PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON

Dunstan Times, Issue 2096, 24 September 1901, Page 3

PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON

[From the Dtjxedin Evening Stab.]

August 2.

"My general impression of American manufactures is that they are deteriorating in quality, owing tc the manufacturers giving so much attention to the output of quantity and to cheapness." In view of the continual comparison between English and American workmanship, especially in engineering matters, this opinion of Mr J. L. Scott, of Christchurch. an expert, after a month sojourn in the United States, deserves earef ll consideration in the colony. In chaiting over bis American experiences and impressions Mr Scott was careful to explain that there were notable exceptions, but that the above statement, summarised the general impression that had been left en his mind. For instance, he said "the steel frame work that they are putting into thtir build.ngs is as cheap as can be. They are not building for centuries, as in England." Elecine traction and electric power specially occupied Mr Scott's attention. He came to the- conclusion that the overhead trolley system was the almost universal form of electric traction in America, and that that was the system for Christchurch to adopt. At tli3 same time, he said he saw nothing in America to compare in completuKss and firish with the cars on the Shepperd'o Bush to Kew lines. One of the chief features of the Buffalo Exposition was the s.mulianeous switching on of all the electric lights all over the buildings and grounds. Mr Scott had pra.se for the buildings, but thought it a -poor collection of exhibits. He will shortly have a chance of comparing it with the- Glasgow Exhibition, to which he goes in a fewdays. At Niagara he inspected several of the power houses, and found that the conversion of water power there into electricity was jus: on the lines that would" have to be adopted in the harnessing of the Waimaktriii. Al hough the Niagara Falls are 167 ft in height, he found the fall actually utilised was a good deal less, and that the proposed fall of 90ft. for the Christchurch fcheme would be ample. At Detroit Mr Scott made a study of stoves, but in this branch of manufacture, at all events, came to the conclusion that in the colony you are as far advanced as the Yanktes*. His experience of America was completed by a heat wave in New York, which abundantly satisfied him that in this respect yellow journalism had a Washing-ton-l.ko veracity. One hot day a row of thermometers in an optician's shop registered 114deg in the shade, and Mr Scott saw dozens of dead horses. At night, he was reduced to sleeping in puris naturalibus, or "even less than that." The trusts and the strike against the steel combination formed a general topic of conversation among those of all classes with whom Mr Scott came into contact. The conditions of labor he considered very different from those prevailing in England, as neither employers nor men appea'red to be afraid of one* another, but either side was quite prepared to fight if it thought there was a possible advantage to be gained. He predicted a great industrial upheaval before very long. Both the working and middle classes are strongly opposed to the wealthy trusts and their policy of keeping up the price in America while sacrificing the goods in Europe. The papers and the people seemed rather to sympathise with the strikers, and to maintain that some part of the tremendous profits should be distributed among the men. Mr Scott found considerable knowledge displayed of ><ew Zealand and her labor laws, and great interest in their working. Mr Carpenter's series of articles in the Buffalo papers had been widely read. Mr Scott's headquarters are in Derby, where he has friends. The end of September is the date fixed for his departure. Mr R. Tristram Harper (oi Canterbury) was on-j of the Imperial Yeomen presented with medals bv the King last week. In honor of Sir George Grey's exceptional services to the Empire, the rule that a decade shall elapse after a celebrity's death before his portrait is hung in the National Portrait Gallery has been relaxed. Professor HtrkomeVs sympathetic portrait of the Old Man eloquent is now on view at the Gallery.

I wrote you some months ago of the experiments which Sir Tollemache Sinclair, of Thurso Castle, Caithness, was making himself, and encouraging his tenants to make, with seed oats. He distributed New Zealand and Ross-shire seeds among his tenants, and samples of the oats grown from them and also from Caithness seeds hove been on exhibition. The Caithness 'Courier,' after an inspection, observes that the New Zealand and Ross-shire (especially .he former) oats arc much superior to the Ca thnLSs. Sii Tollemache himself tells the Caithness people that "a quarter of New Zealand oats has been made into meal at Halk.rk, and some of those who have tasted it consider that it is as superior in flavor to Caithness meal as barley meal is iO bere meal." This from, the land of "burgoo." Mr Joseph Page, town clerk of Wellington, who ha* been travelling with Mrs Page in the country, is empowere-d, with two other Wellington gentlemen, to select an engineer to convert the existing horse tram system into an electrical one, and to make certain extensions. Two or three applications are under consideration, but while Mr Page is in London one of his colleagues is away in Scotland, and another in Sussex, so that a final selection cannot be made for about three -weeks. I fancy there would have been a larger number of applicants had the information available for intending candidates been fuller.

Mr James Howie (of Dunedhi) has left on his return journey to the colony. Mrs Howie is studying steadily with Mr Sant'.ey, who thinks well of her prospects of ultimate success. The ' London Gazette' announces that Lieutenants S. H. W. Crawford, A. B. Rose; and R. M'Dowell Williams, from the Sixth New Zealand Contingent, are to be second lieutenants in the Norfolk Regiment, the Manchester Regiment, and the York and Lancaster Regiment respectively. I trust the usual sequel will not Mlow. Dr J. P. Frengley, M.D., B.CL, Royal University, Ireland, Dublin, and King's College, London, has, been granted by the Royal Colleges -~* Physicians and Surgeons a diploma Ji public health. Mt B. J. Dudley, University of Cambridge and Westminster Hospital, was at a meeting of the Royal College of Physicians last Thursday granted a licence to practise physic. Mr A. H. Chapman, who is at Home combating incredulity and vested interests in connection with his patent process for defrosting fmzen meat, can boast of having made at least one convert, for the ' Meat Trades Journal.' which at first viewed the New Zealander's air-light bag scheme through a thick pane of judicious scepticism, came, out this week with the followin.;:— "We had a further opportunity last ; week of inspecting meat which had been treated by the Chapman dry thawing process, and' arc bound to say that the two frozen. hindquarters submitted to us were in splendid condition—dry, bright, and firm. The fact that these hindquarters readily made from 4d to 6d per stone more points

conclusively to the commercial value of the svstem." " The King's approval of Mr Arthur M. Myers as Consul of Liberia at Auckland has been gazetted. Sir David Barbour and many other students of the financial problems set by the war have warned us that we cannot expect to place any considerable part of the debt we have incurred in painting the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal pink on the maps on the shoulders of those colonies. Your ex-Governor, Lord Onslow, holds a different opinion, for at the meeting of the British Empire League, held in Manchester a few days ago, he expressed the view that the Transvaal would be able to relieve us of £50,000.000 of the expenditure. For such relief we shall be truly thankful, but before we feel like sharing Lord Onslow's faith we should much like to know the foundations of his belief. In the central hall of the County School at Aberystwyth a meeting was held a few days ago to bid farewell to Mr J. H. Howell, 8.A., B.Sc, the new science master in Auckland Grammar School, prior to his departure for the colony. After valedictory speeches from the head-master and other colleagues, David Jones, a. senior pupil, read an address, and Lizzie Jones, senior girl of the school, in a neat little speech, made a presentation to Mr Howell from the staff and scholars of a hand oainera and stand, and some excellent pictures of the County School and groups. Reference was made to the work done by Mr Howell in connection with the workmen's club in the Progress Hall. He sails about the middle of August. Coventry was the scene of another presentation to a pilgrim bound for your shores, Mr Walter Arch, president of the Hillfields rhilanthropic Society. The officers of the. society, of which Mr Arch is flying buttress, presented him with a silver snuff-box, suitably engraved, and an illuminated list of past and present officers of the society, and bis wife with a lady's companion. News has jnst been received in London of the marriage at Penanga, on June 6, of Miss Emily Louisa Whitaker, fifth daughter of the late Sir Frederick Whitaker, K.C.M.G., to Mr Henry James Noe! Wa'.ker, eldest son of Sir Edward Noel Walker, Lieutenant-Governor and Colonial Secretary of Ceylon.

Mr and Mrs Herrick (Christchurch), who spent some time in Sydney during the Royal festivities there, are sight-seeing in London. Their three months' stay will be divided between Southampton. Scotland, and Cornwall,

Mrs and Miss Acton-Adams (Christchurch) made their way to England through Canada in a leisurely fashion, visiting all the show places, while Mr Acton-Adams went off to Japan. After three weeks with relatives in New York they left for England, just in time to escape the heat wave. They found the C.P.R. route quite the pleasantest to travel. Mr ActonAdams has now arrived from .'Japan, and has decided to take a house at Tunbridge Wells until Christmas. In a. year's time he will pay New Zealand a visit, but it is at present uncertain whether Mrs ActonAdams will accompany him. Miss M. A. Chappie is up at Paisley. After seeing some more of Scotland, doing London, and wintering in Devonshire, she takes a little tour on the Continent. Her journey to New Zealand will be broken in South Africa, where she will visit her friends. Altogether she will be away from the colony foi< nine months or a year. The wife of Dr Guthrie Neville Caley (nee Miss Black, of Christchurch) gave birth to a son at Colville House, Ealing, on Julv 29. Mr dames Arkle (Paliiierston South) had a long passage Home in the Tongariro, as the boilers went wrong. It is forty years since, he was in the Old Country. After a week at Weston Spa with his son, he will visit Scotland and Ireland, and probably return bv America. '

Mr F. M. "Standish (New Plymouth) >s assisting Mr Courtney in his emigration work. He proposes to make a six months' stay on this side.

l)r C. LI. Morice and his wife (of Greymouth) are now on a visit to Aberystwyth, where the doctor's brother, the late Kev. T. R. Morice, resided. The doctor h:>.s been away from the Welsh town for fortyfive years. A Board of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, consisting of Lords Macnaghten,' Davey, Robertson, and Lindley, heard last Friday the appeal in the case of To Teira Te Taea, v. Te Roera Tareka from the judgment of the New Zealand Court of Appeal of sth July, 1898. After hearing Mr Haldane, K.C., and Mr C. L 5. Morison for the appellants, their Lordships intimated that they would not trouble t.' e counsel for the respondents, the Hon. Edward Blake, K.C., Mr G. R. Northcote. and Mr' T. W. Lewis (of the New Zealand Bar), but would consider their judgment. The judgment of the Court of Appeal wll therefore be upheld. A New Zealand rabbit case was before Mr Justice Mat hew last week. Messrs Knight, owners of cold stores, at Shadwell, sued Messrs Mann, of New Zealand ind London, for warehousing crates tf rabbits. The claim was for £212, but the defendants counter-claimed £1,987, alleg- ; ng that their goods were damaged by a defect in the store, which claim and contention Messrs Knight resisted. The contact was that defendants should pay 20s 9d per ton for landing, delivery, and twenty-eight days' storage, and that plaintiffs should not be responsible for loss or damage of goods stored through maintaining too high or too low a temperature, failure of machinery, or through tire. It appears 'bat the rabbits in question .were soft, and the point at issue was where this defect originated. The plaintiffs offered without prejudice to pay £IOO against a claim made by Messrs Mann on this account, but this was declined. This was apparently a case for compromise, and the Judge endeavored to bring one about, but without success, and the case was adjourned, but 1 understand the contestants h:<ve sinct tome to an amicable settlement.