ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 239, 28 January 1888, Page 4

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

The Sen Ice Banquet. The Service banquet on \Vetl»e»day weok "was a very swell affair, almost overy Anglo■Colonisfc of note putting in an .appearance. Lord Rosebery occupied the chair, and without saying anything particularly now or, significant, was generally felicitous. Perhaps the jokelet that took best was the Chairman's reference to tfoo prodigious number of Australian Prime Ministers (either in or out of office) -there unavoidably seemed to bo travelling about the ■world. Ho couldn't possibly &ay how many ho hud met. Mr Service himself was darkly pessimistic with regard to the New Hebrides and the Recidivist questions ; in fact, predicted serious trouble. Moreover, he hinted thattbe«colonies would expect help from the Home iQovernment in settling these matters. Sir Henry Holland, attending to Lord Roscbery's rathor maiaprapo? dictum that no man ought to be Colonial Secretary unless he had visited the colonies, admitted tltab he fell short of this requirement. He woiaild, however, say that if sympathy with the colonies and with colonial wishes was aiecessary for a Secretary of State he was a fitting person to represent them.

The Waihl Gotfiniiiiog CompanyThere seems every prosjsect nt present of tho Waihi Goldmining Company being successfully launched. Mr.J. W. Walker has been hard afc it seeing capitalists, etc. , and secured a satisfactory provisional directorate. A London paper, noticing the prospectus, says:— "This company is established, with a capital of £100,000 in £1 shares, to acquire and work a group of gqldmining properties ai Waihi, Thames district, New. Zealand. Ilhe mines are the Union, Amaranth, Trio, Rosomont, Nelson and Winner, forming one compact block of 160 acres, .and are held direct from the Crown uader the goldfield laws of the colony. Barcels of ore from the Union and Rosemoab Reefs have been smelted in New Zcalatwl, California, sSwansea, and London, and produced gold silver ranging in value fnom 101 to 501 par ton of ore. With the mines are prior "rights to take water from ifloe adjacent i river, which will give a large head of water for power and other purposes .all the year i round. Timber is cheap and .abundant. 'JTJbe vendors are to receive 41,667^in cash and 33J333nn fully paid shares, and tfee remaining 6^,667 shares are offered foe subscription. ,Pf these it is stated that 27,000 have • been applied fcr, but there will be no preferential allotment. The sum of 5s per share is payable on application, and another Ss en allotment, while the balance will be required in one month. The list of applications closes at 4 o'clock on the 12th mst We Jsa,ve omitted to state that the mine has.jj£?n reported upon by the Government Insp&jtor of Mines for the district, who .certifies that the report of Mr p. H. BayJdflß, mining engineer, which gives an .«xha«sfaY<o .description of the mine and workings, is most faithfully written."

The itfit of Poor " Fiji" Mason The c&asvy friends in New Zealand (I refer more pantafiulatly to Auckland) of poor « Fiji" M«£on must have been sadly shocked a*&d,goncerned to hear of his sudden death. Of 2& men he was the last one would have •expected to succumb to a cold — he looked $& strong and burly. I heard the sad news «t a singularly inopportune moment, and it anoved me greatly. I felt Jike Colonel Peel when he was told of Lord Wolverton'sdenaise.. The millionairebanker, you may reniemfefer* c^ e^ very suddenly. On a certain Friday lie was m the ring afc Lewes races and on the following Monday he was in his coffin. Well, on that Monday morning Colonel Peel galled by appointment at Lord Woiverioa's Brighton residence. " Is your master at home ?" he asked the j fcunkey. * l Yes, sir." fl Then please show me up to his room. I've called by appointment." I " I'm afraid I can't, sir, ' answered the footman, stolidly. " His Lordship's dead ; died lost night at 'arf past seven." What. Colonel Peel felt may be imagined., Well, it was somewhat similarly I heard of poor Mason's death. We were afc the St. James's Restaurant, discussing " Scotch cold " between the parts of dear old Odell's benefit concert, and the speaker was James Thomson, the Secretary of the Victorian Court at the "Colindles." Thomson was recalling old times, and lamenting the deaths of Sir Alex. Stuart and Sir Julius Yon Haast. ** The high living and hard work of those months killed several Commissioners, and has-pevmanently invalided others," he said, and I agreed. This led to my mentioning the terrible Exhibition fiasco at Liverpool, and Mason's part therein. " I suppose," I 3aid, " he'll go home now." IC He has "gone home," replied Thomson, gravely, " poor Mason died yesterday at Torquay."- Mason was' the most good aatured and kindly of men. At South Kensington he was in his element, and he did what he could for the Liverpool show. But it was from the first a forlorn hope. . Throughout' the "Colindies" festivities Mason's handsome face and dignified presence made him conspicuous. He rejoiced in his good looks quite openly, and would pay the oddest persons compliments in order to extract the inevitable in quoque. I remember hearing him say to a clique of us at the breaking up of the Murray- Smith banquet two years ago, "Do you know, I really think I was the finest looking man in the room," and we agreed, laughingly, that he was. '/, I need scarcely add that Mason was a thoroughly popular man, n ell-liked wherever lie went, and -will be 'much missed. — Pv.I.P.

il Poor Old Gussy." The affairs of " poor old Gupsy," as the late Governor of New South Wales is ivrevently termed at the Clubs, came up before the London Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday week. It then transpired thatHis Excellency had managed to run up debts to the tune of-£62.-200, of which £42,291' wer<3 unsecured. Lord Augustus did not put in, a personal appearance, nor did Gaptain ,Loftus. After some talk of/ " negotiations ,with creditors" an adjournment was granted. I hear a. relation has ju&tjbfy £30,000 to Lady Loffcus. : • ;. ■.

New-South Wales and Australia The im£et',tiqence,of New Squtji Wales in proposing., tp re-'clinsten Aus-, iralia'/ is rc'6pdemue<l r c'6pdemue<I andr;deridecl fey thp entif *c English, press. < Forbuij.a^ely, .names, cannot a'l^er/facb, and despite legislation^ ifew, Sou^li'j^deS can no more^bscome Australia tl)dn '^o'naco cojulcT, ,at its own Bwe6t wilL ccTnvevtitself mto'.Eiirppe!' , . •

. E^crsonal and 'Geiie'ral. * ' MpstoEth^|3i^jo,urnals%y,il ( l^.repr§s?ptsd v by "'fepociaiVY' at tlio o,pening. uos u o$ tjie M&h bourhe ExKibteiorh MiV!B ; eni}^tt-Bvii:lQig,h for tJeV^Paily'^aws/^pOlr.Meltohr^^ for me '^lllji^r^^ ¥ l> Prior'miieV^ , prQfessiqaaL tQV»Fi>

leaviug Melbourne. He will, in fact, 1 " do" I the world piotonallyforMrltigram'sjournal. 11 The Australian edition of Mr R. ( A. Proctor's new and populav work oh Astronomy \ will cost £1 18s 4d in parts, post free, or j 26s (and carriage) bound in olotb; ' ' ; The society papers are again announcing that Lord Hardwieke is to be appointed shortly to one of the Australasian'Governnorships. I should wayselfhavo more faith in the story if it h*d,not been, told so frequently before. Everybody knows that Lord Hardwicke would dearly like to become Governor of Tasmania, and Sir JohnGorst of Now Zealand. As a matter of fact, howover, neithov appointment would be either popular or appropriate. Lord Salisbury ikiiows this, and if Lord Hardwioke goes anywhere it may be to Western Australia, vice Broomo recalled. The much-advertised " Mystery of a : Hansom Cab, "".by .'Mr Fergus Hume, late of ! I)\inedin and now of Melbourne, has boea | r.epublished in liondon as "the great Aus- ' tralian novel of tho day," and seems to be selling fairly well. at bookstalls and railway stations. Mr Charles Warner had a thumping farowell benefit at Jprury Lane last Friday, nearly all tho leading lights of the profession appearing in his honour. Ho opens in Melbourne early in February.

Postscript. | Lord Hindlip lias decided to re-enter j upon tho tour of the Australians, interrupted by his father's death, and sails for Syctney by the Orient at the end of this month. Mr and Mrs Whithouse, Dr. Booth, MiMalcolm Low, Mr Guckenheimer and -the Messrs Garton (2) are through passengers to Auckland per R.M.S. Rome. Sir J. B. Thurston, K.C.M.G., is also a passenger by the Rome. Mr P. L. Dignan sails for Auckland today per Lusitania, and Miss Moreland >is booked through by tthe Austral, leaving on January 7th. Mr Rusden was at the Service banquet. To-day's " British Australasian " says :'— "The mutton trade continues depressed, and frozen carcases are difficult to dispose of. Quotations are nominally unchanged, bwfc concessions have to foe made to effect sales. There were no fewer ithan 95,000 New Zealand sheep in store at tho end of last week, riot to mention 16,982 River Plate, 7,000 Sydney and about 5,0C0 Falkland^.' Nominal rates:— New Zealand mutton, 2s 4d to 2s 7d per stone ; Sydnoy, 2s 2d to 2a 3d ; River Plate, 2s to 2s 2d ; Scotch, 4s to to 4s 4d ; English (wetlters), 3s lOd to 4s 4d :; Dutch (wethers), 3s 6d to 5s 9d ; Dutch (ewes), 28 lOd to 5s 2d. Tinned meat trade Very quiet. Stocks of colonies increasing. ' The P. and O. Comf.ojay's big steamer* will henceforward touch &t Briodisi bath outward and homeward.