ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9483, 4 August 1891, Page 2

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

London, June 20. IMPERIAL FEDERATION LEAGUE. The audacity of Lord Braseey in claiming for the Imperial Federation League the entire credit o£ promoting the intimate relations, which have latterly grown up between England and the Australasian Colonies, is truly surprising. My own impression, and the impression of a good many other people, was that the League was a frothy fraud. Lord Rosebery, one knows, came to some such conclusion after several years of its meetings and methods. It is noticeable that amongst Wednesday’s deputation to the Premier not a single Colonial name appears. The AgentsQeneral, the Australian M.P.’s M'Arthur, Heaton, Pritchard Morgan, Chief Justice Way, and countless lesser lights, where were they ?Dr Way, of course, confessed frankly that nothing would induce him to bother the Government on such a subject. The League had its uses, but that was nob one of them. The majority of Colonials one meets care absolutely nothing about it. Lord Salisbury on Wednesday gave the deputation precious little satisfaction. They urged the desirability, of another Colonial Conference on conventional grounds. Lord Salisbury replied cloudily. The proposal was inopportune, and the League was unpractical. Either there was too much or too little for a Conference to discuss. He did not feel sure which alternative was the fact, but in either case a Conference would.at present be undesirable. The papers in the main back up Lord Salisbury and condemn the project as premature. LABOUR NOTES. SETTLEMENT OS’ THE 'BUS STRIKE. Scarcely had the mail closed last week than a settlement was arrived ;at between the various London 'bus proprietors and their employees. The squabble, which lasted exactly a week, ended in a victory for the men on the chief points in dispute, viz., a reduction of working hours to twelve per day, an increase of wage and the recognition by the Companies of the men’s Union. The wages question was really the only one which served to prolong the strike. The Companies were from the first willing to concede the twelve hours day, but were firm in refusing the rise of wage demanded, stating that they could not possibly afford it. On Friday evening, however, they offered to make certain additions to the salaries of drivers, conductors, &0., and the men were advised by their leaders to accept the terms. On Saturday the strikers agreed to return to work on the conditions offered by the Companies, and the following day the ’bus traffic was resumed, though it was not till Tuesday that the full tale of ’buses took possession of the streets. The papers of late have been full of letters, arguing that the stoppage of the ’buses was a boon and a blessing, rather than-an inconvenience. Certainly to those who can afford cabs, the absence of those unwieldy vehicles was an unmixed pleasure, for, of course, the streets were freer, and locomotion per “hansom” or “growler” was greatly accelerated; but to the citizen, whose business necessitates constant journeyings from one portion of the Metropolis to another, the defection of the penny ’bus was terribly trying—at least, so I found it. WASHERWOMEN AND RAILWAY MEN. There was a huge composite meeting of washerwomen and railway men in Hyde Park on Sunday. They met to air their grievances, which are truly many and great, and hear words of exhortation, hope and sympathy from the mouths of those stormy petrels of the labour world John Burns, and Ben Tillet and many others. The ladies of the tub ( place aux dames ) were accorded much more attention by the various speakers than were the railway men, and the public seemed much more interested in their “tale of woe.” The Park was crammed with sightseers, and presented rather the appearance of a huge country fair-field. As a spectacle it was much more pleasing to the eye than the ordinary run of demonstrations, for there was a plenitude of colour not usually observable in such gatherings. The Laundresses’ case is well worthy the attention of men in general and Parliamentary folk la particular. In most branches of female labour the Factory Act compels some show of “ sweet reasonableness ” in the matter of working hours, and also makes the employer see to the sanitary arrangements in work-rooms, &e. The laundresses do not, it seems, benefit by the Act. In many—l might say most—cases they work over ninety hours a week in ill-adapted workshops ; the machinery employed is often ucfenced, and is thus a constant source of danger; and, moreover, they have no regular hours set aside for meals. Sunday’s demonstrators wished to be included under the Factory Act, and, as many M.P.’b have taken up the washerwomen’s case con amove, they will probably get all they want without having recourse to that evil remedy, a strike, PERSONAL AND GENERAL. The Daily Chronicle of Tuesday contained the first of the series of letters on Australian topics, which Mr Philip Mennell has arranged to contribute to that journal during his travels. It is dated from Melbourne on May 11, and affords much interesting information concerning the leading actors at the Federation Congress, Sir George Grey especially. From what Mr Mennell says the Grand Old Man of New Zealand appears to have been the central figure of the Convention, dominating even Sir Henry Parkes himself. Miss Marie Fraser has, I understand, accepted the engagement offered her at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. Mr Edmund Leathes, whose death under somewhat painful circumstances was recently chronicled, had I learn, many friends in Australia and New Zealand. Mr Leathes seemed at one time to have a most promising stage future before him. His Laertes in the first Lyceum Hamlet is talked about to this day. He fenced magnificently, and even experts raved concerning the excellence of his bout with Irving, Somehow Leathes' success then was not pursued. He turned restless, and travelled a good bit in your part of the world, writing a book called “The Actor Abroad.” Latterly, I don’t know what became of him. He disappeared from the London stage. Mr John Roberts, C.M.G., must, I imagine, still be touring in the North, as we can hear nothing of him at the AgentGeneral’s, the St George’s Clubs, and other Colonial resorts. No doubt, however, as a newly-elected member of the Colonial Institute, he will, if in town, put in an appearance at the conversazione next Wednesday. I hear, by the way, that this function, which takes place at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, promises to be unusually “ smart.” Mr J. S. O’Halloran informs me that special pains have been taken to make the arrangements as perfect as possible. Three of the best bands in London, viz., the Coldstream Guards’, the First Life Guards’, and the Ladies’Pompadour, will play in different parts of the building, and a plan on the programme affords facilities for visitors meeting by appointment. Great care will be exercised by the authorities to prevent the light-fingered fraternity pursuing their vocation in the neighbourhood of the museum during the evening.

The Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, which was presented to Sir James Hector, per Sir Francis Dillon Bell, on Monday evening, was shown to me by Mr Walter Kennaway the other day. It is a solid gold medallion encased in crystal glasses. On the face it bears the head of His Majesty King George IV., the founder of the Society, and on the reverse the figure of Britannia resting one hand upon the world, and holding forth a laurel wreath in the other, and tho words “Ob Terras Eeclusas.” The gold rim outside the enclosing crystals bears the inscription " Sir James Hector, K.C.M,G.,F.R.G.5., 1891.'’