LONDON.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1843, 19 November 1897, Page 6

LONDON.

[From the Evening Star's Correspondent.] London, October 2. The Agent-General forwards his report on the development of the baths at Rotorua to Mr Seddon by the outgoing mail. It will be found a comprehensive document, embracing the opinions of numerous experts. tylr Reeves has already received several applications for the post of Government medical superintendent of the thermal springs in New Zealand. The success of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act in New Zealand continues to excite the keenest interest amongst practical politicians here, and Mr Reeves is constantly satisfying someone’s curiosity on the subject. I told you before that Mr Chamberlain exhibits the liveliest interest in the matter, and has got Mr Reeves to supply him with full reports of the New Zealand debates antecedent to the passing of the Act, and also particulars of every instance in which it has been utilised. The money at the disposal of the Auckland Jubilee fund will not, Mr Reeves finds on inquiry, run to a specially executed statue of Her Majesty by any well-known man. The Committee can, however, rely on a first-class replica of some existing statue for about £I,OOO. Mr Reeves is now looking around for a suitable one to recommend for this purpose. He has two down for inspection. One is by Marochetti, and belongs to Glasgow, and the other is F. J. Williamson’s marble presentment of the Queen in her royal robes, etc., which stands in the hall of the Royal College of Phyaicans on the Embankment, Williamson is the sculptor who did the Bishop Harper memorial. PERSONAL AND GENERAL. Whilst in Manchester last week inspecting the ship canal Sir John Hall had a look at the arrangements now being made by the Colonial Consignment and Distribution Company for dealing with the frozen meat traffic by the erection of large cold air stores, and he expressed the opinion that it would be a good thing for Australia and New Zealand if the frozen meat trade from those colonies could be diverted to Manchester instead of as at present being almost entirely confined to London. The erection of these stores was, he considered, a hopeful indication with regard to the future iof this particular trade, as the people on whose behalf they were being put up had a wide experience of the business, and would not have incurred so much expense if there had not been a probability that the traffic in frozen meat was likely to come to Manchester to a large extent. Mr James Chapman, chief steward of tho s.s. Delphic, has in charge for Mr S. Saunders, of the ‘ Lyttelton Times,’ a consignment of twelve homing pigeons bred by the famous fancier and flyer Osman, and blessed with pedigrees yards long. On Tuesday, September 21, at the Servile Priory, South Kensington, Mias Norah Baldwin, daughter of Captain Baldwin, some time proprietor of the * New Zealand Times,’ but now a resident in Perth, West Australia, was married to Mr Charles Robertson, of 108 Gloucester place, Portrnan square. The church was beautifully decorated for the occasion by the lay brethren of the Servite Order, with whom Mr Robertson is persona grata owing to his efforts on behalf of the Guild of Corpus Christi and his general readiness to assist in all good works. The wedding took place at eleven o’clock in the morning, the officiating clergyman, the Very Rev. Provincial (Father Appoloni), being assisted in his labors by the Rev. Wm. Eyre, S.J,, the Rev. Michael Gouin, the Rev. Prior Mullarkey, and two others. The bride, who was given away by her brother, Dr Gerald Baldwin, was attired in an ivory satin dress trimmed with duchesse point lace and pearl passementerie. Her ornaments were exquisite, consisting chiefly of pearls and diamonds, the gift of the bridegroom. Accompanying the bride were her three maids: Miss Parker, Miss J. IStocy (niece), and Miss Scott (niece of the bridegroom). The service was fully choral, and the rev. provincial inflicted on the happy pair the usual sermon on the duties of thaif new state. Nuptial mass having been celebrated, the bridal party were played out of church. The reception was held at Bailey’s Hotel, South Kensington, where large numbers of the friends of the family met prior to the departure of Mr and Mrs Robertson on their honeymoon. Later in the day they left for Dover, en route for Lucerne and Florence. Mr H. H. Clarke, of Auckland, looked in at theN.Z.P.A. this week. He informs me that he left Auckland for San Francisco about the middle of last year, and after staying there a little while went on to New York, where he did very well, and incidentally found out a little about the kauri gum trade. During the three months that he has spent in England he has been looking up the claim of his family to some land at Knightbridge and elsewhere. This estate has been without lawful owner, it appears, since 1750 or 1760—1 forget which—and two firms of soli citors have thought the claim of the Clarke family good enough to take the matter up, and seem likely to carry the case to a successful issue. Many in Auckland will no doubt be glad to hear that Mr Clarke intends returning to the colony via the United States shortly. In fact, he expects to arrive in New Zealand early in December. He purfosek going into the gum trade, with which, understand, he was previously connected. Mr H. Waymouth, of Auckland, who has been in England for about eighteen months, returns to New Zealand via Australia in a few weeks. Miss M. Morton is at present taking a short holiday at Plymouth. Since arriving in England two months back she has been studying under Mr Calderon, the wellknown painter. Advantage has been taken of the summer weather to do outdoor sketching from life, and Miss Morton has been one of a very pleasant party under Mr Calderon’s charge who have been working at Midhurst. The technique of the rough sketches done in the open is studied in the artist’s London studio, Miss Morton returns to town in a week’s time to take up this work. I don’t think that it has been mentioned that Miss Morton sketched the Australian horse Newhaven, which was an honored passenger by the steamer Oroya, by which she was also a passenger. The sketch was recently published as a special supplement to ‘ Land and Water.’ The thirty Romney rams shipped by Messrs Abraham and Williams from Wellington on the Kaikoura for Monte Video were .delivered in excellent condition. Mr Sidney Jenkins, who had charge of the sheep, arrived by the Kaikoura about the middle of the month, having come on to England for a three-months’ holiday after safely seeing the sheep to their destination. The remarkably good condition in which the sheep arrived was due to the voyage being a fine one up to Monte Video. After leaving that port, however, the Kaikoura broke her shaft near the engine room, and, as you know, had to be towed into Rio, where a rather clever piece of engineering work was done in reversing the broken part. So complete a job was made that the steamer was able to come on to England via Teneriffe at full speed. Mr Eugene O’Conor (the Buller Lion), who left New Zealand in June last, arrived in London a few days ago from America, where for the past three months he has beer touring and studying the social and political life of the people. Mr O’Conor was not impressed by the conditions of life obtaining

among the citizens of the great Republic. America is, in his opinion, a magnificent country grievously mismanaged. There are still vast tracks of country absolutely lying waste. The position of the working man in the land is, in his opinion, shocking; the political life of the country rotten to its core; and the boasted Constitution a mere Frankenstein which prevents much-needed reforms. The one admirable thing in America, according to the New Zealander, indeed, appears to be the tramway system of its principal cities. Outside of these local means of locomotion Mr O’Conor found travelling in the States very expensive and often most uncomfortable. He also discovered that the beef and mutton (especially the mutton) ordinarily consumed in America was very far inferior to the meat into which the New Zealander usually sets his teeth at home. Briefly speaking, the States is in a bad way, according to Mr O’Conor, and I’m not sure but what he is looking forward with a certain amount of pleasure to an “ almighty bust up ” in Uncle Jonathan’s household. From Now York Mr O’Conor took steamer to Queenstown, and after a brief tour in Ireland crossed to Wales, and thence proceeded on a visit to relatives in Staffordshire. He docs not intend to make a long stay in England, but will start shortly for the Continent with the intention of wintering at Monte Carlo or Nice. On his way home to New Zealand he will Egypt, and may spend a month or so in India. Mr O’Conor, by the way, seems to have a poor opinion of the future of Old' England, unless wo take immediate steps to protect our home industries by imposing duties on the surplus products of America and German manufacturers with which our markets are now being flooded. If in Protection lies England’s one hope of commercial salvation, I’m much afraid we are doomed, for, alas ! the Freetraders are as strong in the land as monometallists. Mr Ben Fuller, of the “John Fuller Myriorama Company,” arrived _ in London by the Gothic on Tuesday last in search of novelties for the edification and amusement of the New Zealand public and expert advice for his overstrained vocal chords. Before settling down to business he intends taking a few days’ holiday, and left London yesterday on a brief visit to relatives in the country. , On Wednesday week last (September 15) Miss Laura Augusta Treadwell, of Wellington, was taken to wife by Mr William Walter Harverson, a well-known resident of Upper Clapton, London. The happy pair were united at the fashionable church of St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington, but the nuptial knot was not tied in the presence of the usual muster of friends and relations. Both principals being by nature endowed with strong Bohemian proclivities, they avoided all the orthodox fuss and publicity usually attendant on marriage. They maintained the strictest secrecy concerning their plans, and their matrimonial project was unknown to all friends and relations excepting one old lady—a Miss Moysey, who gave the bride away—and Miss Treadwell’s cousin, Mr A. D. Hardy. The contracting parties on their wedding morn left Kensington on their bicycles en route for Hastings, and, calling at St. Mary Abbot’s, were duly married. The bride’s dress consisted of a bright blue sailor gown—loose blouse and skirt—white pith Colombo hat, ordinary white net veil, and white kid gloves. The bridegroom was attired in a light grey cycling suit, with white tie and gloves. After the ceremony the happy pair calmly continued on their journey to Hastings. Their honeymoon is being spent upon a tour a-wheel of the southern coast, and when that is done they propose to transfer themselves to the Continent for the winter. Few colonials on a visit to England this year have, as iftr as I have heard, made as good use of their time as Dr and Mrs Knight, of Auckland. After the Jubilee events were numbered among the things of the past they cycled from Reading through Winchester and the New Forest, and after doing everything of interest in the Isle of Wight returned a wheel to Berkshire. The trip to Norway which the Auckland medico was thinking about when I last saw him crystallised into form, and on July 6 he started with Mrs Knight and a friend for Bergen via Hull. They visited several fjords and places of interest in Norway; went up the coast and then drove across country to Molde, where they picked up the train for Christiania. The party then went on to Stockholm, where an exhibition was in progress. They found while in Scandinavia that people were industrious and hard - working, and that living was cheap. In Germany Ur and Mrs Knight visited the quaint old German town of Lubeck, and then went on to Hamburg, and afterwards to Cologne, where they fell under the spell of the magnificent cathedral of that town. They were very pleased with Brussels and the really representative exhibition open there, and they, of course, drove to the field of Waterloo. During the whole of their Continental tour Dr and Mrs Knight experienced the best of weather, but their trip to North Wales, on their return, was not graced by the same propitious state of the elements, for the uncertainty as to whether it was not going to rain marred their explorations in the slate mines and the other similar and prosaic amusements to which tourists in Wales are treated. A trip to that favorite summer resort the Isle of Man was made under more favorable atmospheric conditions, and the places of interest were visited by bicycle. Since the Isle of Man expedition the doctor and his wife have been literally cycling over the whole of England. With Reading as head-quarters, they have toured Suffolk, visiting Bury St. Edmunds and Colchester, and, later, London, Windsor, Hampton Court, Stratford-on-Avon, and Oxford. Dr and Mrs Knight are at present looking up old friends and favorite spots. The doctor comes to London next month, when he will settle down to hospital work. About cycling both he and his wife are enthusiastic, and the former remarked to me the other day that they had covered 1,000 miles on their machines, and could imagine no better way of seeing a country where there are such fine roads and where the scenery, to their minds, is unsurpassed. There was a smart Anglo-colonial wedding at Christchurch, Lancaster Gate, on Saturday last, when Mr D. G. Thornton, of Auckland, took to wife Miss Florence Enid Hunt, eldest daughter of Mr W. Leigh Hunt, of 25 Queensborough terrace, W. Mr H. D. Levinsohn, of Wellington, for many years connected with the Dunedin house of Mendelsohn, Levinsohn, and Co., called in at the N.Z P.A. the other day and gave me an account of his wanderings since he left the colony—a matter of five months ago. He has done a main of travelling since then not in pursuit of pleasure, though pleasure he has undoubtedly found by the way, but to get materials for his business. His first place of call was Sydney ; and, having fixed up matters to his satisfaction in that city, Mr Levinsohn sailed thence for the Philippine Islands. Whilst in Manila he secured the Australasian agency of the well-known La Issular Cigar Factory Company, with whose goods he hopes to be able to do great things in the colonies. From the Philippines he made for Japan, and whilst there had a good look into the manufacturing industries. Mr Levinsohn smiles at the idea of the Japs becoming serious rivals of the Western or Southern World in tobacco or any of the more important branches of manufacture. “ Cheap and nasty ” is his characterisation of the products of the Land of the Rising Sun, En

parenthese, I may mention that Mr Levinaohn spent Jubilee Day in Hongkong, and seems to have had a really good time. From Japan to America was Mr Levinsohn a next step, and in the States he mpde what he regards as important connections with Southern plug houses. Besides tobacco and cigars, his commission business will include other commodities, and among the Australasian agencies given him was that of the Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee. Mr Levinsohn arrived in London from New York a month ago, and since then has been fully occupied in visiting friends and relatives in Scotland and the provinces and fixing up further agencies. Ho hopes to leave the Old Country towards the end of October, and will probably go out by the way of Havana and the States. Whether it is that the New Zealand climate under ordinary conditions builds up a constitution guaranteed to wear well or whether it is due to simply individual vitality I cannot say, but certainly there are in England at present a number of very old yet hearty persons whose youth was spent in the Britain of the South. Captain Ashby, who called in at the Press Agency the other day, reminded me of two cases. The first Is that of Captain David Rough, a retired naval officer, eighty-five years old. It will be remembered that when Governor Hobson in 1840 took over New Zealand under the Treaty of Waitangi Captain Rough hoisted the first authorised Union Jack. He in Her Majesty’s Customs at Nelson, and although he has been a resident in England for fifteen years has made no less than four trips to the colony during that time. Captain Rough, who has been in London during the last few days, called on Sir George Drey a week ago. The other is that of Mr David Metford, who is resident at Earl’s Court. This gentleman was also in the Customs, both at Auckland and Wellington, and he now enjoys a pension for long service. His eighty-two years apparently sit very lightly upon him, and life is still a pleasure. Mr E. E. Hardcastle, who is studying for his final examination for the Fellowship of the Institute of Actuaries, has just returned to London after an interesting visit to New York, where he met most of the leading actuaries of that city, including Mr F. W. Frankland, whose name will be remembered in New Zealand, and who is now associate actuary of the New York Life Insurance Company. Mr Robert Comer, of the Thames, who is at Home on a holiday, ought to be in great request among the directors of mines running on low grade stuff. According to the ‘British Australasian,’ Mr Comer was the owner of a claim on the old Thames field from which he made a good thing by crushing a hill which gave from Idwt to 2dwt of gold per ton. This is said to be the lowest profitable return ever worked for gold.: Yes, I guess this is a record which will want a good deal of cutting.