ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 4296, 27 February 1884, Page 2

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

[BY OUB LONDON CORRESPONDENT.]

Fast Passage of tho lonio.—Fire in tho

Refrigerating Chamber.

London, January 11. Tub s.B. lonic (Captain Parsall) arrived st Plymouth from Now Zealand on January Urd, after a " phenomenal fastest on record" pnsiage of 41 days 1 hour and 30 minutes (including stoppages); tho actual steaming time being 3S days 12 hours and 10 minutes only. The lonic left Port Lyttelton on November 24, rounded Cape Horn on December 7 (fourteen days out), and arrived at Rio do Janeiro on December 15. After a stay, of forty-eight hours for coaling purposes, the lonic sailed again on December 17th, and arrived at Plymouth on the 3rd January, docking at Woolwich two days later. The largest day's run was 325 miles, and the shortest 276. The average must therefore have been remarkable. Tho Company fondly anticipate that tho Tongariro's run Home will even make this extraordinary passage look " small." Tho lonic's passengers have been landed all well. In addition to a general cargo, she brings 12,000 carcases of mutton and a chamber full of cheese. The former is in fair condition, and so far as can bo judged at present is fine meat. The engineer in charge of the freezing apparatus (Mr Raeburn) reports that the average temperaturo of tho chambers during the passago was 60deg. Fahr., the average being 20deg, Fahr., and tho lowest 22deg. below zero. Later Particulars.—The Meat Damaged.

When I first went down to the lonic her meat was being discharged in apparently Al condition, and everything seemed right. Certain rumours afloat in the city, however, induced me to pay the steamer another visit, and I then learnt that though the affair was kept quiet, and vory few even of tho passengers knew of it, thero certainly had been a fire in the freezing chamber during the voyage homo. The circumstances of tho case (as recorded in the steamer's log, which was cavilly placed at my service) were as fol lows :—On December—, at;s a.m., when the vessel was in sSdeg. 49mins. S. and 98deg 43min. W, the chief refrigerating enfineer, Mr Raeburn, going down into the old to take tho temperatures as usual, observed smoke issuing from among tho carcases and apparently proceeding from tho orlop deck, lleat oneegavp the alarm ; the hatches were taken oil', and yolumesof smoke ascended. The stoam and hose wereapplied, and so soon as the smoke diminished sufficiently the men reulived 1,000 sheep on deck, this work was continued till the smoke again grew dense, when the hatches were once more put on, and steam applied for a considerable time. On reopening them the danger was over, and by-and-hy | the sheep were put back and the chambers!

ro-frozon. Beyond being discoloured, and a few of them a trille burnt, the sheep don't seem much injured. None of them, curiously enough, appear to have gone bad, though tho icicles on tho wrappers show that they mu6t have been soaked with tho water. The extent of the damago done has not as yet been estimated. Tho good meat por lonic (excellent in quality) realised s|dto Od per lb. wholesale, and the damaged from 3d to scl, according to the extent ot the injuries. . Passengers for Auckland. Per P. and O. steamer Ballarat, leaving January 24th, Mr and Mrs Gore and family (4) are passengers for Auckland. The City of Auckland Loan.-A Marked Suooosg. Tenders for £100,000 City of Auckland 5 per cent, debentures were opened at the National Bank of Now Zealand on the 10th of January, no tender being received below £101 per £100 debenture. The opening of the tenders attracted some little attention, j and any doubt that might have been entertained as to the success of tho lpan was speedily set at rest by the opening of a. tender for tho whole amount at £102 7s 6d, which showed that it would be placed at a good advance on the fixed minimum. The total amount applied for was £702,000, at prices ranging from £101 to £103 15s, and in addition to the large tender already mentioned, four were for £25,000 each, at £101 to £101 10s ; two for £20,000 each, at £101 12s Cd and £102 8s ; and sixteen for £10,000 each, at £101 12s Od to £102 13a lOd. Tenderres at £102 7s 6d will receive about 0 per cent of the amount applied for and above in full. The avcrago prico obtained was £102 11s 4d per cent. •

[Fkom the "Homk News," January 11],

Steam to New Zealand,

Now that New Zealand has been brought within forty days of the Thames, it is hardly possible to believe that a little more than ton years ago the only service to that thriving colony was by sailing ships, which occupied more than double the time. But now, when the first of the magnificent lino of steamships has already reached New Zealand, and the second is on the way out, whilo the third will follow in a couple of days, rapid inter-communication between England New Zealand may be considered assured. The fact is hailed with great satisfaction in this country, as it must certainly stimulate the importation of frozen meat. Consumers are already realising the merits of New Zealand mutton, and would gladly have more of it if they could. As each of these steamers is fitted to convoy 14,000 carcases, there seems at first sight no reason why the dosire should not be gratified ; and yet it is an extraordinary fact that New Zealand' mutton as such is not to bo met with in the English markets. It appears to undergo some sort of transmutation in the process of thawing, and passes from the docks to the butchers-shop as the primest Southdown. Of course, the explanation is not far to seek. The best New Zealand mutton c.in be handed to the retail trade at about sixpence a pound, but this would not suit the middlemen, who call it English and sell it at home exorbitant prices. There Is a lino fortune waiting for any enterprising capitalist who would attack and break up this ring. A Bad Commencement for 1884. The new year which has just opened upon us has been ushered in with more than the usual amount of crime and disaster for the season of tho year. True, we are trained to expect such things as robbei'ies and assaults in the lonely districts of the suburbs of London as soon as long, dark evenings sot in upon us, but this year we have been startled by much more than the average amount of crime, accidents, and disasters. The northern suburbs of London have just becomo notorious by a shocking murder which has been committed in tho neighbourhood of Stoko Newington, near the boundaries of Finsbury Park, where a young gentleman named Tower, a resident of the vicinity, and clerk to a firm of underwriters in the City, has been foully and cruelly murdered. It appears that with Borne friends and neighbours Mr Tower had been attending a religious night-watch service, on the old year's night of December 31, and shortly after midnight he was on his way home, accompauicd by a friend. They parted at a very lonely spot near the Stoke Newington reservoir, belonging to the New River Company, where Mr Tower's body was found the next morning by the people in charge of the work*. From what can be gathered by investigation and conjecture, it is supposed that the unfortunate gentleman was waylaid and assaulted by some miscreants, and that after being robbed and murdered, his body was thrown into the water of the^ reservoir. The Government have offered a reward of £100 for the discovery of the perpetrators of the crime, but up to the present time no clue has been arrived at which is likely to elucidate tke mystery of the sad event. In the neighbourhood of Clampham, also, a young gentleman residing in the locality, named Violas was seriously injured in an attack by a supposed robber, who was only prevented from carrying out his purpose to the fatal extent by the sound of footsteps. In Westminster, and the provinces alco, other similar cases have occurred, and in several of them the bodies of women have been found dead, after having been cruelly assaulted. The dreadful crime of wife murder also seems about to becomo prevalent, for there are|already two or three of these cases in tho hands of the provincial police, in the course of investigotion. Accidents are [also rife] and prevalent. The other day, as some men were in the act of demolishing a bridge which spans the London and North-Western Railway near Wigan,the 6ntire structure gave way all of a sudden, and buried several of the poor fellows buneaah the ruins, and before the debris could be cleared seven of the men who had been at work on |the bridge were killed. Disasters at sea and shipwrecks are also numerous. Besides tho wreck of the Duke of Westminster passenger steamer from Australia—particulars of which disaster are given elsewhere—we hear of numerous wrecks and great loss of life in severe storms and gales. The Celtic passenger' steamer from New York is now nearly sixteen days overdue, and her absence has caused great anxiety. Fortunately, she has been heard of at sea, proceeding slowly t<ywards port under sail, having broken her main shaft. The above events, with many others not particularised in detail, throw a sort of gloom over the advent of the New Year, and darken the shadow of the Christmas just passed away.