ANGLO- COLONIAL NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 128, 26 November 1904, Page 6

ANGLO- COLONIAL NOTES.

X.Z. STATE FIRE INSURANCE CRITICISED^ PRISONERS' AID SOCIETY. (Fiom Our Own Coriesponduit.) LONDON, 14th October. I le:irn (hat in consequence of the death of Mr. Thomas Rus-ell and of Mr. H. J. Bristow, who 1 effectively filled the offices of Chairman and Vice-Chairmnn of Directors of the Wdihi Gold Mining Company, Mr. James Russell (who was for a number oi years Chairman of the local" Be ard it' New Zealand) lias been elected as Ch.u'rman here, and Mr. A. M. Mitchi--on Ims been appointed to the office of Vice-Ch airman. Mr. William Bristow has been elected a director of the company in the room of his father. The Times refeis to the steps* which are bc-In^' L.k-en by the New Zs...hmd Government to staifc the Fii'e h.'-ui.uice Department authorised by the Act of ■ ISO 3, and which, ifc says, are cau&iiig much interest anioug companies and Lloyd's underwriters. , The article proceeds as follows,:-- "As the Government fire office , cannot begin until id has arranged for reinsurances of excels lines, the British and colonial fire insurance companies with offices in New Zealand were first approached. These companies declined to do any reinsurance business with the New Zealand Government, and natuially enough, *>ince the whole object of the new department is to compete with the companies and to reduce rates of premium. Then, through their representatives in this country, the New Zealand Government approached members of Lloyd's and endeavoured to effect with them a satisfactory reinsurance contract. It is not necessary to go into all details of this proposed contract, but only to touch on the fact that some underwriters who have been negotiating in the matter have agreed to accept excess lines at premiums not lower than 10 per cent, under the 'tariff' rates of fire insurance companies m New Zealand. Now, as the fire .insurance companies are bitterly opjjosed to State insurance in New Zealand, there is every probability that they will reduce their 'tariff' rates to any point which may be necessary to defeat the Government. Lloyd's underwriters may, in these circumstances, find themselves compelled to accept reinsurances — varying from four to eight times the amounts retained by the New Zealand Government — at 10 per cent, below any rate to which this fight may depress premiums. Fire insurance in a .country of earthquakes and wooden buildings like New Zealand is very hazardous, and the Government will be subject to all sorts of pressure to accept the worst and most highly rated risks at inadequate rates. It will not be able to select and sift business — a process which, is often the essence of successful insurance— and if Lloyd's underwriters consent to accept its excess lines they, may find committed to hazards of which at present they have no conception. It should be remembered that among the fire offices represented in New Zealand are some of the best-known and most powerful companies in Great Britain, and that in a war of rates the New Zealand Government would have to deal with combined financial institutions many times more powerful than itself." One wonders whether this phase of the matter can really have received due consideration from the New Zealand Government before the new scheme was decided upon. Here in the City it is regarded as a "wild cat" plunge of the most imprudent and mischievous character. Scientists are interested in the natural history specimens brought to this country by the Antarctic relief ship Morning, which has on board a considerable collection supplementary to that which the Discovery brought. The Morning did a deal of dredging, and the greater part of her collections consists of marine invertebrates 1 . As she is an Admiralty ship the biological collections will be transferred in due course to the Natural History Museum at Smith Kensington, where presumably they will be incorporated with those from the Discovery, the whole furnishing material for an exhaustive work on the fauna, flor-a, and geology of the Antarctic area visited by the two ships. Under the heading "A New Prisoners' Aid Society," the Lancet refers in very complimentary terms to the society of this kind recently started in Wellington, New 1 Zealand. It says : — "No one has greater need of a friend than the man who is in fault. If he has in addition expiated his offence it seems harder to deny a claim to friendly help. . . It is in recognition of these facts and the difficulties which they entail that the Prisoners' Aid Society has become established in this country. It is founded on a principle of mutual fairness. It meets the liberated offender with a message of hospitality and a fair offer to put him in the way of employment if he will, on his part, endeavour to justify such assistance by a return to industrious and honest life. The plan is at onco business-like and humane. After an extended tiial in the Mother Country, where its results have ■been encouraging, it has begun to take root in her colonies alt>o, and we understand that a movement has just been originated by Mr. E. Arnold, J.P., and others for the purpose of forming an aid society in Wellington, New Zealand. Such a project cannot fail to command the sympathy of all who have the good of their fellow-men at hearty It is a matter for thankfulness that good qualities, as a rule, die hard, probably harder than moral defects. The worst men are not wholly evil, and the inmates of our prisons, in spite of the strength of temptation, are often by no means the worst

men. There is always ground for hope that if met in a- proper spirit and helped in time they will turn over the new leaf and write on it something to their own credit and that of humanity.'" During the absence on his holidays of Mr. H. C. Cameron, New Zealand Produce Commissioner, his assistant, Mr. Hooper, went round the West Coast with the first direct shipment from New Zealand. In order to complete the work he then undertook he has since paid a second visit to the West of England and Scotland. He informs me that ho found there good prospects of a market for the future, and that in Scotland there is an opening for considerable shipments of frozen pork. Whether it would be worth the while o{ New Zealand to go in for the exportation of this meat, it is a matter for the consideration of the producers in the colony. A London sporting writer says : "When the British footballers arrived in Sydney they might have been mistaken > for invalided contingenters from Port Arthur. Some limped along, others stepped warily with the aid of sticks. There were arms in slings, faces in sticking-plaster. All bore testimony to the fact that in New Zealand me game is very 'willing.' No douDt, the long and exceedingly rough coastal voyages had some effect, and the hard eating and drinking were items to be considered, but judging by the wrecked appearance of the team there were evidently some of the solid elements of the game behind the rapid downward slide made by \he conquerors of Australia." On Saturday la&t Mr. T. Hoult, of the firm of Me&src. Hoult and Sons, left London outwaid bound for the colony, by the s.s. Matatua, his destination being Wellington. Before leaving lie shipped to the colony 52 ttud sheep which had been purchased from thtr bpst breeders in England ; these, included Southdowns and Ox-ford-downs. The Southdown sheep were bred by the following noted breeders : — The Duke of Richmond and Gordon, Lord Northbourne, Colcinel Walters, Mr. Ifosey; the Oxford-downs were bred by Mr. William Arkell, of Kempsford, Fairford, Mr. W. T. Stevens, of Banbury, Fairford. Messrs. Bryan and Sons, of South Leigh, Witney, Oxford, and Mr. James Horlick, of Cawley Manor, Cheltenham. It is understood that these Ox-ford-down sheep its th© first of the kind that have been imported into New Zealand. Their chief characteristics are a flue, large, fl»shy carcase of mutton ; provided that the ewes are "done" on good pasture their lambs are ready for tho butcher in three months, when they will weigh 401b. The lleeces of the Oxforddowns are said to be good, and they will yield 91b of wool per sheep, and it is thought that they will prove of great advantage for crossing purposes in the colony for the export lamb trade. Mr. Hoult also shipped the celebrated shire stallion, Hendre Wonder, which was purchased from Lord Llangattock, of Monmouth.