ENGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10333, 29 April 1899, Page 12

ENGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(-SOU OT7B OWN COBBKSPONDENT.)

LONDON, March 17. . Comnient has been occasioned by a curious ieomparison of the labour equivalent of a fat bjflock in. England and in New Zealand,

•which has been worked out by a farmer in

jthe colony. Supposing the dead weight of % bullock to be 7001b, lie says, it could be told in England at fully 6d per lb, or for £17 -kCs in all, paying 2s 6d a day' to a labourer for 140 days; while in New Zealand it would

fee acid at 16s per 1001b, or at.£s 12ft, sufficient to pay the current wages for a fazxa -aJjourer for.only 18*. days, while a dinner in addition would have to be provided daily •for the colonial i-mr-m-.--,

/ On Tuesday last, in the Chancery Court, Abe cross actions of Wilson r LuMuck, and 'lit_Aock t Wilson, came before Mr Justice this tana for the-settlement of costs. The Judge has had so much to do, both in Chambers and in Court, with the affairs of the Midland Railway Company of New Zealand, that after a bearing ctf the action*, which ran into two days each, of -two successive weeks, or four days in all, he was able to give his judgment offhand. As the decision went in favour of Mrs Wi*Eon, the widow of the late general manager of the company in the colony, for about £12,000 odd, and for the debenture-holders for some £-5,000 worth of mortgages,. he, however, reserved the question of costs, asking one of the junior counsel to tabulate the judgment. This was on Thursday of last week, and of the state of things up'to then I informed you last mail. Before Tuesday, however, an agreement had been come to between the counsel on both sides, each party agreeing to pay its own costs, Mrs Wilson's share to come out of her late husband's estate. Even this arrangement, however, did riot prevent closo upon an hour's argument. Mrs Wilson now, it is intimated, will claim damages against tbe debenture-holders in respect of the caveat lodged by therm in Now Zealand, with regard to the nine mortgages she has won, and on which' she ■ herself has been stopped from receiving the interest for some years pint. This latter phase oi the case 19 to be first heard in Chambers. CerUin members of the House of Commons are anxious to know bow preferential taring mtlt the colonies will work. The desite springs from mixed motives, however. | One EQciion wou„ nke to see duti&a oi every kind abolished, and look upon parts of the Empire, dossed aa "proteotionkt," as having degenerated. The other, and by far the I more popular , section now regards the existence ot duties as a means ready to , the-' hand of Imperial- , ism. Sir Howard Vincent, has tried to draw Mr Chamberlain as to the- result of preferential rates given the Mother Country by Canada. Bat Air Chamberlain is very guarded; he is not the kind of roan to •be - "drawnf' easily. Still, the information he did give was interesting, and, on the whole, is regarded as favourable by those who wish to see the example of Canada followed by all the other colonies. During the six months ended on the 31st January—the first halfyear, in whactt Canada's tariff in favour of trade under the British flag was in operation •—there was, Mr. Chamberlain said, compared with the figures for the six months which . closed on, the 31st January, 1898, an increase of 1 per cent, in the exports from the United Kingdom to Canada. If they took into account lest July's exports, the greater part of which arrived in Canada under the preferen-tial-tariff, toe augmentation was found to be $;per' cent. . The period, however, was too short.for an accurate judgment to be formed on the effect of the tariff. No. other colonial, Government had yet adopted the system.,/ f To give a sample of the slipshod way in which colonial ''copy' is compiled for Londoners by Londoners, this week obituary notices of the late Sir Julius Vogel and . biographies of, ham have appeared. "The Times" states that bis "eldest" son was killed in Matabele land; the "Daily News" says it was bis "youngest," Both are now bving in London, the elder being engaged -in literary pursuite and wellknoWn: As a matter of fact, it was Sir Julius's second son who unfortunately lost his life with Wilson's party in South Africa. Then, an evening paper of . the first class seriously leads ..' its readers to think that Sir Wflliam Fox survives, and lives at Wellington. And so on. Instances could be multiplied. Those I have given are hot of very great importance, it is true; tfcej,\ however, ,'form a good index of the ignorance which would not exist if a little trouble were taken, but which at present characterises the treatment of colonial subjects, little and big, in the London Pre3s. Does a political career in the colonies pay? is a question likely, to be asked. And the reply, so far as New Zealand is concerned, wul be in the negative, at any rate, with regard to* the older school of politicians. When . Sir George Grey died he left behind him less • than' a thousand pounds, and that when whole countries,had been practically at his disposal, Now we have tho case of Sir ' Julius Vogel, in-reference to whom "The .Times" bus said:—-"It is a touching commentary" upon one side of his career,' that, having handled millions in the public interest with an ability rare in colonial financiers, be ha»)died a poor man, glad during the lost years of his life to accept an occupation under Government which added £300 a year to his modest income."