ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 138, 12 June 1911, Page 7

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(From Our Special Correspondent) - _ Sir - - '-.' -, LONDON, May 5. NEW ZEALAND AT ROUBAIX. The Roubaix Exhibition, at which New Zealand is displaying specimens of ■her products under the auspices of the High Commissioner's Department, opened its doors last Sunday. Roubaix is situated between LiUe, in the North of France, and Brussels. It is the metropolis of the textile industry, and is known as the French Bradford. The district of which it is the centre has a population of over a. million. The Exhibition is under the official patronage of the French Government, and covers an area of about 100 acres in one of the finest parks in the North of France. Among the nations and colonies represented there are Belgium, Argentina, Holland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Algeria, Tunis, Madagascar, West Africa, Central Africa, and Indo-China. New Zealand is the only country which has a frozen meat exhibit at Roubaix. This should be a fine advertisement for New Zealand meat, especially in view of the popular movement on the Continent s_j flavour of admitting frozen meat from overseas. The New Zealand building was ready for occupation only three days before the opening of the Exhibition, but it will soon be in order. As a matter of fact, the whole Exhibition ■was in a very backward state on the opening day, and it will be some time before it is complete. The official ceremony will not be held for some time, and Sir William Hall-Jones will probably visit Roubaix When that takes place. THE CORONATION EXHIBITION. Prince Arthur of Connaught will open the Coronation Exhibition at the White City, Shepherd's Bush, .on May 18. ! Each section of the Exhibition represent? a distinct part of the Empire, and jthe building devoted to India includes a I reproduction of the marble Taj-Mahal of Agra, with its minarets and mosque. The Taj-Mahal was erected as a mausoleum for the remains of the wife of the Emeror Shah Jahan, who died early in the 17th century. The Palace of Delhi, which was erected by Shah Jahan, and the fortress of Gwalior are also reproduced. Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand are illustrated, and there are four waterfalls, representing the Falls of Niagara, Wairoa, Victoria, and Zambesi. A large space has been devoted to exhibits representing journalism in Great Britain and the Dominions beyond the seas, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India, and Ceylon. The exhibits include machinery in motion, the famous "Punch" table, and a display of original cartoons and drawings. The exhibits in the science section will include a seismograph in operation, and an installation of Marconi's wireless telegraphy. In his historical loan section there will be a standard of the 9th Roman Legion, which was found at Colchester, and dates back to the time of the Emperor Nero. < •' _____ Jis»s " " EMPIRE BUILDING. Dr. Macnamara, M.P., and the High Commissioner for New Zealand (Sir William Hall-Jones) were the principal speakers at the annual dinner of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, held on Friday night (June 28) in the Hotel Cecil. In the chair was the president (Mr. EdwaTd B. Ellington), who announced that the King had decided, since his accession, to continue an honorary member of the association. Dr. Macnamara, responding to the toast of "The Empire,'' said that though in the building of the Empire many tough problems had been surmounted, they were face to face with new problems, such as would test their statesmanship as much as in the past. Their colonies were now no longer dependencies—they were nations; but as they grew in strength and authority and power, so grew and deepened their affection for the old land and old people. Their leaders were coming home again to-morrow—not as the children they once loved, but as statesmen reproducing the genius of the old stock. The Imperial Conference would beget co-opera-tion, and co-operation consolidation. And, as a consequence, his faith was strong that the problems before the Empire would be solved in a way that would more strongly link together the British 6 people. The High Commissioner for New Zealand, who also replied to the toast, made referenc to the New Zealand Dreadnought which would be placed at the disposal of the Government in June or July next, adding that if two were necessary New Zealand would have given them. It was his opinion that all was well with the Empire so long as they all pulled together. Loyalty to the Empire and the King prevailed throughout His Majesty's Dominions. GERMANS FOR ANTARCTIC. Lieutenant Filchner, leader of the German Antarctic Expedition, which left Hamburg on Wednesday for Bremen, and thence for Buenos Aires, has communicated the following details of his plans to Renter's Agency:— "As to the general objects of the expedition," says Lieut. Filchner, "these are to explore the innermost recesses of the Antarctic, and in particular to establish the relations of the masses of land lying west and east of the South Pole. Much work of a general scientific character will also be undertaken." Lieut. Filchner's plan i 3 generally to strike into the Weddel Sea, and attack the Antarctic from the side" opposite to that explored by Sir Ernest Shackleton. The expedition is timed to arrive, at the ice in November, so as to take advantage of the most favourable ice conditions for forcing a way into Weddel Sea. The ship will follow the outline of Coatsland, and establish as far south as possible the base of the expedition, where 11 men will be landed and a scientific station will be erected. From here four members of the party, with Nansen sledges, will make a dash for the south. The ship meantime will work ! its way along the coast, carrying on coastal exploration. The scientific work of the expedition is to be prosecuted with great vigour. Ice conditions and formations fill be studied in detail. Investigations of great advantage to the whaling industry will he carried out. Atmospheric conditions will be studied by means of kites, pilot and captive balloons, and the problems of atmospheric electricity will be closely examined. The expenses of the expedition are estimated at £70,000. The expedition is very completely equipped. Its ship, the Dentschland, is a converted whaler, with auxiliary steam of about 300-horse power. She is especially fitted with a view to the comfort of the explorers both in the tropical and polar regions, and carries a wireless telegraphy installation. Three motor vehicles and one motor-boat are being taken out. Dogs are also being carried, and the example of Sir Ernest Shackleton in the use of Manchurian ponies for sledge work is being followed, -i

CABLES FROM CRYSTAL PALACE. New Zeailanders visiting the New Zealand Court at the Crystal Palace this summer will be able to cable greetings from there to their friends in the Dominion at a reduced rate. The Pacific Cable Board will exhibit in the New Zealand building a new machine which will enable a great many more words to be sent along the cables than hitherto. Sir William Hall-Jones, New Zealand's High Commissioner, has arranged with the Board to dispatch and receive cables direct between .the Crystal Palace and New Zealand, and arrangements may be made whereby for a very small charge one word may be sent to friends in New; Zealand. £28,000 FRAUD CHARGE. The charge aginst Sidney and John Allan Bowron, leather merchants, of Bermondsey, and Thomas Loonaa Knight, wharf foreman, of conspiring to defraud Messrs. Booth Bros., of Railway approach, London Bridge, of £28,670, was resumed at Tower Bridge Police Court on Wednesday. The accused had been remanded on bail. Messrs. Booth advanced money to Messrs. Bowron on the security of wharf warrants on consignments of skins from New Zealand at Phoenix Wharf, Ratcliff. It is alleged that the accused removed from the wharf 799 casks of skins on which £28,670 had been advanced. Mr. Travers Humphreys, in his opening statement yesterday said that investigation of the books and other evidence disclosed a very elaborate and somewhat complicated system of fraud, as a result of which several firms had been defrauded of very large sums of money; £100,000 would by no means represent the total loss. Counsel said that one lot of skins did duty as security four times over to different firms who never got the goods on which they advanced the.money. It had been discovered that marks upon the casks were altered so as to make it ; appear 'that they arrived in a ship othet than that in which they actually arrived. j Mr. George Macaulay Booth, of Messrs Booth Bros., said that it was only at | the time of the Bowrons' bankruptcy, I that he learned that the Phoenix Wharves Company was their property. If he had known that he would not have advanced any money to Messrs. Bowron in respect of goods stored there. In cross-examination, he said that, personally, he never took steps to. ascertain who were the owners of the wharves. The accused were remanded on the same bail as before—£2,ooo for each ol the Bowrons, and £500 for Knjght»