TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7541, 3 May 1890, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

An energetic attempt is being made to open up a trade. Iα New Zealand frozen fish in Sydney. Wβ loam from the Daily TtUgraph that the first ehipmsat

amvod there recently '1 Mararoa, of the Union Steii! 1 pany'e line. It was eonaiKn,*! m, 1 Fresh Fi*n, Food and Ice <W **• \ Ford, the representative of th/r * I at Auckland, has arranged lor a 1 trade in New Zealand _ro_o a fi*h J* 8 * 18 * ' I Company and with this objectiaV **** 1 secured for a period the cool cU 'f* **•* 1 two of the Union Steamship c * I steamers—viz., the Mararo* 8 f rapa. The initial shipment o| β^w**" 1 ' 1 Mararoa amounted to about *^ c ' comprising aome 350 cases in ait of < over forty were from the Bivdj p 9 I Chalmers and tho South, ' ? from Napier and the bulk, 2CQ '' from Auckland. Bea.des the a***"* were also homo frozen oysters from ' Bluff. The fish comprised blue trumpeter, inokai, gurnet, batter S soles, iioundera, schnapper and sal trout (from Lake Wakatipu). Th».» prised samples or ISevv Zealand's eh fishes, and were all carefully selected prepared to presont an inviting ance when on sale in Syduey, The fit were all frozen iv the various local f iug factories before being stowed cool chambers ot the steamer, ia OK i, insure the better preservation andrltJ! / the llavor of the food. When UadedS " the lisbermen in the iirat plaeu the tiah »? thoioughly Kuttod, watfwd with fresh water, and then taken to t ue freeing worb and theueeto the steamer at tho wharf The Company have opened * shop b Sydney fur the retaUm s ot their New Zealand fish aud gauw, m d two ea deavored to give it « a tuorou«h New Zea. land appearance," wita x or ju aad 8 o forth The Company, wo learn, are also trying to obtain a bonus from tho Government Qt New Zealand on tho frozen iish ehippei out of the colony, aa ia doao in the case of .■ smoked and tinued lish exported. It i 8 t ft be hoped that the operations of the Company will be successful, not ooly i a ordet that our New South Wales coiwioa may assured of a constant supply o f wholesome, well-flavored fiah, but because their euoceea will mean ragnkp employment to a very deserving class of the community here. We wish also some means could be devised to m&kQ Hah a little cheaper to the inhabitants of New Zealand. At present it ia a liuurt confined to the comparatively whereas, considociug the abnadance o*S fish in our seas, it ought to be a article of food, aoeeaaible to the poorest.

A co«TBiBtJTOii to the ManclmterEzamb® writing from Wellington, haa been eejjdjsg that journal an aacount of the preaeat condition of Now Zealand, and especially, Wellington. There is not much aqs la what he has to say. Ghristohurch, he remarks, «• was founded by, 1 should thins, the highest class of colonists eiacc tb Pilgrim Fathers, and stands in tho miki of large and fertile plains." jfcja « yery severe on the Wellington architecture, gj witness the following extract:—

"The houses are mostly of wood <s corrugated iron, small, square, aad tyjly, but tneee are slowly giving place i» |he principal streets to larger end more creditable edifices of stone or brick, which present a moat incongruous appearance next door to their stunted neighbors. .There is not a building, public or private, sacred or eeomtuy that does not oflleud the eye. Tug pufeji*i supposed to be the largest woodeo building m the world, are square, com" mouplace and ugly; the Parliamentary Buildings are wooden, squat, pseqdo-golhiQ aad ugly j Government 'Monw is wooden, trivial and ugly j the Museum, the ono public is wooden, despicable, and ugly; the Eoman Oatiiolto Cathedral is wooden, vulgar, and ugly ; the English pro-cathedral is wooden, unpretentious, and ugly. In short the works at man contrast most painfully with the works oJ nature in Wellington. &H sense of beautj seems to be wanting and with it all idea of any but commercial enterprise/

The writer, of course, also has a good deal to say about the Wellington winds, but; he, finds some compensation foe all thm drawbacks. One fact, he .flaya* remains, i that whatever fts fttiiing*;'VVellingtioa ii-' rapidly establishing its position as the commercial centre of New Zealand. Hβ also declares that the people work b.%?dst there than they do in other towne.' The amount of holiday taken in places of bosK ness in New Zealand, he says, "would scan ,, dalise many an Englishman, bub Welling' ton in this respect stands honorably above the other towns." Howeverthie may be, the Wellington people, on the whole, will not fall foul of their critic. They will forgiye his reference to the winds for the sake ol ( the flattering allusion to the, "commercial. centre."

It appears that the consecration of BUJjcJ I Julius is actually the fifth episcopal wn* secration which has taken place in Zealand. In addition to the four «•, mentioned yeefcerday, there was tiW of Bishop Patteson, which. . took piss* at Sfc. ?aul's Church, Auckland, on tl* festival of St. Matthias, 1801, the thsa Primate (Bishop Selwyn) being awfotel by the Bishops of Wellington and Nelson This was interesting, not only on accouai of the saintly and heroio which now cling round the central figure, also because the point; had to b« **tf seriously considered whether the comeei* r tion could be performed by the New l» land Bishops without either letters pate** or a mandate from the Crown. The DaS»<» Newcastle, who was then Secretary &**&* Celonies, raised a doubt whether the cobsecration could take place within British territory. On this point Bishop Sel«je took the opinions of the past a»4 Chief Justice—Sir William Martin mi Sir George Arney—and the paat aad P* 8 ' sent Attorney-General of Neff Zealand— the Efoq. W. Swainson and tbp Hf B ; F, F.Whitaker—whoaU gave their opinwaa that they knew of no statute, BusUifc « colonial, which would make ifc iUegftl w bold the consecration in Ne*r Z<2ftlaa«< The Biahop further appealed t» m laity by a Bi guis pabliflheil ij* all the churches in and near AucKlaaa, • an 4 having obtained the consent of all tt» New Zealand suffragans he no longer ftl any scruple on the point. Dean Jacobs, i hie history of the New Zealand Churchcommenting on the affair, W 3 ~"Thw slowly, but at length completely, «»» obstioate traditions of the Colonial Office, the unreasonable obstacles they pot *».«" t way of Churchprogrees, and theinutfuwl, ' difßcultiea they wpre in the habit of rasi, ing, give way before common sense us* determination."