OUR LONDON LETTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8368, 26 February 1907, Page 5

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(Proof Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, January 4. HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGES.

The High Commissioners' Department have bought and shipped by the Shaw Savill and' Albion Company's ) steamer Kumars, twenty brace of Hungarian partridges for the' Wan- j ganui Acclimatisation Society. It ( was intended that the New Zealand Shipping Company's' steamer Kimutaka should have the honour of the cargo, but the latter was not ready in time. Both shipping companies offered to carry the shipment free of charge. A NEW STEAMER, The Shaw Savill, and Albion' Company have just launched a new steamer, the Arawa, intended specially for the New Zealand trade. Full t particulars are not yet available, but in the meantime the following may be interesting:—'Her dimensions are 480 ft x 60ft x 42ft. She has been specially designed, for the New' Zealand service, and' will be fitted with the most complete appliances for the convenience of all kinds of New Zealand cargo. In addition there will be accommodation for forty first class, sixty second class,, and practically an unlimited number of third class passengers. The,accommodation will be of an exceptionally good character. The first class passengers will be accommodated entirely in deck cabins. The same will be the case with a large proportion of the second class, and there will not be a single inner first or second class cabin. All the 1 rooms will be commodious and well, lighted, each one having a side light. The vessel will have twin screws, and will have a sea-going speed of 12J knots. The jbuilders are Messrs Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., who are now completing the gigantic Mauretania, for the Cunard Company, alongside of which vessel the Arawa was constructed. The Shaw Savill Company do not think that the Arawa will be surpassed by any vessel engaged in the New Zealand trade in her arrangements for the comfort and convenience of passengers. AUSTRALASIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. ■ x The annual general meeting of the Australasian Chamber of Commerce took place in the visitors' room at the Bank of Adelaide. I take the following items from the report : "Among the questions brought under notice was that arising from a deputation of the Association of Chambers of Commerce-of the United Kingdom to the President, of the Board of Trade on the preferential treatment accorded by British steamship companies to foreign freight, particularly in connection with shipments to South Africa,. Australia, and New Zealand. At that deputation Mr Lloyd George intimated that what the Government wanted was more information giving p?rLicula?,'3 of actual cases of an ordiuwy cbriacter of higher rates belag charged for freight on British goods than the rates charged for simthr goods and services by British ships to our foreign competitors. In this way such evidence could be obtained as would amount, to a real substantial grievance, upon which they would have the opinion of the shipowners, and they would be in a position to deal with the matter. In response to a circular received from the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom appealing for the assistance of the Chamber, the commit'ee communicated with those members mostly interested, requesting that they would, if possible, supply information of the character required. Many replies were received, extracts from which were sent to the Association for the use of the Board of Trade in dealing with a difficult but vital subject." Mr Doxat, the President, in' the course of his speech, made the following references to the products of your colony:—"The butter industry, which at one time seemed almost confined to Victoria and New Zealand, has now taken firm root in New South Wales and Queensland, while South Australia, though on a minor scale, is now entering into the lists, and there seems no reaspn why the present output should not be largely increased. Not only, however, have seasons favoured eur friends in Australia and New Zealand, but prices have also ruled in their favour; and, so far as wool is concerned, I am convinced that the monetary receipt of the clip now being marketed will far exceed any previous records. Dairy produce, both cheese and butter, sell at high and remunerative prices, whilst' ; wheat also is at a price which will yield a fair, though perhaps not a , brilliant, result.