ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8780, 28 April 1894, Page 8

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL COIiRISPOXDEST.) LONDON, Jklarch 9. The recent telegram from New Zealand stating the satisfactory condition of the colonial finances and the certainty of another large Burplu9 has created a very favourable impression Iα London. As an illustration I ma.y qtxoteT;lie£oXlowixs£j fr*o=Ek CZ2O WcJftaiitsScr gyT.-.gCfg - "Tile JTn restore* XZerri&zir, m a. recent attack upon ine liuancea 01 JVfilll Zealand, fctigraatiseil the colony as * heavy kden , with debt; but whilst the editor laid great stress upou the evils of excessive borrowing in toe past, uot nearly caoogn iw said in regard, io t2ie excellent results that have been obtained iv reeeot years from the carrying out of a thorough policy of seouonjy. 2vor is the colony disposed to a'o43--doaits patient continuance iv well-doing, lor whilst therevenueis exceeding the estimates, the expenditure is, according to the Premier, being kept within the allotted bounds. Fresh borrowing is unnecessary, and taxation is beincj reduced. Without going so far as the Premier, who ventures upon the assertion that the colon3 ,; s iioancial position is ' impregnable,' there can be no doubt that it. is i/mauy respects very satisfactory."

Mr A. J. Wilson, however, is not easily quenched. He returns agai:i and again to the attack. His Jast article in the Investor/ liei-icic is one 01 his hottest. He "slates ' the New Zeaiaud Loau ami Mercantile Company very vigorously. He refers to the bittfti- complaints made by uebentureholdeis against Mr Mundella. Mr Wilson evidently has a friendly feeling toward Mr Mundella, from whom he has experienced kindness, but he says that if the facts advanced by the debenture-holders are correct then Mr Mundella is morally responsible, however personally innocent he may be, ami that till he has cleared himself of the alleged stain he has no bu3inese ia Parliament, still les3 to be at the head of that department of the State which has to do with the trade of the country. But Mr \Vilson has more to say. He comments very unpleasantly upon the New Zeaiaud Midland Railway and on the late3t conversion scheme of the New Zealand Government. He wants to know how the people of New Zeaiaud enjoy being thus jobbed away. Referring to the conversion scheme, Mr Wilson says : —•' Uufortunately the people of New Zealand get, no benefit from these conversions. Their money rehased is spent on ' public works ' or otherwise wasted and thus these debt conversions are full of sinister omen for the future. Perpetual debt ia taking the place of terminable bonds and perpetual debt is a perpetual curse." lam afraid nothing New Zealand could possibly do would please or satisfy thi3 exceedingly jaundiced critic. It is at least a comfort that nobody seems to lay his words much to heart.

Sir Westby Perceval is much surprised and, I fancy, far from pleased, at the colonial comments upon his supposed intentiou of resigning. Ha asserts in the lnosc positive manner that he has no such intention and never haa had. The statement or rumour is a pure fiction of the imagination, or more probably a deliberate invention for a purpose. The annual banquet of the Royal Colonial Institute was held on Wednesday evening, at the Hotel Metropole, in celebration of the Institute's 26th anniversary. That the banquet, given in the splendid Whitehall Room, was in all respects perfectly carried out goes without sayiug. T!ie presence of Priuoe Christian—who Lept us waiting, more than a quarter of an hour—was one special feature of the occasion. Ib was hoped that the Prince would speak, but he didn't. He sat on the Chairman's right hand and beamed benignantly on everybody, chatting freely with his neighbours. His hair ia very white now and his aspect venerable. Of course he still is, as he always was, a very (iue-looking man. He was attended constantly by two moat terrifically gorgeous " fiuukeys " in thunder and lightning *' uniforms"—to quote Mr Sam Weller's Bath friend — liveries, to speak by the card. To Lord Dunraven, the Chairman, fell the toast of the evening, '' Prosperity to the Royal Colonial Institute." His delivery is distinctly tame, but when you get used to that you cannot help admiring the sterling good sense of what he cays, and the occasional flashes of dry humour that peep out as if accidentally. He is a pleasant-looking man, " youngish " in appearance, but bald and spectacled. He remarked in his languid way that war was " a horrible tiling—a beastly thing"—the latter adjective exciting some merriment —but he admitted it was sometimes necessary, as be deemed the recent war in Africa. He derided the Labouchereian *' Little England " idea, and declared that " yon cannot prevent the white race spreading over the world by squirtiug a little false sentiment upon them." He remarked on the progress of the " Australasian " colonies, and said it had been "a steady advance which was infinitely better than great leaps followed by rebounds. ,. Lord Dunraven went on to express his opinion that the general tendency was towards a closer union between the different parts of the Empire, brought about not by the efforts of statesmen or by any artificial arrangements, but simply because the forco of circumstances was naturally drawiug them together. The fact was that, what with the cable and modern steamships, the .world has become exceedingly small, and places formerly at immense distances were now brought comparatively close together. The sea was no longer an obstacle to union, but it was the best friend we had. It now united us more closely than ever ; Lut if the sea granted us innumerable advantages it entailed upon as at the same time grave responsibilities. Commerce was the lifeblood of the Empire, and the pathways of the ocean were the arteries and veins through which that commerce ran, and unless those ocean highroads were safo and open for na as an Empire we should perish. He looked upon British supremacy of the sea as to us the first essential of Empire.

This was tremendously cheered, as indeed was every reference during the evening to the need of naval supremacy and to the bonds which bound the Great Empire* together. Another shrewd remark which Lord Dunraveu made was that he did not think it was within the power of statesmen to do very much towards furthering closer union between the different parts or our Empire. They could remove impedimenta and watch for opportunities of encoaraging that closer uniou, but they could not Snake the opportunities. He did not believe in constructing Constitutions and trying to force people into them; but he had the most profound conviction cf the power of the great constructive agency of the English race and of the value oi fostering and encouraging all those sentiments which went to bind the Empire together. He also warmly praised the valued work done by the Institute in promoting the unity and solidarity of the Colonial Empire of Great Britain.

Perhaps the speech of the evening was that of Mr Bryce, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the only member of the British Ministry "present. Iα proposing " The United Empire," he raised the question whit the nineteenth century wonid be specially remembered for—as w-'-s the sixteenth for poetic literature, the seventeenth for the establishment of a system of free government, which had become a model ior the world, and the eighteenth for England's conquest of the Empire of the East and the dominion of the sea. Iv his opinion, the feature of the nineteenth century had been England's conquest of the command of the world's commerce and by the develop - ment of the British race in the colonies of the temperate climates. There were those (said Mr Bryce) who thought fifty years ago that this growth and development of the British race carried with it the seeds of its own dissolution, and that, as the British colonies waxed strong, they would wish to stand by themselves and assert their own independence. That, however, was not what Bad happened. On the contrary, every decade since the middle of the century had seen, especially in the self governing colonies, increased devotion t* the Crown and attachment to the connection with the Mother Couutry, at the same time it had seen for Britain an increased development of our interests in those self-governing colonies. This had been due, he thought, not only to improved means of inter-communication and not only to the influence of literature, which had done ita part; but also, and perhaps most

of all, to the priceless gift of self-govern-ment we had bestowed upon our colonies, which made the relations between them ami the Mother Country more natural and simple than they would otherwise have been, while at the same time ie had taught them responsibility, and prevented the dissatisfaction and discontent that might have arisen if we had attempted to govern them at home, and might have led to efforts at> separation. Commenting on JJr A. J. Wilson's latest titter attack oa s!evv Ze&liUli'a finallCeS, tllO ilfVijtcJicsCci- tia.>-i» = " Wehave all along ta.!ceo a. fa-voiaraialcT -«-:ow of Zealiti in, is liiii pit ikmij ii agreeing; -with Mr Wilson's sombre view of it 3 po-iilion a::d prospects; but »he Government could not do more tkau &l« nOU? if they wrere <Seli<jerate!y bout, on that

objcci. " Tiii3 refers to tlta project for " lemling iiioiiey ami loitns on ZLvriti lands." The u,cnr<\intr "tlunks it is not surprisins that tlio Victorian Civetnatou!, should have embarked n- this businesv' ii view of the reckless and wrong-headed manner in which it. deals with iinanoial atfairs generally. "But," says the Examiner, "a surprising and regrettable spectacle is beiog presented by the New Zealand authorities, who are embarking in the same insane business. The latter colony has done wonderfully well during the last few years, and its uieriit has revived in a surprising way owing to the wisdom shown in breaking loose from old mischievous traditions/ Mr Hu!,'h William b'egar, 8.A., who has been iinally selected foe tiio v-a-.-uut Professorship of Mathematics at the Auckland University College, was Second Wrangler at Cambridge in 1890 and Smith's Prizeman iv 1832. He Avon diauuctious iv mathematics and philosophy ia 1835 and 1887, and waa first, in England in Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Science in senior Cambridge local examinations. Mr Segar is twenty-five years of age and unmarried, fie has been lately employed aa assistant lecturer at University College, Aberystwith, also at Liverpool College, &c. Professor Forayth, Cambridge University lecturer in mathematics, says :—" I can recommend Mr Segar as a man who, in my opinion, is fully qualified in every way for the successful discharge of the duties of the Professorship in Mathematics." Ivlr Roberts, Principal of Aberystwith College, describes Mr Segar as " a highly competent lecturer and teacher/ . His courae at Cambridge is described as a" brilliant" one. Ut his Smith Prize Essay Professor Cayley writes: —"I was a good deal struck with the essay which gaiued you a Smith's Prize. It seemed to mc to show great fertility of invention and power of making the mosc of a mathematical question." A number of valuable mathematical papers have been written by Mr Segar, and have fouud publication. Professors Segar and Egerton sail for Auckland by the s.s. Aorangi tomorrow.