SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9199, 2 September 1895, Page 2

SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

POLITICAL AND GENERAL.

The Bank of New Zealand has been the object on which the attention of Parliament has been chiefly centred during the last few days. A paragraph in tbe Financial Statement hinted that the connection of the Estates Company with the Bank was proving unsatisfactory for the latter, and this was followed up by the appointment of a joint Parliamentary Committee to consider the question. The repoit of this Committee —one of the most important documents ever presented to the New Zealand Parliamentwill be found in another column. It indicated that if the Bank were to be saved from disaster an heroio effort would have to be made by the colony for its assistance—far beyond what was dreamed of lasb year •when the two million guarantee was agreed to. The Committee also came to the conclusion, in view of the widespread ramifications of the Bank, and the number of interests bound up in its welfare, that the effort ought; to be made. The Committee included not only Minister* and Ministerial supporters, but the leader of the Opposition (Captain Russia-), Sir Robert Stout, and independent financial authorities of experience and standing, like the Hods. E. C. J. Stevens aud C. C. Bowex, who would not J be likely to lightly lend their names to any scheme which they did not believe to be required in the true interests of the colony. The fact that the report of a Committee including these names was unanimous, carried great weight with the Hunse, and practically ensured its adoption. As a matter of fact the third reading of tho Bill embodying the recommendation! of the Committee has been carried by a large majority, and there ia no doubt that it will become law during the next twenty-four hours. The details will be found elsewhere. We need only state here that tbe Bank etartm on an entirely new basis with fresh capita), and completely freed of its old dead aaaaba, whioh are taken over by the colony. The latter becomes directly liable to the extent of no less than £5,234,000 on behalf of the Bank, including the £2,000,000 guarantee agreed to last year. An essential part of the eoheme is the purchase of the Colonial Bank by the Bank of New Zealand, and it is understood the necessary contract will be settled and submitted to Parliament before tho closo of the present session. The Directors estimate that under the new auspices the neb earning power ot the Bank of New Zealand will be so increased as to leave a profit of £135,000 per annum. Opinions difier as to how the colony will ultimately come out of the transaction. Ministers are sanguine enough to say that even now it will not lose anything by its guarantee, but this is generally regarded as, to say the least of it an optitimistio view of the situation. British depositors and debenture holders, secure in the knowledge that their interests have now been made perfeotly safe, will probably regard with equanimity the ultimate results to the colonial taxpayer.

A remarkable incident in the Budget debate was tbe exposure by Sir Robert Stout of an extraordinary oversight by Mr Ward, the Colonial Treasurer, in connection with the Canadian reciprocity treaty. Mr Ward in his speech had laid great stress upon the statement that if the treaty was ratified New Zealand wool, which at piesont was subject to a dnty on entering Canada, would be admitted free. Sir Robert Stout proved that the copy of the Canadian tariff which Mr Ward appended to bis Budget, and which bore out his statement, was that of 1890, and that under the new Canadian tariff of 1894 all wool, except cer* tain kinds produced in tbe Dominion, was admitted free. This exposure created an immense sensation. The Treasurer admitted that the wrong tariff had by a mistake been appended to the Budget, but said that the treaty bad been drawn up on the basis of the 1894 tariff, the right one. If, however, this was tbe case, Mr Ward was singularly unfortunate iv his remarks, and certainly laid himself open to the charge of nob having read tbe tariff before speaking about it.

A aeries of remarkably severe earthquakes took place at Taupo, in the Hot Lakes district, on Saturday and Sunday, August 17th and 18th, and less severe shocks were experienced for a number of days subsequently. Tbe inhabitants of tbe townships left their houses, of which th<» chimneys were ia nearly every case shaken down and which were damaged in other ways, and camped under the trees. Great landslips occurred in the gorges round about, but no one suffered personal injury. Wairakei and other spots in tbe thermal region escaped without the slightest damage, and at Rotorua the earthquakes were not felt at all, the disturbance being a purely local one. Tbe little township of Tokaanu, where tbe shocks were very strongly felt, has been deserted by all except the two storekeepers, and many of the Natives have left Taupo, but the Europeans were not so easily frightened. Neither Mounts Tongariro or Ruapehu were at all affected.

The new tariff embodied by the Govern* ment in the Budget was received with general dissatisfaction in all parts of the colony, especially as regarded the increased duties on flannelette and similar goods, wbiob, being largely used by the working

class, were thought to be unlit subjects for further taxation. Tho leader of the Oppoi sition gave notice that when the Tariff Bill came down he should move that the resolution altering the Customs duties should be rescinded, bat tbe Government, whose hand was thus forced, brought in a resolution the i same day lowering some of the obnoxious duties and repealing that impo_ed on flannelette altogether. Mrs Dean, who had been convicted of the murder o; a child who had been committed to her caro, was executed ab lnvercargill ou August 12th, meeting ber death with composure. She declared her innocence on the saaffbld and left a long written statement, which was forwarded to the Government afterwards, in which she maintained that . the children whose skeletons were found in her garden had died from accident or misadventure, in one case of an overdose of laudanum. A noteworthy circumstance connected with this case was that no attempt was made to obtain a reprieve, public opinion being unanimously in favour of the justice of the sentence. The mining boom in Auckland continues with unabated vigour. A large amount of money is being received for investment from j other parts of the colony, and the mineral resonroes of the various auriferous districts are being thoroughly prospected and developed. The Thames shares ia the general activity, and a return to the old busy and prosperous days has apparently set in.

The annual return of the sheep in the colony shows the number on April 30th last to have been 19,767,303, as against 20.230,829 on April 30th, 1394, a decrease of nearly half a million. The decrease in Canterbury and Kaikoura amounts to nearly 200,000, and iv Otago to over 100,000. As showing tbe expense incurred by station holders in their endeavours to suppress the rabbit pest, it is stated that on one run in Otago the average number of rabbiters employed for the last fire years has been fifty-nine, who have been in paid in wigos £17,345 for the skins of over two and a quarter million rabbits. Some return was of course obtained by the sale of these skius, but the total loss to the owners during the period mentioned is put down at nearly £7000. And the rabbits still swarm. The Westport Coal Company has declared an interim dividend at the rate of 5 per cent, for the half year. The vital statistics for July show the death rate in each of the four principal cities (including their suburbs) to have been as follows:—Auckland o'9B per 1000 of population, Wellington 075, Christchurch 092, Dunedin, 076. It is probable that the Attorney-General, Sir P. A. Br/CKXET, will be appointed to the judgeship rendered vacant by the death of Mr Justice Richmond, but it is unlikely that the Government will take any action till after the session. The subscribers to tbe memorial to the late Bishop Harper have decided that it shall take the form of a cenotaph, bearing a recumbent figure in alabaster or marble, and that it be placed in a bay off the nave of the Cathedral, at present occupied by vestries, which would then be used as a morning chapel. By the Tainui, which left Lyttelton for for London on August 22nd, Mr S. H. Go__a_-j, of Hawke's Bay, shipped the wellknown steeplechaser Norton, two other well-performed jumpers, and a hunter to the Old Country. The annual report of the Education Department showed that last year over 104,000 children attended the 1410 State schools of the colony, and were taught by 3300 teachers, exclusive of sewing mistresses. The percentage of passes among those who

attended the yearly examinations was 83.2. All these figures show an increase ou those of the previous year. The Auckland people have decided to erect a statue to Sir George Ore? in recognition of his great liberality and many services to the city. At the meeting held to consider the question it was stated that the Grey collection of literary and art treasures in the Public Library and Art Gallery was valued at £35 000, and that the capitalised value of the various endowments ha bad asoured at different times for the city and local institutions was £300,000. Tbe Industrial Exhibition promoted by the Christchureh Industrial Association was opened by the Mayor on August 29th, in the presence of several thousand people. The Exhibition, which promises to be a great success, is the largest yet held in Christchureh and includes a wonderful variety cf articles of colonial manufacture. Among the deaths which we have to record this month are those of Mrs A. Carrick, Mrs Strcthers, Mr Geo. Hart, Mr Thos. Stapixtox, all of Chriatchuroh ; the Hon. Reader Wood, of Auckland, and Mr H. C. Hobsox, a very old resident of Napier.

Spring has come to Christchureh in a | rush and is very welcome after the unusually severe winter. The melting of the snow on the ranges has not been attended, ps was expected, with disastrous floods. The back country in South Canterbury and Otago is still to a great extent under snow, and it will be some time yet before the squatters learn bow many sheep they have lost. The number must, under the moit favourable dwu-futftnoee, be very great.