur and present London Correspondent of the Sydney "Daily Telegraph," &C, to Mrs Harriette Anne Bullen, widow of the late Captain Bullen, of the 37th Regiment. The ceremony took place at St. Stephen's, Wertbourne Park, on the Ist inst. "Imperial Federation," the monthly journal of the Federation League, made its first appearance last week. It contains plenty of solid reading in the way of reprint matter, and original articles on "The Great Question " by Professor Seeley, Sir Charles Nugent, and Mr Bourn. Western Australia and Tasmania have cabled their willingne&s to join the new Federal Mail Service, so that there is nothing now to prevent the Hon. R, C. Baker issuing the advertisements for tenders. They may appear in the papers any day. Mr Garrick is trying to persuade tbo German Loyds to include Brisbane in the new German Australasia steam service, but is not likely to eucceed. The paita fixed are Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, and (possibly) Samoa, Mr Alfred Cellier, who is on his way out to conduct William's colonial tour of " The Mikado," is perhaps as well qualified to superintend the production of Sullivan's operas as any man living. Ho was for many years chef d'orchedre at the Savoy Theatre, and only left there to manage one of D'Oyley Carte's numerous provincial companies. All Gilbert and Sullivan's notions and mothods of rehearing, etc., are familiar to him, so that no doubt you will see "The Mikado" staged with the same splendour and perfection of detail as you would in London. Cellier has himself written peveral comic operas, notably " The Sultan of Mocha," which had a tolerably successful run about ten years ago. That Miss Lingard showed sound dii crction in refusing to play the titlo role of poor Barrymore's unlucky " Nadjedza " is now abundantly evident. The play— was literally howled down, and the unfortunate leading actress, a Miss Rigl, "guyed" till she fell into hysterics. Miss Lingard no doubt would have pulled the play through without such scenes, but finally it would

anyway have been darnnod. She must consequently have thanked her lucky stars she was in the stalls that evening, and not on the stage. Miss Lingard's provincial tour with " Jjister Mary "a new play by Clement Scott and Wilson Barrett, commences on March Bth, Mr Leonard Boyne will be her leading man. Hancock, who arrived the other day from New Zealand, offers to walk any man fifty miles for from £50 to £200, or he will join in a sweepstakes with other championship aspirants. Hibbord and Littlewood seem inclined to tackle him. ;v; v -