ENGLAND.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9957, 5 April 1895, Page 3

ENGLAND.

(Received April i, 10.30 p.m. London, April 4. Mr Ward urged Lord Ripon to recognis e the New Zealand claims to administer Samoa. Lord Ripon answered that the treaty with Germany and the United States precluded any change at present. Mr Ward also urged that England should aubaldlae the Vancouver and San ifranclsce services, which together would supply a fortnightly mail. He aleo pressed the claims of the Pacific cable to 8 subsidy. Lord Ripon was personally favorable, and suggested tbat Mr Ward should see the Chancellor of the Exeheqner and the Postmaster- General on the eubjeot. He thought Lord Jersey's report deserved careful weighing. The Oaraaru bondholders saw Mr Ward, and urged that the Government should consolidate all the bonds and guarantee 3) per cent interest instead of the present rate, Mr Ward replied that a guarantee was impossible, but offered to facilitate the consolidation, and allow the Government debt to rank with the other creditors at reduced interest- He urged the holders to submit a sonnd Bcheme. The shareholders of the Bank of Now Zealand asked Mr Ward for an assurance that no fresh call would be made. Mr Ward refused to give aDy pledge on the subject, but expressed a strong opinion tbat no further oall was necessary or likely. The shareholders expressed gratification at the frankness with which they were met, Mr Ward returns at the end of May. The Inspector of the Board of Trade, after a preliminary inquiry into the loss of the Collntrave, from Newcastle to San Francisco, reports that he is unable to account for the lose. Mr Wilde was subjected to a stringent cross-examination with a view to showing that "Dorian Grey " and some articles Id the magezlne Chameleon, with which he is connected, ire of an immoral tendency Mr Wilde insisted that they are merely an expression of artistic faculty. His letters to Lord Douglas were prose poems, extraordinary perhaps, but not justifying any Immoral interpretation. He admitted that he gave one of his alleged blackmailers £21, and lnnched with him in a private room aftewards The case was adjourned. Defendant was admitted to bail. Silver, 2s 6Jd. The American visible supply of wheat 1b 91,300,000 bushels.