OUR LEADING (?) COLONISTS AT HOME.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1507, 2 November 1886, Page 3

OUR LEADING (?) COLONISTS AT HOME.

! The Wellington Press: says :—"Some of the. Btories about the antics and misConduct «f Mending colonists' at Home {at the houses of. coble aud wealthy entertainers, ti> which they have been invited in droves, aie so extraordinary jthat we* hoped they were exaggerated. We could scarcely believe that story, for instance, about the ' leading colonists' who danced' on Lord Brassey's billiard table at Norman burst, and did other jthings even worse than that. But when !we learn from people who have just returried'what sort of persons these ' leading colonists'' are, 'we can believe anything about th'un. We only fear we have not beard the worst by a long way 'y.et., ; . A friend of ours who ,is r interested ;in agriultural matters, weot' down' the other day ( 'with a party ; 'of 'leading jcoionists,' at the invitation of a Duke, to sea soda experiments in manures at one of the. grandest places in England. The party were understood 'to be strictly •elect. Tbeyl only numbered 60. Tbey were Jakeb.V.dQ ;Vn tmra., London, in a superbly appointed special train-, a id were met at th'e ;country station byr.a long string of.carriageß with servants in the. ducal livery.' Arrived.at ,the estate, they \rere received by, the Duke; and a large number: of: distinguished guests of his ; and were taken over tothe farms and had everthing shown to them and explained to them: in the: pleasantest manner.: Our friend noticed only one man from New Zealand whom he knew, a Very ; good'fellow, quite in a private position in the colony, with, whom he forgathered for the day; After the farming experiments came a sumptuous lunch at the mansion —we might, say palace; and not be far wrong—and the chums still stuck together and maiaged to get seated .side by side. They then had on opportunity to look about them, and se9 what sort of company they were in. Bight opposite to him, pegging into the good things freely and talking nineteen to the dozen, our friend saw a man who left New Zealand suddenly four or five years ago under a very thick cloud | indeed, leaving a wife and six ohildren to shift for themselves, besides a large circle of lamenting- acquaintances .andf.busineas connections. He knew him [Perjectjy,well—too well by half—but there was not a sign of recognition from hip? ;j only a stony stare,. By. the • side of-this-wor-thy sat another man of most peculiar appearance, of the horse, horsey —no mistake;about that—-who presently nodded familiarly, but hot altogether easily, to our friend's friend. No words: passed at the time, but after lunch ourj friend'asked his friend who the man was who had nodded to him across the table. He was ;a »room, who until recently had;a billet at thirty" shillings a week'on a racecourse,with which our friend's friend was: officially connected as an amateur patron of the turf, and, was sjpposed to have gone to England to take charge of a horse' that was coming out for a Stud Company. These were the only other New ,Zealanders the two friends recognised in the Duke's select party of 60, and our friend was pleased to learn-on enquiry that the one he had spotted "disclaimed any connection with New Zealand, and passed for a * leading colonist' from one of the tropical dependencies of the Empire."