ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 261, 4 November 1890, Page 5

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

London, September 9. CANTERBURY COLLEGE CANDIDATES. Calling at the Agent-General's on Tuesday, prior to going for a few days' holiday to the seaside, I learnt that the selection of the candidate for the Canterbury College appointment has not yet been decided. The matter is, however, now , in hand, and the Committee's decision will probably be made known in the course of the week. THE AUSTRALIAN STRIKE. During the week several attempts have been made to correct) the popular view of the Australian strike promulgated by j Burns and Co., but without much effect. Tom Mann confessed on Wedqesday that there seemed every prospect of the strikers being beaten, and also remarked ib waa strange public sympathy in the colonies should be against them. Fined down, however, what his long speech to the Australian strike fund really amounted to was that whether their Antipodean comrades were right or whether they were wrong, the dockers must assist them. It was; the cause of Demos against capital, remember. The fact thafe Australian employers of labour and the Australian public generally subscribed a large part of the £36,000 sent home last year does not seem to weigh an iota with Burns, Mann, and Co. * They have, indeed, consistently ignored the fact, though letters to the papers keep on pointing it out. The cablegrams concerning Mr Champion's attitude have caused considerable excitement in labour circles, but they are probably exaggerations. Champion is, I imagine, far too 'cute to quarrel with Burns and Co., or they with him. KUDOS FOR J. 0. FIRTH. Of the many flattering notices which have been bestowed on Mr J. G. Firth's " NationMaking " by the English press, the one I should value most (were I he) would be Mr W. E. Henley's column of appreciative criticism in the " Scot's Observer " of Saturday last." "Such a book as thie," •ays the distinguished reviewer, "is of vastly more value than the • Impression* de Voyage 'of the nian of letters, however eminent in himself, and however luxuriously v he may have travelled." Mr Henley quoter i Mr Firth's vigorous description ot thei building-up of the colony, and warmly I commends his collection of Maori stories and traditions.

NEW ZEALAND AND THE CABLE

SEKVICE.

The London papers find ft difficult to understand what New Zealand means with all her new zeal for economy in declining to pay her share towards expediting and cheapening the telegraphic service to Great Britain. X the colony maintain its position of protad isolation (says the " Financial Newe ") it ia within the bounds of possibility that the intelligent New Zealander a few years hence would be charged almost as jus passage money over for the simple misgive that he had seen the ruins of St. Paul's from the broken arches of London Bridge.

FROZEN MUTTON. vY.v The progress of the Biter Plate' Frozen baa, New Zealanders should note, been extraordinarily rapid, considering- a few years ago mosti of them w« in wiwi difficulty A^the, general

meeting of the RP. Freßh Meat Company! on Wednesday a 10 per cent, dividend waa; announced, and some £15,000 added to the reserve fund. How many New_ Zealand}. Companies are doing as well as this J , \ THE REV. WILLIAM RADCLIFF. ] The action of the Rev. H. Watson, of! Christchurch, in warningthe authorities here against the •• Key." William Radcliff, the peeudo clergyman who levanted froca Christchurch, New, Zealand, t two yeans back, has been more than justified by. the events of this last week. It will be remembered that Mr Watson, upon arriving Home about a year ago, discovered Ms Radcliff masquerading in the smartest serious society as a reputable colonial clergyman. He had made the acquaintance of the Rev. Henry White of the Chapel Royal, Savoy, and was positively advertised to preach at> his church on the following Sunday. Fortunately* Mr Watson was in time to pre« vent this scandal, and also the rev. gentleman's presentation at Court* The Bishop then inquired into the whole) circumstances. As a result Mr Radcliff'a license was withdrawn, and he disappeared into the vortex. Last week the worthy fellow was arrested in London, charged with converting to hie own uses three ringa value £52 10s, obtained from a Margate jeweller last September. On Friday he put in an appearance before the Isle of Thanet Bench, when the police applied foe a remand.

On Tuesday the rev. gentleman was again brought up before the Margate Bench, and a detective officer explained that he had used a former schoolmistress' name in order to obtain rings, value £52 10a on approbation, and then decamped. Hβ had committed a similar offence at Tun bridge Wells, obtaining a ring from a tradesman there, valued at £25, and nob returning it. In Mr Radcliff'a pockets were letters showing that he had been is* Btrumental in procuring, the release of a man named Thomas, who was sentenced to 18 months , imprisonment), and had sabsa-, quently lived with that worthy. It was in«; ferred be had shared the proceeds of many heinous robberies. The officer who arreeted prisoner in London said the accused waa sentenced in France in his absence to three years' imprisonment; whilst he was wanted in New Zealand on charges of arson and embezzlement. Complaints had been received at Scotland Yard from all parts of the country about the prisoner, and alaca his arrest the police authorities at Margate had received over thirty communications about him.

The "Rev." Wm. Radcliff reserving hia defence merely remarked that he was a much persecuted and misunderstood man and had been driven from pillar to post* He was committed for trial.