ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 451, 5 March 1890, Page 3

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(from ouk special correspondent.) London, January 17. BISHOP SELWYN. Bishop Selwyn, who was one of the first to succumb to “ la grippe,” is now recovering, but remains in England for the present month, sailing for his diocese by the Rome on the 7th prox. He writes me that owing to a hitch in his instructions he has had to relinquish the appointment to be. Mary’s, Auckland. A message to this effect was forwarded to New Zealand last Friday. the earl of ranfurly. The Earl ol ltanfurly, the young Irish peer, who goes out to New Zealand by the R.M.s. Tainui on the 23rd inst., is thirtythree years of age, and has not, so far, dis- , tinguished himself in any material manner. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, and is a Conservative in politics. Lord Ranfurly is married and has one son (Lord Northland), a boy of seven. PERSONAL AND GENERAL. Mr George Beetham, M.H.K., will bring his visit to this country to a close early next month, and hones to be back again in windy Wellington by the end of March or the beginning of April. Up to last week, Mr Beetham had managed to escape the terrible clutches of “ la grippe.'* Mr and MrsF. B. Whetham, of Dunedin, have arrived in London with their family and are busy doing the sights. I hope to see Mr W. soon. We were unfortunately out when he called on Monday afternoon. THE NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY. The Now Zealand Steamship Company’s Board are now quite a happy family. Though Mr Johnson would not promise to work with his co directors amicably at their first re-union after the general meeting, he has pi’actically drawn .in his horns and is now really doing so. Mr Dawes for his part, fortified by the approval of the London shareholders, has lost no time in addressing a letter to Mr Thos. Russell (as representative of the New Zealand Board), in which he sketches forth what he considers should be the future policy of the Company. Mr Dawes’s plans (duly approved by the London Board) provide for : (1) Theissueof £300,000 5 per cent, debentures to pay off the Dawes claims, etc. As nearly £IOO,OOO of these liabilities have already been discharged. this will leave the Company with a comfortable sum over to manipulate. (2) £2 to be written off the value of each share. Mr Dawes stood out for £3 at first, but he now thinks £2 would suffice, and that the Company will be able to pay a dividend next April, if the step is promptly taken. (3) of the highest class and with the latest improvements in refrigerators, such, boats as before the rise in the cost of materials would have come to perhaps £IOO,OOO apiece, but will now cost quite £120,000. I may mention that a contingent of the London shareholders are strongly in favour of cheap cargo steamers only. Mr Dawes, however, holds out for boats of the same class as the “Jumna” and the B.T.N. Company’s finest vessels. THE WELLINGTON LOYALISTS AND THE IRISH DELEGATES. The “Times” of Wednesday contains a long letter from a so-called Loyalist Committee in Wellington (Rev. C. E. Ward, chairman), belittling the alleged enthusiastic reception of Mr Dillon and the Irish envoys in New Zealand in general, and Wellington in particular. At Auckland (they sav), Sir George Grey was the only prominent man who associated himself with the proceedings, and at Wellington, where the weather completely flummuxed the Home Rule residents’ welcome, Mr Buckley and Mr George Fisher, M.H.R., alone backed up the visitors. The Roman Cabhblic clergy, of course, mustered in force from Archbishop Redwood downwards, but of Protestant clergy, Ministers of the Crown, and civicfunctionariestherowerenone. Thegreat meeting at the Opera House (arranged months beforehand) could scarcely be termed a success, as the house was only half full. A day or two afterwards the envoys left the city with as little ceremony and as little honour as they had come. Mr Dillon’s addresses are wild in the extreme. New Zealand is not Ireland, and the fire which burned on the platform at Limerick would speedily have been soused at the Opera House by a jet from the Wellington waterworks. Those who have heard or made the acquaintance of Mr Dillon through the medium of the “ Times ” and other English papers, could nob recognise the softly - spoken gentleman who visited us the other day. The wolf had clothed himself with one of our New Zealand fleeces. Then came thecounter demonstration, which proved a magnificent success. The building—the Exchange Hall —was not large enough for the purpose, but it was estimated that the Opera House might have been filled, hundreds having to go away unable to find admittance. The meeting was animated and enthusiastic in the extreme, and the resolutions carried by acclamation. The National Anthem, which was omitted at the Opera House, wa3 enthusiastically sung, both at the commencement and close of the meeting. A picture of Her Gracious Majesty, and the Union Jack, with other Hags, and flowere adorned the platform. Mr Coleman Phillips, a runholder from the Wairarapa Valley, occupied the chair. The whole campaign, with its results, demonstrated the ex istenceof adeeply rooted loyalty labentin the community, and showed that the capital of New Zealand will have nothing to do with Home Rule, as far as it is identified with murder and outrage in Ireland. FIRE ON THE lONIC.

You have probably received a cablegram to the effect that the departure of the Shaw-Savill’s steamer lonic was delayed by a fire breaking out on board. The facts of the case are as follows :—On Christmas Eve a fire was discovered in one of the holds, but was checked before much damage was done to either the cargo or the vessel. On Christmas Day, however, it was found that another fire had started in a different part of the ship, and a large quantity of cargo was damaged by fire and water before the outbreak could be subdued. No one, of course, knows or pretends to know how these miniature conflagrations originated, but it is shrewdly suspected that the attempt of the Company to obtain men from Leith and elsewhere to load and discharge their vessels during the recent strike, has led to some evil-disposed ruffians connected with the Docks attempting to get even with the Company by this means. The managers, however, have no possible clue to anything incendiai’y, and profess to regard the outbreaks as accidents. The lonic was down to sail on the 26th, but her departure was delayed till the even in sr of the 29tb. THE REV. CHARLES CLARK. Undeterred by the fate that has attended recent lectures in Australia, the Rev. Charles Clark means to start again on the .old warpath, and sails for Adelaide by the

Austral on the 14th prox. His repertoire will include all the discourses which used to be so popular, and several now ones. Mr Edward Jenkins (Ginx’s Baby), discouraged by the reports of Christie Murray’s complete failure in Australia, has abandoned his long - contemplated and much-discussed lecturing tour. PHIL ROBINSON. The first meeting of Phil Robinson’s creditors was held on Tuesday before Mr G. Wreford. The debtor states that he owes about £2,000, but that if time be given him he will bo able to pay everyone in full. He has, in consequence of ill-health, been unable to file any accounts, but in his preliminary examination hestated that several of the debts included in the £2,000 were statute barred. As to his assets, he holds a syndicate share for £250 in the Adelaide Outer Harbour Syndicate; that the original syndicate capital was £25,000, fully subscribed ; that the South Australian Parliament had passed the requisite Act for the construction of the harbour ; that the concession had been granted ; and that if the company were successfully floated the shares might be worth several thousandsof pounds. He also had fifty £1 shares in the North Dowling Forest (Victoria) Gold Mining Company. As the debtor was not present at the meeting, it was adjourned for a fortnight. THE NEW ZEALAND DAIRY PRODUCE.

Considering all that has been said and written on the subject, one quite expected that the parcels of New Zealand butter and cheese sent over this winter would show marked improvement, both as regards uniformity in colour and packing. Instead of that, rather the reverse has been the case. Some recent consignments, which came, I understand, from Wellington, were so poor as to be useless for ordinary purposes, and must have entailed heavy loss on the exporters. Even the butter which proved in good condition did nob realise proper prices, owing to its colour. The plain truth is that unless the New Zealand exporters will consent to study what they doubtless consider the fads of English buyers, they had better abandon the trade altogether. If New Zealand butter is to compete with the Continental, it must be of similar colour and be packed and put up in the same sorb of kegs. To show that there is no prejudice against antipodean dairy produce, I may mention that at the same sales at which several New Zealand parcels of butter failed to find purchasers at any price , a number of carefully packed kegs from South Australia just brought home by Orient boat realised 100 s a cwb. PERSONAL AND GENERAL. Mr Robert Lockhart, Chairman of the Scottish and N.Z. Investment Company, has sailed for New Zealand on business connected with that institution. Mr H. Marriott Watson is one ot the mo3t recent Anglo-Colonial victims to the influenza epidemic. He was very ill last week, bub seems now to be recovering. The Union Company’s new a.s'. Monowai, a magnificent vessel of 3,500 tons, intended for the ’Frisco service, will sail direct from the Clyde to New Zealand aboub March 15. She is now being fitted out at the Messrs Denny’s yards at Dumbarton. A cheap 2s re-issue of Sir Julius Vogel’s novel is in preparation. I may mention, by the way, that though Sir Julius means returning to the colony about September, he disclaims any intention of re-entering public life. Though the N.Z. Petroleum Co. is believed to have been only partially underwritten, the directors proceeded to allotment, and it is now a going concern. Sir Julius Vogel believes firmly in the Company’s prospects, and already talkshopefully of dividends. I observe Mr W.Courtney,of Taranaki, is at Home again. He arrived by the direct steamer Kaikoura last week. The officers of the s.s. Tainui have presented a very fine albatross captured off Cape Horn on the vessel’s la3b homeward voyage to the editor of “ Fairplay.” MR THOMAS RUSSELL ON NEW ZEALAND’S PROSPECTS. At the annual meeting of the .New Zealand and River Plate Land Mortgage Company last Friday, at which an eight per cent, dividend was declared, the Chairman (Mr Thomas Russell, C.M.G.) made a long and interesting statement, from which I extract the following:—Mr Russell said the past year had been an eventful one in the history of the Company, as they had been transferring large sums of money from New Zealand (which they no longer regard as affording the best field for their capital) to a new country, where higher rates of interest prevailed. He might state that a very low rate still prevailed for money in New Zealand, and the £600,000 they had there was not bringing them in what they had originally hoped. They would keep in view the increase of their investments at the Plate and the diminution of them in New Zealand until, atall events, they had about an equal sum at both places. They had lately sent instructions to New Zealand that money was not to be' lent below a certain rate of interest, and increased margins were also required. Money that could nob be lent on these conditions was to be remitted to London. New Zealand had been suffering from severe depression, brought about by over-borrowing, by inflated prices of land, by the universal fall in prices of agricultural produce, and by the consequent fall in the value of agricultural land. New Zealand was essentially an agricultural and pastoral country, and by the fall in the price of land, the colony had been touched in its most vital points. The universal testimony from New Zealand now was that a period of prosperity had set in, and was likely to continue. The property tax was likely to be repealed in the coming session, and it would remove a great bar to the flow of capital into the country. SIR CHARLES DILKE’S BOOK. Apropos of Sir Charles Dilke’s forthcoming “ Problem of Greater Britain,” the writer of the literary causerie in the “ Speaker ” says : —“ Sir Charles Dilke’s new book on ‘ Problems of Greater Britain ’ is in no sense a new edition of his well-known ‘Greater Britain.’ That was a record of travel which, though still in demand, is necessarily in some points antiquated. Not seeing his way to incorporate new facts, or correct old statements, in such a way as to produce a satisfactory result, Sir Charles Dilke thought it best to produce an entirely new book upon the same subjcctsas those treatedinthe original work, but dealt with from the point of view of political and social observation rather than from that of descriptive sight-seeing. The forthcoming book, therefore, is not a book of travel, but a treatise on the present position of Greater Britain, in which special attention has been given to the relations of the English-speaking countries one wvith another, and to the comparative politics of the countries under British government. The utmost pains have been taken to obtain the latest information upon the many important problems discussed, and the importance of the book not only to those who are directly concerned with colonial matters, but to all Englishmen who wish to 1 form an intelligent conception of that ‘ Greater Britain ’ which is a source at

once of so much pride and so much responsibility, can hardly be exaggerated. xhe work will be in two volumes, of wmch the first will deal with North America, Australasia, and South Africa, and the second with India and the Crown Colonies. LEFT IN THE LURCH. Poor Haddon Chambers has been left in the lurch by the changeable Mrs Langtry, who declares thab the heroine s part of the young 1 Australian’s much too much talked of'play is (even as specially written up for her) quite unworthy a “star actress. Contracts having been signed some time ago Chambers could, if he chose, insist on the ladv producing the piece at the St. James s Theatre, but, as she craftily points out, there is no clause in the agreement obliging her to play in it. Chambers is very anxious to submit their differences to the arbitration of some disinterested person (soy Ban - I croft), but Mrs Langtry won’t see it. She doesn’t like the play, and she doesn’t want it, and if forced to stand to her agreement she will, of course, “ guy ” it. _ The general opinion of Chambers’ friends is that having received £l5O from Mrs Langtry on account he would bo wise to pocket the money and the affront, and take his play elsewhere. Making a fuss in such matters never does any good. Chambers, I may mention, has just been pub up for the Garrick Club, his proposer being Mr Henry Irving and his seconder “ friend Toole.’ A good deal of sympathy is felt for the young man’s disappointment at the St. James’s Theatre. Mrs Langtry, who seldom remains of the same mind for a fortnighttogether concerning the plays she’s going to produce, is just now completely under the dominion of the Hon. Lewis Wingfield, who has promised her a revival of “ As You Like lb” which shall make even Irving envious. ANGLO-COLONIAL THEATRICAL. A regular exodus of “ pros ” appears to be taking place to your part of the world just now. Mrs Brown-Rotter and “ Curly” Bellew have gone. The Halles, good old Toole and Chas. Clarke leave next month, and massive Wm. Rignold and his daughter Bessie are due in Sydney at Easter for the production of “ Nowadays.” Bar Wilson Barrett himself, William Rignold is quite the best representative of the stout Yorkshire Squire in this racing melodrama, and brother George has acted wisely in engaging him for the Antipodean tour of the play. Miss Bessie will resume her old part of the Squire’s daughter. It is with regret I announce the death of Mr J. B. Zerbini, senior, the well known violinist, whose son resides in Melbourne. Toole’s farewell performances are being largely and brilliantly attended. At last Saturday’s matinee of “Raul Pry” and “Domestic Economy,” Sir Theodore and Lady Martin (Miss Helen Faucit), Mr Henry Irving, Miss Ellen Terry, and numerous other well-known professionals were amongst the audience. I hear, by the way, it is buxom Miss Eliza Johnstone, and nob beauteous Miss Vanbrugh, whom the genial comedian is thinking of converting into Mrs Toole. Miss Johnstone has been Mr Toole’s colleague and comrade for nearly a quarter of a century, so that their union would be most appropriate. THE HALLE’S TOUR. Sir Charles and Lady Halle have no notion of relying on such pianos as they may happen bo find on the spot for their Australian concerts. I was yesterday invited to see two magnificent grands which have been specially manufactured by the famous firm of Broadwood and Sons for the Halle tour. Why they are of the unnecessary extent of octaves I don’t know, unless, indeed, as Monsieur Engel suggests, “Broadwood wished to turn out a piano which could in every way compete with any other instrument, and would not even remain behind in extent. A 3 it is, the intense volume of sound, the malleability of tone, the ease of the response of the actiou, and the eloquent singing which answers to each pressure of the linger, shows what immense progress the development of the piano factories has made ; for there i 3 the serious question, can piano-making go further than this ?” THE COLONIAL INSTITUTE. The subject of the paper read by M r William Keswick at the Colonial Institute on Tuesday evening having reference to “ Hong Kong and Its Trade Connections,” therexvere naturally nob many Australians or New Zealandevs present. Sir Frederick Young occupied the chair, and an animated discussion followed the paper, in which Sir Jno. Rope llennessy, Sir Arthur Havelock, and others took part. Mr W. G. D. Astle (a pirtner of the late Mr Wesbgarth) was appointed the Fellows’ auditor in lieu of the deceased colonist. THE LERROSY FUND. The subscription dinner at the Hotel Metropole, in aid of the National Leprosy Fund, on Monday evening, was a very smart affair. The Prince of Wales occupied the chair, supported by the Duke of Fife and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the medical profession, from Sir James Paget and Sir Andrew Clark downwards, rolled up in strong force. There were also present Prince David, of Hawaii, Father Damien’s brother, Father Pamphile do Yeuster, and Mr J. M Bruce and Mr John Paterson, of Melbourne. The Prince of Wales, who had been carefully primed with facts by the indefatigable Sir Somers Vine, made a capital speech, in the course of which he appealed to the present company to put their hands in their pockets and help the fund. H. R.H. wound up by stating thab he had just heard that a young Roman Catholic lady, a Protestant clergyman’s daughter, was going out bo Molokai forthwith to nurse the lepers. It would not, ho thought, be inappropriate for them to wish her “Godspeed.” Sir Andrew Clark, the Bishop of London, and Mr Jonathan Hutchinson (the famous surgeon) also spoke at some length. Meanwhile, Sir Somers Yine (whose faculty for conjuring coin out of unwilling pockets is something extraordinary) canvassed the diners individually for subscriptions, and collected no less than £2,500. The Prince of Wales’ expressive countenance was all smiles when the amount was announced, and he paid “our zealous and indefatigable Secretary,” a well-merited compliment. Sir Somers, blushing bashfully, then announced the fund amounted to £7,000, and thab the Committee only wanted £5,000 more to carry out their plans satisfactorily. Altogether, the dinner was a great success, and a big feather in Somers Vines’ cap. It is a pity that the man should personally be so objectionable. He is undoubtedly very able.

RETURN OF MR HEATON, M.P. A telegram from Mr J. Henniker-Heaton, dated Port Said, and contradicting some unimportant statement in the “Times” about himself, indicates that we shall very shortly now have the member for Canterbury amongst us again. I hear though his Indian tour has not been very successful from a social point of view, it answered every purpose politically. Mr Heaton returns home primed with a large number of new postal problems and abuse?, which will be fired off at poor Mr Raikes early in the coming session. He has already written several letters on the subject.