ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14308, 20 March 1912, Page 5

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

(kroxi our own correspondent). LONDON, February 9. It is gratifying to learn that New Zealand is to some extent exempted from tho serious complaints which are being made by the British Women*'* Emigration Society regarding immorality amongst female emigrants- Canada, it seems, has done a great deal to improve the conditions under which women aro taken out, and Canada, of course, has a much less serious problem to face, inasmuch as the voyage is so much shorter. Lady Knightley, of Fawsley, the president of the Society, says the arrangements made by tho New Zealand Government aro in all respects good, and it is possible in New Zealand ships, as in Canadian, to provido separate quarters for tho ( Rirl cmigrnnts- Tho principal difficulty is in Australian ships. Tho appointment ot matrons to look alter the girls lias had a good effect, and it is stated that much more would be done if the men's and women's quarters were properly divided by bulkheads. One correspondent remarks that he has often seen tho iron gates on emigrant ships, which are supposed to be closed at 8 p.m., left open till after midnight. When Mr Sidney Bowron, the brother who was acquitted of fraud in Bowrori Brothers' sensational leather failure last year, applied this week for his discharge from bankruptcy, the Official Receiver opposed, on tho ground that th© assets were not equal to 10s in tho pound on tho unsecured liabilities and that he had continued to trade after knowing himself to be insolvent. Mr Register Linklater said this was one of the worst cases he had ever known ot trading with knowledge of insolvency. The only thing to be taken into consideration was the fact that he'had stood his trial for fraud, which must have caused him much anxiety. The discharge was suspended for four years from the date of tho public examination, July last. The Birmingham City Council this week took a step which, though not unknown in Australasia, is practically nniquo here- Two tenders were received for the supply of about £12,000 worth of tramway rails and fishplates, that of a German firm being 35 per cent, lower than the only offer received from England. The Council was about, in tho ordinary course, to accept the lower, when a member asked if it was worth while going to Germany for a mere difference of 15 per cent. He said Birmingham ought to set an example to tho rest of the country, and moved as an amendment that the British offer bo accepted. The mover of the original motion said Birmingham's oxpenence was that th© German rails were the better, and tho German firm, which contracted for the German Government, had to observo a fair wages clause. By 43 voes to 29 the order was given to tho British tenderer. Mr F. J- 'Melville, the well-known philatelist, reports having received a stamp which purports to he a bona fide issue of tho German South Polar Expedition. It bears a vignette of the whaling ship Deutschland. and the superscription "Deutsche Sudpolar Expedition, and the only question is ] whether it is authorised by the German authorities. Mr Melville remarks that New Zealand set the example in this respect by supplying stamps to the Shackleton and the present Scott expedition, and constituting the leaders postmasters of the Dominion.