ARRIVAL OF THE ZEALANDIA WITH THE THE ENGLISH MAIL (VIA SAN FRANCISCO.) ANGLO-COLONIAL LETTER. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 364, 1 May 1889, Page 5

ARRIVAL OF THE ZEALANDIA WITH THE THE ENGLISH MAIL (VIA SAN FRANCISCO.) ANGLO-COLONIAL LETTER. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

Lovdos, March 22. NEW COMPANY TO DEVELOP THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE. During the gi cater part of this and last week the director* of the Imperial and Colonial Trading Company have been sitting m conclave "at Manchester and Liverpool preparing the prospectus and testing the statistics upon which the stability ot the venture depends. Sir Walter Bailor, who takes a leading Dart in the conference, being the only Ne\v Zealander as yet on the Board, tells me that particular care is being taken with details, as of coiuse there will be plenty of people only too anxious to pick holes in the prospectus. Mr Henry Russell will not be the managing director in New Zealand, but simply a director. Some younger man is to be chosen to direct the Company's affairs at Wellington, where the head olKces, etc., will be situated. , . , SirF. D. Bell thinks the \enture fairly promising, 1 understand, especially the portion of ib which relates to the importation ot dairy produce.

THE COLONIAL INSTITUTE. -COMING OF AGE BANQUET. The coming ot age banquet of the Colonial Institute on Wednesday week was one of the biggest dinners of the sorb ever given in London, and, on the whole, a wellmanaged and successful aflai?. The applications for tickets from Fellows wishing to be present were, of course, far in excess of the possible accommodation, and considerable tact had to be exercised by the Council in order to avoid giving ofience. By providing an overflow dinner in one of the other rooms of the suite, a large number of the smaller fry anxious to be there were readily disposed of, but at the last moment a difficulty arose as to who was to preside here. This was solved by your Sir E. T. Smith, Avhc is suffering from a bad cold and had not intended to be present. Finding, however, the banquet was to be given in his own hotel (the Metropole), he, late on Wednesday afternoon, thought he might as well dine with the Institute as in the hotel restaurant, and was promptly pressed into service by Sir Frederick Young as chairman to the overflow dinner. The company at thD Royal table was, of course, very smart. H.R.H. presided, with the Duke of Cambridge, the l>uke of Manchester, Lord Kimberley and Lord Brassey on his right, and Lord Knutsford, Lord Rosebery and Lord Carnarvon on his left. All the AgentsGeneral and ex-Golonial Governors in London (bar Lord Lome) put in an appearance, together with such standing dishes afc the Institute as Mr Cargill, Mr O'Halloran, Mr H. J. Jourdain, Mr C. W. Evs, and Mr J. Waddington. The last named five gentlemen acted as Vice - Presidents at the tables branching off the Royal board. The Prince (with the broad blue ribbon of the garter meandering across that portion of his person the amplitude of uhich has led to his intimates calling him "Turnturn") looked extremely well and seemed in capital spirits. His three speeches were of unwonted length, and as one of the paper* says, "pitched inexactly the right key." "We regard the colonies as integral parLs of the Empire, and our warmest sympathies are with our brethren beyond the seas who are no less dear to us than if they dwelt in Surrey or Kent." So spoke his Royal Highnes3 in the tone that an English Prince should speak. He also took occasion to state publicly what he has so often said privately, viz , that there is now really no chance of his ever being able to visit you. But the main points of the speeches have, I am told, been cabled, so there's no use in my covering old ground.

AMALGAMATION OF COLONIAL AND IMPERIAL INSTITUTES. Despite the strong opposition of a compact body of Fellows at the annual meeting of the Colonial Institute on Tuesday, the clauses of the Governors' report recommending amalgamation with the Imperial Institute we're (in a somewhat modified form) passed, and the thin end of the wedge of self-etiacement gob in. Why the Governors or the Colonial Institute have resolved to join their financially and socially prosperous concern with the ricketty ventuie of the £>. Iv. "ring" it would probably puzzle them to explain. " The Prince wishes it," is what most of them say feebly.

THE " NATION'S " CHARGES. The Kevv Zealand correspondent of the Dublin "Nation," since described by the editor of that journal as " an Irish pressman in New Zealand whose position guarantees his respectability," has been making a most unjust and uncalled-for attack on London correspondents in general and myself iv particular. According to this gentleman, we all (though I am the worst sinner) habitually misrepresent Irish afiairs and traduce ]\Jr Parnell and. his colleagues. The cable agencies are Unionists and prejudiced, and altogether New Zealand's views on the Irish question are benighted and ignorant. Surely, Mr Editor, an untruei- statement than this was never made. Unless I am strangely mistaken, your views on the Irish question are similar to Tslv Gladstone's, and you have never failed when opportunity offered to reproduce the G.O-M.'s speeches, and to add words of approval and encoura gement. Personally, I have always tried to be strictly fair. My views are favourable fco j gmng Mr Parnell's scheme of Home Rule a fair trial, but I can quite understand many good men honestly thinking it would be dangerous and undesirable. To speak truly, I loafche the extreme political partisans of both sides. To hear otherwise fcane Irishmen accusing Balfour of every crime, cruelty, and meanness under heaven, is as painful and grotesque as to hear an extreme Unionist (ordinarily an English gentleman) calling Darnell and Dillon murderers, forgers, and what not. I much regret that the immediate cause of the " Nation's" attack should have been some objectionable stories sent out by the gentleman who acted for me during my holidays last summer. They appear, by a blunder, to have obtained publicity, and the "Nation" correspondent (probably *quite aware their insertion was an accident) on them and made them the text of .a, personal attack. The greater partof the paragraph, indeed, .consists .of a virulent personal attack on myself. This can, of course, have no .interest for your readers, so 1 shall not •trouble you with particulars. Suffice it to say the "Nation" eventually withdrew • and apologised.

EDINBURGH AUSTRALASIAN CLUB. ] The Edinburgh Australasian Club's foot- ' ball team, which haa won all its matches save one (against* the Wanderers) this' sea- | son, consists chiefly of New Zealanders, seven out of the fifteen players coming from that colony. Their (the New Zealanders') names are C. E. Maude, S. Gibb*, ! A. Cl..C 1 .. Talbou W. C. Hamilton, W. E. | Hawovfch and W. Bauchop.

FROZEN MEAT. Latest quotations : Scotch mutton, 4s lOcl to 5s 4d ; English mutton, 4s Scl to 5s 2cl ; German mutton, 4s 2d to 4s 4d ; New Zea- j land (Canterbury) mutton, 2s 7ii to 2s 8d ; New Zealand •(Wellington), 2s Od to 2s 7d ; River Plate mutton, 2s 4d to 2s 5d : New Zoaland beef, 2s 4d to 2d Bd. VOGEL'S NOVEL CRITICISED. Sir Julius Voxel's novel, "A.D. 2000/ was published on Saturday last only, and has not up to now had much of a sale. The linen paper on which the English edition is printed is so costly, and the crob-up generally so expensive (for a 6s novel selling retail here at 4s 6d), that there will not be a substantial profit unless the book makes a big hit. This I scarcely think likely, though Mr Andrew Lang's leader in last Thursday's " Daily News " should give it a fillip. This article begins with the following astounding assertion :—: — " Sir Julius Vogd if a colonial of the best (j/pe. YVith the be&b culture the mother countiy could give him, he wen 1 "; out to New Zealand as a young man, entered politics, and rose fiom post to post of administrative dignity until he governed tho dependency as Premier. He was the author of the immigration and public works policy of 1870, to which, as a declaiation of principles, so much of the prosperity of the colony is due. With these titles 10 consideration, Sir Julius Yogel now conies before the world as the writer of a novel, etc., etc."'

SPECIALLY INTERESTING TO NEW ZEA LANDERS. Mr Stead is by no means inclined to rush to the rescue of every damsel ot doubtful morale, in distress. Ho likes to pick and choose his heroines himself. Mr Newton (the well-known Police Court advocate) thought that Miss Harriet Muir, the eccen trie offspring of " a now wealthy citizen of Christchurch, New Zealand, 1 '" who first attracted magisterial attention by masqueiading in men's clothes, and was subsequently charged with larcenously abstracting the said toggery, would be a protcc/ce after the "Pall Mall Gazette's" own heart. He wrote, indeed, to Mr Stead suggesting inferentially that that journal should start a subscription towards pio\iding funds to pay for the passage of Miss Muir to New Zealand. Sad to say, the champion of Miss Cass and Fraulein Wiedemann rose not to the bait. In the first place, Mr S. had not " discovered " Miss Muir, and in the second he was not, he said, much melted by her story. Personally, I must say, she seems to me (judging solely from her own account) to be a girl well able to look after herself. Miss Muir, it appears, ha* been alternately actress (or rather chorus girl) and artist's model. She is too masculine in appearance to be attractive to most, people, and does not seem to have had many admirers from a matrimonial point of view. Six weeks ago Miss Muir conceived the notion of working her way out to New Zealand as a steward in man's clothes. She had heard (there is a certain vagueness about the how) that her father was "a now- weal thy citizen of Christchurch, New Zealand,' and it struck her it would be (as she toll the police) "good biz" to look up the " old man." With this end in view, I regietto say, it is alleged tbatMi^sMuironthonisrhtof thel4th made deceitfully amoious advances to Mr (>eo. Johnson, musician, a gentleman oi about her ow n height, whom she met in Victoria-street, Westminster, between 11 and 12. George got quickly " mashed "on Harriet, and took her to an adjacent restaurant, where the pair had sausages and bitter ale. The ungrateful damsel then conducted Mr Johnson to her bower at 37, New Peterstreet, where she persuaded him to imbibe yet another glass of " bitter,"' and Mr J. swears he knew nothing more after this till morning, when he woke and found his clothes gone. Miss Muir having donned Mr J.'stogs. proceeded to the docks and tried vainly to get a steward's berth. Having no leferences, she of course failed. Then came the enlistment episode (described in my last) and arrest. The magistrate at Westminster having listened to an abbreviated verson of this story remanded Miss Muir for a week, Mr Newton promising meanwhile to try and raise funds for passage to New Zealand. On Friday last, when Miss Muir was again brought up at Westminster, a decective who had been inquiring into the young lady's antecedents gave her a rather shady character. He said the fair Harriet had been taken into several lefuges, but had invariably been sent away after a time for insubordination. She never said anything to the rnations of these institutions about possessing a parent in New Zealand. The prisoner here interjected thai ib was true that her father was in New Zealand, that she had only leaint that he was well-off quite lately. The magistrate under these circumstances decided to send Miss Muir for trial at the Middlesex Sessions.

THE SALARIES OP COLONIAL | GOVERNORS. A general Mail, says the "Daily Telegraph," is reaching the ears of Lord Knutsford from the Governors of our colonies that blie salaries paid are insufficient to maintain the duties and dignities of their position. Many apparently rich posts make their holders poorer men than when they were first appointed, and even splendid Governorships and Vice-royalties might be j named which go nearer to ruin than to enrich their envied occupants. This, it is represented to the Colonial Secretary, largely results from the forced increase of gubernatorial hospitality due to the ever augmenting number of distinguished "globetrotters."

HENRY GEORGE. Henry George, in the course of an interview with the "Star" the other clay, boasted that land nationalisation has taken firm root in New Zealand, and is weaning i over the protectionists in Australia.

A CONTRAST. It will scarcely be surprising if you poople in the colonies contrast unpleasantly the extraordinary fuss which distinguished patrons of sport in England (dukes, generals and nobabilities galore) are making over the yrojessional American Baseball players with their absolute neglect of the amateur £Jew Zealand footballers. I have heard the latter explained on the ground that the Maoris are too rough a lob fco enterfaain much socially ; furb l 'ermore, that they would not appreciate ib. This may be true of one or two full bloods, but, applied to the team generally, it is libellous. Messrs Ellison, MsCausland, Warbrisk, and Co. are, to my thinking, far truer gentlemen than many of the Baseballers who, unless common report and the " man in the

street " belies them, can boast some howling " bounders "' amongst their nume.

A PUT-UP THING. The " Referee " pronounces in the most unqualified terms O'Connor's match with Jacob G'audaur at '.Frisco a "put-up" job arranged for exhibition purposes. Sportsmen ianoied from tho Canadian's tall talk that he would nut ero in for these bogua displays, and their confidence in him has in consequence been much thaken. Furthermore, tho interost in his Australian expedition is matei'ially losscned, for (snya " Pendragon") if he would listen to tho silvery or otherwise metallic voice of Mr Arrangement in San Fiancisco, why not in Australia too ? " O'Connor stock" (the par wind* up) "has goncdown alot through the 'Frisco entertainment." This is, I think mys-olf, rather hard on O'Connor, though the fact of betting men laying ]00 to L against Gaudauv does look {suspicious.

THE PARIS EXHIBITION. Sir Francis 801 l has received telegraphic advice that ISO cases ot exhibits have been shipped by Sir James Hector from Melbourne for the Now Zealand Court at the Paiis Exhibition. Seeing that all the spaco avail- j able for the colony, owing to the delay of the l\ r c\v Zealand Government in making up their minds, is 4,000 superficial feet, I understand that Sir Francis is rather exercised in mind as to what he can do with all these exhibits wncn thoy arrive. I may btate, however, that tho Now Zealand section, under the direction of the Executive Commissioner, who purposes to take up his residence in Paris for seveial mont')fc, piomises to be qui'e a bijou thing 1 .

DOCTORS IN THE COLONIES. An Australian docker has been writing: Home to Jell hit. student fiiends. that the •' good old times" aie over in the colonies for medical uion, as for moot other profos sionals. Quacks abound and arc comparatively un interfered with, and tees are absurdly small, viz., 7s 6d, "which is only equal to about from 2s 6d to 3s 6cl au Home." What this last sentence mean 3 I cannot surmise. Surely not that living is more expensive in the colonies than in England, and that 7s 6d there will only go a& tar as 2? 6d in the Old Country. I j contcss I should have thought the piecise contrary. It is albo a sin prise to learn that medical etiquette in Australia is much above that of the mother country.

PERSONAL NOTES. Mr XV. Courtneys series of lectures on Kew Zealand have now been given in almost all parts of the kingdom, and have i done, I think, the colony considerable good, though ifc is, oi course, Taranaki ho i mainly eulogises. Mr 0. li. Strickland is to be seen m the city again. He looks all the better for his two &ea voyages. Lord Onslow is in luck's Way. The Government lecently decided to erect a coupla of forts in the neighbourhood of Uuiidfoid, this being part of the scheme for tho defence of London, and of the two situations selected one is the Wilderness Farm, belonging to your new Governor, which will command the Farnham and Southampton Roads. Lady Knutsford attended at Marlborough House on March 11th, and. on behalf ot the Colonial Committee, presented to the Piincc and Princees oi Wales the present which ha-* been subscribed tor by the several colonies and dependencies ot the Ciown to commemorate their Eo\ r al Highnesses' silver wedding. It consisted of a clock and candelabra, together with two large wall lights fitted for electric light. Loid Knutsford, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Sir F. Young, Tieasurer to the Com mittee, were present. The ''coming ot age" of the Colonial Institute has naturally attracted a good deal of attention to Sir Fredeiick Young this week, and I notice amongst other things the >( World " makes him its current "Celebrity at Home." Sir Fiederick appears to have modelled his views on colonial policy on those of an old fiiend ot yours. He says to the interviewer, "It was from Edward Gibbon Wakefield, tho founder of New Zealand and South Austialia, that [ learned my iivt>t lesson in colonial policy."