ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 157, 6 July 1896, Page 3

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

iFboM Oob Special Correspondent.)

London, May 23, MffAOBE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY '^HONOUR LIST.

n u een'B Birthday Honours Lisb. is v! Li more or less disappointing. We ftraliana never get quite what we deThere seom, invariably, come good * c"c' j fcrue lefb out in the cold. Bub as a '"i the Angl°*k'°lon'a* correspondent can frf two or three names in the long list Coupon to hang a paragraph or a contfllatioo. This year there is bub one. ?t of the Premier of Queensland, who mes Sir Hugh. Nelson. In the length A breadth of the dominions of Australia A New Zealand, the Marquis of Salist « aided by the omniscience ot" Colonial i >' can find but one man deeorving of t oeriftl recognition. One man, ono single •dividual, after two months'solid "gnßr ■a" at every opportunity anent weld•'l closer the "ties that bind," etc., Y. The omission of the Premier of New «jth Wales''name, frankly fills Anglorloniaw^b amazement. His K.C.M.O. • understood to have been offered and I can only conclude now it was Sd and rofueed. Mr Kingston, too, has rabab'y on'y himßelf to thank that he in ng| r Charles, bub how about Mr Play-i-j} Ono cannob harp often enough, or ■lißtently enough, on the desirability—if ■:t iljiolttte necessity—of Agents General fojmjK.C.M.G.'s. Their position requires ■tand makes it Beemly. 1 have, however, inloded so recently on this subject I will 0 £ on ly add a single word. This is that the sentiments of an Agent-General himself {l,j poinb ought nob to matter. Ib is lie official must be considered, nob the ujn, Wien he ceases to be the colony's Snotohead he can shed his " Sir " jusl as hSrejects hja diplomatic uniform. But to Ho appointment both are important ad- ' ViC6-AdmiralFairfax,whofigureßamong9b Itenoff naval. K.C.B.'s, will, of course, re«ire congratulations from many old friends in: Australia, and Sir Joseph Montefore iB, I fancy, also known slightly in your pit of the world. ACCIDENT TO THE RIMUTAKA. the accident which the liitnutaka meb githjast) outside the Straits of Magellan ol'. an exceedingly awkward one, and ciight) 'havo led to nasty eventualities bad iiocburred a day or two earlier. What litaenect was that the crank pin of the low pressure engine broke. Ib was impossible to obtain a new crank pin at Monte Yiijjo, co the engineers ( Mr Pitcher and Mr (Jilk) decided to attempt the difSculb task of .substituting the high pressure of tho low pressure crank. The operation BBiucceßsfully performed, the broken pin removeii. and the other one substituted, indtbe Rimutaka reached London in nifty with her 200 odd passengers. The Uter presented the officers of the vessel with an address. It was no doubt a gratifying tribute, though unaccompanied by iithy lucre. Lotus hope the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Underwriters my prove more practically generous. Man aunoblive by compliments alone, and as tbf-"British Australasian" points our, there woold have been a colossal towing bill to pay but for the ingenuity of Messrs Pitcher and Chalk.

■:■ ■■•■' NORFOLK ISLAND. In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Bill, the ..member for Staffordshire, liked the Secretary of State for the Colonies Whether he could now state tho result pt hia.communications with the Governments of New South Wales and New Zealand with respect to the future governmenb of Norfolk Island, and whether, before coming to any final decision in the matter, lie would take steps to ascertain the views vi wishes of the Norfolk Island community, in view of the great importance tbey attached to the preservation of the peculiar rights and privileges which they hid enjoyed for the past 40 years, and ihich,aabhey contended,were guaranteed to ta by, tho Imperial Government) in 1856. HrChamberJaiD replied:—"l regret that Urn unable to give tha honourable memI isr any information. The despatches from ;■Un Governor of New South Walea have only recently arrived, and I have not yet brdfrom the Governor of New Zealand. !think lam sufficiently acquainted with fta views of tho community of Norfolk Mind, and if the honourable member were inn of the condition of the Island he wild, I think, agree with me that gome ; tiango is inevitable."

IBESBNTATION TO LADY HALLE. An interesting event took place at Marltorough House on Saturday, when, in the pence of a distinguished company, tbe Mace.ot Wales made a valuable presontatiouto Lady Halle. His Royal Highness jMaccompanied by the Princess Louieo. % Princess of Waleß wa6 unable to return ') London in time to attend. Among jw» present were the Earl of Kintore, Mm Etbel and Hilda Keith-Falconer, n«B.. Misa Baring, Sir Wm. Agnew, Sir F. Knollya, M r Alfred Rothechild, Sir Spencer *, Mr Altaa Tadema, R.A., Mr J. C. "0%, H.A., Mr Hubert Herkomer, J*i Signor Piabti, Sir E. Lawson, Sir IMS. Paine, MrF. C. Burnand, Mr Philip ;'Nw,MrB. J. Broadtield, Mr George r asnscholl. R Dy , Canon Duckworth, etc. ! a PWaentation consisted of an elegant aier and ivory caeket, containing an 'wesa with the names of tbe subscribers, ;'Wal»othe deeds of a domain and palazzo a tbe province of Traviso, near Venice.

BIRTHDAY DINNER,

■^'Secretary of State for the colonies ,wa State dinner at the Colonial Office on 'Ktoeulsy evening in honour of the £»»• .birthday. AH the gueets wore ™»drew/or uniform, amongst the beeto 'Wafcoypu being the Earl of Jersey, the ;'«of Selborno, Lord Stanmoro, Lord ! SSirG. Bowen, Sir D. Cooper, General "• n %man, Sir W. C. F. Robinson, ■ 1 i ' deß Voeux. the Hon. Sir Saul ' Siw a J- F> Gar»ck; Sir M. Fraser, jj'iß; Perceval, Sir D. Tennant, the .£•.*• Playford, the Hon. W. V. Reeves," ■■&*: U. Colmer, Sir F. Abel, Sir W. !'' sW<MrJohnßraraßton.5W<MrJohnßraraßton. , GUY'S HOSPITAL. '■«y*«!lted t0 aPPeal the Guy'B men ami New Zealand to L • ■ and aßßist the Guy's men ab ■Jertr'' 16 sPlendid work of setting this L.?'W on its financial legs again. „„',,■■ tt°spital owes its origin to the 4td!M? Cc of ft cit!z9n of London who ■Wtiv7 ear'y part of the last century, |3 - of Parliament (1725) by which ii <U ?. orß are incorporated describes it HX - P'tal founded ab the sole costs fci7 ri?eß of Thomas Guy, Escj." "i'er ...Upon the Surrey side of the ♦■!" 200 yds ot London Bridge, it H»li? a beconfi nea of the most densely Uj M portion of Greab Britain. Bwu?. Wmmon with St. Thomas' ""licit ■ Bq')serv eß the needs .of ; Hatk,.^ and suffering poor of the io[ of the Thames. In the beginni<>> i t Preißnti century Guy'e origir'«l Uloji.,^' augmented by a legacy of ijtot^OO.OOO from the estate of Wui. :i)!tiL n ?fs, Qant of Lo!>don, whoso naioe No?,i y commemorated by tho ioifj^eita a known aa Hurifc' B Howe, lX .„,: ,the reception of medical cases. ;j»« l 2 ! * the hospital continued- for ?■ Stew.! .an< * Bixty ye»rß from its -fulfil itß Pr°Per Wolk without ■WdßrinlJl- outßi(io its own resources, N Hi* wholQ of fchiß Period ib re" ?»ybu^Communifcy at large from a Cfof care and expense. With iS tCl 68°vernorsnave now to moke W{ t J*.. tl'18 means which have enabled Mt ewity to be carried on in tbe

plasb are reduced by one-half. Under the will of the founder, the endowmenb. was compuleorily invesbed in landed eefcate, and the depreciation which the changes of time and policy have wrought in the' value of this endowment can best be aeen by a reference to the following figures : —Annual expenditure, with 100 beds closed, £43,000; neb income from estatea in 1880, £40,000; neb income from same property in 18b5, £20,000; annual loss ot income from estates, £20,000. Total number of beds for in-patients, 621; in-patienta accommodated 1895, 6,411; out-patient 3 attended . 1895, 151,664 ; maternity cases attended outside the Hospital 1895, 3,363. Anybody can tea i-his is a very aerious state of things. Numbers of wards have already had to be closed, and still further closures will have to be made unless relief can be obtained. In this difficulty the Prince of Wales baa been approached and at once offered to put his shoulder to the wheel. There is to be a big dinner this month with H.R.H^ in che chuir, and all sorts and conditions of aristocrats and plutocrats are being badgered to come and help liberally. It may give y>u some idea of what a big London Hospital costs if I add that to endow a bed in perpetuity at Guy's means an outlay of £1,000 and even a child's cot costs £500. Money, m my humble opinion, cannot be better spent). than endowing beds at one of these vast bomes'of suffering. You begin to understand the full horrors of the mystery of pain alter a walk through the miles of wards at Guy's, or " Bart's," or St.Thomas. On every side of you are devoted men and women struggling day and night year in and year out to arrest the fiend of torture. Too often they are baffled and beaten and disheartened, bub the grim battle never stops. When a doctor or nurse falls his or her place is immediatoly filled. Well,- we ought) surely to do something too. I don't say you colonists should. You have your own hospitals, and charity begins at home. Ono appeals rather to the Gay's men—taught their business in its medical school and intimately acquainted with the greab hospital's need. Lob them send Home a few fees, and if they know any generous colonists whose hearts mighb be touched by a recital of the patiently borne miseries of the London poor, let them relate some of their student. days' experiences of the seething circle around Guy's, and beg a superfluous coin or two.

BAKER SENTENCED,

The much-too-much-married Mr Baker, whose matrimonial escapades in England and Australia were recently investigated .it greab length ab Bow-street, came up for sentence on Wednesday at the Central Criminal Court. Ib was an unpleasant sorb of settling day, and one quite understood this -up-to-date Bluebeard looking uncomfortable and apprehensive. Three of his wives surveyed him grimly from the witnesses' seats, and there wera understood to be several more within the precincts of the Court. It was no use fighting. Fate had hemmed Mr Baker in; co he pleaded guilty. Then Mr Matthews arose and repeated the Btory (already known to you) of the eminent bigamist's career. In Australia, I gather, Baker was known as Farquarson, Gordon, and Cook. Lord Coleridge (son of the late Chief Justice) appeared for Baker, bub could urge iitble in extenuation. The Judge, too, was brief. The case, he said, was a thoroughly bad ono, and Baker must go to penal servitude for seven years.

OUR COLONIAL FOOD SUPPLIES

Mr Arthur Clayden, orefcwhilo of Nelson, New Zoaland, chose a particularly weliworn topic for his paper read before the Royal Colonial Institute on Tuesday afternoon last. ♦" Our Colonial Food Supplies " in a subjecb upon which wo have had on an average about) a dozen lectures per annum for several years past), and we are getting rather sick of it. We are fully aware that every year the Old Country becomes more and more dependent on over sea supplies, and we have had statistics flung at our heads in proof of this undeniable fact) until our aoula loath big figures. We have also been told tiaies without number of the vasb pastoral and agricultural possibilities of Canada, Australia and other parts of our glorious empire, and if we don't know all aboub the growth of the frozen meat trade ib is because in a multitude of papers on the subjecb we have found mental confusion. We are fully convinced that our colonies can supply our every want and make the Old Country independent of the foreigner and we are willing to bo made independent). All colonists have gob to do is to give us as good or better value for money than the alien and we will kick him oub without compunction. I shall only inflict one paragraph of Mr Clayden'a lengthy paper upon my readers. In concluding his discourse he availed himself of the opportunity of expressing hia pride in the Royal Colonial Institute. Ho had been a member more than half the period of its existence and " devoutly hoped that a progressive spirit would possess the executive so that the Institute might keep in touch with the go-a-head communities beyond the eeaa and keep pace with tha growing necessities of this stirring and perhaps ominous era."

PERSONAL NOTES.

Captain Fairchild and his daughters arrived per Rimutaka, and are staying at 13, Montague Palace, Ruseell Square. A fellow passenger tells me the old sailor expressed great admiration for the excellent job the two engineers made of repairing the engine of the steamer, and announced his intention of making strong representations on the subject to the New Zealand Shipping Company. The Hon. W. C. Smith, M.L.C., has? also arrived in town, and i 3 staying with relatives in North London. Captain Farquhar, of tbe Northern Steamship Company, arrived by the Ophir yesterday. He comes Home, I understand, to take out the new Bteamer builb for the Company at Port Glasgow. f The Agent-General has since Mrs Reeves arrival spent a large part of his time in that delightful pastime known as house-hunting and even now hasn'u fixed upon any particular habitation. He hao, however, fined the list of "possibles" down to a couple 5d the vicinity of Camden Hill and his trouble will be over before the week is out. Mrs lteovos and her children arrived Home in excellent health but somewhat Bick of the sea. Their experiences on the Rimutaka were the reverse of pleasant. The weather during tho early part of the voyage was particularly unpleasant), and then there was thes breakdown and the subsequent detention at Monte Video, and finally the death of Mr Young from phthisis in the Bay. Mr Keevea ia to be the guess of the Eighty Club on June 26th, and will be the first colonist entertained by this political body The Hon. Edward Blake (a Canadian) who recently made miserable » Mesßrs Salb and Co.", was dined by tho Club a few-yeara ago, but he was then a member of the Imperial Parliament. 1 have eeen the advanced proof of an article contributed by the Agent General to the " National Review " upon the social and legislative progress in New Zealand during She past five years. This essay was written prior to Mr Reeves' departure from the colony, but it is not a controversial article in any sense of the word. It deals only with accomplished facta and leaves the tuturo severely alone. With a view to continuing the pood work commenced by Sir Westby Percoval in connection with advertising the colony on an efficient scale, Mr Eeeves contemplates calling a meeting of AngloNew ZeaJanders at an early date with a view to learning the views of leading mercantile and mining men ab Home and getting suggestions from them as to the besb methods of procedure. The gentlemen already Bounded by tbe AgenfrGgneral

on the subject favour the idea of a meeting bo discuss ways and means. Archdeacon Cholmondeley, of Christchurch, h»8,1 hear, come over to the old country for a much needed period of reab and change, after uninterrupted work in the colony for 37 yearn. He in accompanied by his eldest daughter, and they hava been stopping with friends ab Gipsy Hill, but left for Somersetshire on Tuesday. Afterwards they go on visits to relatives in Cheshire and Shropshire. Archdeacon Cholmondeley arrived per Oruba, landing ab Naples six weeks ago. His intention was to show Miss Cholmondeley Italy, Switzerland, and France enroule to London, but on arrival ab Rome the reverend gentleman became so seriously ill that the scheme had to be abandoned, and instead they returned to Naples and picked up the Austral. Ten days ab sea fortunately pub him fairly righb again, and he arrived on May Bth.in good health. The Archdeacon and Miss Cholmondeley make bub a short stay amongst us, leaving for New Zealand again in September.

Mr Tyser, the well-known Australian and New Zealand shipowner, is the chief of an influential syndicate who are promoting a big finance and investment company in connection with the Hand and the New Zealand mines. They have engaged as mining engineer and consultant Mr ttdgar Rathbono, who has just returned home after seven years iv Johannesburg. Up to the recent disturbances Mr Rathbone was Inspector of Mines to the Transvaal Government, a well-paid and responsible office. When, however, the trouble began he found himself "between two stools," and only by considerable dexterity avoided falling to the ground. As it was, he had bo resign his post and return to London, where, however, there has been considerable competition for his services. .

Mr A. L, Edwards, " tha New Zealand tenor," looked in ab your London offices yesterday on bis way to the city. The Auckland vocalist seemed in robust health and spirits, and declared that the business which broughb him Home was sure to bo settled most satisfactorily. 1 understand mauy in the colony will rejoice exceedingly should this be so. Mr Edwards means to do a little singing, a little mining and a little financing whilst in England. At- the Empire the other evening ho said he hoped shortly to get a" turn " at the famous variety theatre. Wall there is no harm in hoping. Mr Edwards also means to see something of musical London, and enquired tenderly as to the whereabouts of Mr Gee and Mr Mandeno Jackson. I notice, by the way, all Aucklandtira persist iv dubbing the labfier •• Tommy " Jackson. Clearly, no man may be a Mandeno in bis own country.

Mr Harry Horton, of the " New Zealand Herald," was also discovered enjoying himself ab the Empire the other evening, and pleaded guilty to a really good timo during the la*fc two months. He Ims become quite the man about town, don'b you know, and the cub of his smarb frock coat and unexceptional trousers, and the glossiness of hia top hat excited the envy of the new comers from the colony.

Mr Harrison Davis is rumoured fco have had a hand in the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyro Company promotion, and to have done very well out of it.

Mr S. A. Afakinson is still staying ab Blackheath.

Canon Bates, of Auckland, arrived in London by the Valetta, on Tuesday morning, looking brown and well, but rather tbin. The voluminous correspondence which awaited him ab the New Zealand Pre?a Agency bore silent) testimony to the delight of many people ab the protipect of seeing the rev. gentleman again. I fancy that during his sbny in England—limited, apparently, to three months—he will nob trouble hotels much. "Pis certain, at any rate, he won't eatisfy his friends*' hospitalUy in that time. The Canon goes down into Shropshire almost ab onco.

On Tuesday next the crickeb teams composed of the staffs of the various AeentGerjerals' pffices meet in friendly rivalry at Ewell. On this occasion the New Zealand office joins with Canada and Tasmania to oppose the Australian offices strengthened by recruits from the Natal and Cape headquarters in London. For tho Islanders, as the New Zealand team is usually called, bohh Mr Keeves and his predecsssor in office, Sir Westby Perceval, have promised to play. The former joined bhe Wimbledon Cricket Club ?oon after hia arrival Home, and has become a bat°man of no mean order and Sir Westby always gets into double figures. Last year the ••Continentals" had a good deal the best of tho game, thanks in a great maeuro to t,he destructive bowling of Mr E. Burney Young, bhe South Australian produce commissioner in London, and tho batting of Messrs Hare and Berry, of the West Australian aud Victorian offices respectively.

Mr E. Metcalf Smith, M.H.R., believes thab he has accompliaed his mission to England, and before he leaves for the colony by tho Rimutaka nexb week, hopes to have all the necessary, legal documents signed and sealed. If hia hopes are realised, a company with a capital approaching halfa-million will shortly be placed before the public, the object of which will be to turn the farfamed ironeand of Taranaki into a source of supply for all iron and steel goods required in the colony, from tin tacks to locomotives, and a source of dividends for the shareholders. One can only hope thab Mr Smith's rosy anticipation will bo realised; Bub he is of a very sanguine temperamenb, and I fear much that he will leave London without having quite accomplished his desires. As mining men will tell you, it is tolerably easy to " string people alone" to the point Of signing contracts, but ib is usually a long job to get their signatures to any binding documents. I ran across Mr G. S. Brown, well known in social circleß in Auckland, in the city this morning. Like the majority of good New Zealanders, he appears to have caught the goldmining fever badly, and like all co attacked seems to think he is in a specially good position to floab any promieing New Zealand ventures. Mr and Mrß Woddell, of Oaroaru, who arrived in London recently, have gone to Airdrie, in Scotland, where, it is underacood, they will apend tbe monbh ensuing.