OUR LONDON LETTER.

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. [From Our London Correspondent.] London, September 19. On inquiring at the Agent-General's office yesterday I learnt that no New Zealander had been there for a fortnight. The appointment of the classical master for Christchurch College proceeds leisurely. Nothing definite haa been decided yet, but the three or fonr gentlemen betwixt whom the appointment now lies will como up to Victoria Chambers on the 29th inst. for a sort of final inspection. Mr James Hill, who haa been travelling in your part of the world, returned Home last week, and was promptly interviewed by the 'Star.' Mr Hill fought a good fight on behalf of the Radicals against young Lord Carmarthen, for Brixton, in 1880, and is now the Liberal candidate for East Renfrewshire. He told the reporter he had taken a passage by the ill-fated Quetta, and would probably have sailed in her but for an Australian politician, who urged him on no account to miss seeing New Zealand. After some hesitation ho postponed his voyage, and visited Maoriland. The next news Mr Hill heard was the total loss of the Quetta. The ' Daily Chronicle' sovorely censures Mr Goschcn and the Imperial authorities for refusing to join the colonies in bearing the expense and enlarging the facilities of intercommunication between England and Australia and New Zealand. It was anticipated the Treasury authorities would justify their action by Bound reasons, but the memo, on the subject was nothing of the sort. " My lords offer a cheap sympathy with the object of the subsidy, and admire the sacrifice of young Australia in the development and facilitation of telegraphic communication. But they button up their pockets and labor to cover the shabbiness of tho act with a profusion of verbose apologies which thoy aßk the colonies to accept as justificatory argument." Fined down, the Government explanation amounts to this: That if my lords granted Australasia's request they would at onco be inundated with similar applications from other colonies, which it would be imperative, because of the precedent, they should grant. The ' Chronicle ' and many other English papers refuse to admit this objection. The undeßirability of extending State interference might easily have given way before the opportunity of a graceful and friendly co-operation in the promotion of commercial and social intercourse. The probability ia, too, that the guarantee would have turned out to bo merely nominal, for increased facilities invariably multiply business. MB ARTHUR GILLIES. Mr Arthur Gillies, a nephew of the late Judge Gillies, sails per Etruria on Saturday en route for Dunedin via San Francisco. MR J. <;. VIRTU. Mr J. C. Firth returned from hia Yorkshire tour on Tuesday. He is in the best of health and capital spirits, and confesses to having enjoyed himself immensely. Tho veteran New Zealander was warmly welcomed in his native county, and discovered old friends well-nigh wherever he went. Mr Isaac Holden, M.P., invited him to Oakworth to meet Mr Illingworth, M.P., and there he encountered an erstwhile schoolfellow in Mr Joseph Craven, M.P., now become (like his host) a British legislator. Mr Firth is very busy collecting data with regard to the dangerous and often spontaneous combustibility of charcoal, and has been in correspondence with Majors Majendie and Cundile, Her Majesty's Inspectors of Explosives, on the subject. He goes to visit the latter ut Woolwich next week. When Mr Firth has thoroughly threshed out this question, and acquired the essential statistics, he intends crystallising bis discoveries in the form of a pamphlet, to be called ' A Danger and a Remedy.' This will be sent to shipowners, refrigerating companies, and all persons who use charcoal as an insulator. The remedy, of course, takes the form of Mr Firth's patent, which he ia sanguine muat be used for insulating purposes in time, or rather when charcoal gets discredited. Mr Firth has postponed his departure from London to October 24, and will visit Rome and Egypt on his way home, travelling by the Torres Strait route, as he wishes to inspect Queensland. AN OPEN SESAME. Mr Firth says he finds that when he mentions the fact that he is a New Zealander most doors fly open. A few words to that effect made him a welcome guest at the Conference of the Knights of Labor at Chicago, and he successfully tried the same formula at the British Museum. On Wednesday Mr Firth greatly wished to witness Canon Liddon's obsequies at St. Paul's, but could not get hold of his friend, Prebendary Reynolds, to pass him in. The cerberi guarding tho doors declined to consider his acquaintance with the worthy cleric a sufficient reason for dispensing '.vith the essential admission card, and he was turning sadly away, when a recollection of Chicago inspired him to again experiment with the I-eome-froni-New-Zoaland trick. It answered like " open sesame," Cerberus relaxed, and Mr Firth was shown to an admirable chair, from which he witnessed the sad and solemn ceremony. CAPTAIN ASHBY ON STRIKES. Captain Aahby is great on tho subject of I the mischief which the dock strike haa done the trade of London, and mourns that, whereas a few years back we monopolised the carrying trade between England and Australia and New Zealand, France and Germany have now acquired a fair Blico of it, and are (thanks to Burns and Co.) getting more and moro every week. RETURNING COLONISTS. Mr Holdship, of Auckland, is at Brussels. He goes to Havre next week to inspect a cargo of kauri that has just arrived there. Mr and Mrs Holdship return to New Zealand via Sydney per P. and O. Massilia on November 13. Mr R. K. Garlick has booked hia passage

for New Zealand by the Oceana, sailing 3rd October. Mra Street (widow of Mr Street, of Gillies and Street, Dunedin), with her niece, Miss Ilooke, is staying at Hampstead. Mr Honeytnan returns to New Zealand in January; and so do Auckland's authoress, Miss Jessie Weston, and her mother. Mrs Richards and daughters and the Rev. W. A. Barclay return to Wellington per Ormuz next Thursday. Captain Alexander, Mr and Mrs George Barton, Mr and Mrs James Benton, and Messrs Bodell, A. Le Meriat, and H. Pieters are passengers for Auckland ; Mr and Mrs Reynolds and family, for Gisborne; and Mr H. A. WarreD, for Auckland —by the same steamer, which also takes back Murdoch's discredits team of cricketers. Mr and Mrs P. Harper sail for Dunedin I to-day, per Parramatta, which also takes Mr Frier for Auckland and Mr Bf. L. Smith for Lyttelton, THE OVERDUE TIMARU. Another of Shaw Savill's vessels, the Timaru, is considerably overdue; in fact, reinsurances have with difficulty been effected at ninety-five guineas per cent. She left Lyttelton on the 2nd of June, and spoke the Sierra Blanca (which left on 29th May and was overtaken) on July 10, in longitude 34deg W., latitude 34deg S. The Sierra Blanca arrived on August 24, nearly four weeks ago, which looks ominous. AX EVENT. Let it be noted that on September 8, 1890, 'The Times' published its first special cablegram from Australia. " The labor troubles, from which the colonies are now suffering, have (says the • British Australasian ') proved more potent to move Printing House square than years of prosperity." The Hon. Richard Oliver hopes, with Mr Lindo Courtenay's help, to enter the Imperial Parliament at the ensuing general election. Mr John Ward, C.8., who died at Dover recently, aged eighty-six, was for some time secretary to the New Zealand Commission Company. The barque Assaye, which sailed from Greenock for New Zealand on 15th February, has at last been posted at Lloyd's. Her crew of twenty-two were all Scots. Messrs Eyro and ijpottiswoods have been appointed vendors in London of the New Zealand Government's publications. j

It is understood that no appointments to the Legislative Council will be made before the elections are held.