ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10106, 3 August 1893, Page 2

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

[from OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.J London, June 16.

Tho Agent-General find Sir Waiter Puller were the guests of the Goldsmiths’ Company at their livery dinner on Wednesday evening. Lord Balfour of Burleigh, returned thanks for the House of Lords, and Sir Henry Howorth, M.P.for the House of Commons. In toasting " The Colonies ” the Prime Warden referred specifically to New Zealand, only this Colony seeming to be in high favour in tbe city just now. He mentioned that amongst the guests of tbe evening were tbe Agent-General and Sir W r alter Buller, to whom the Goldsmiths’ Company offered a hearty welcome, and he invited the former'Qf these gentlemen to respond to the toast. Mr Perceval did ?o with a brevity and felicity which it could ho wished afterdinner orators generally would imitate. He said that having lived all hin life in New Zealand, he came to England with a feeling of prejudice against these rich guilds of the city of London, whose revenues were the outcome of ancient plunder. But ha had considerably modified his views when ho came to enquire into their working, and discovered what huge sums were expended by these organisations, and especially by the Goldsmiths’ Company, in aid of the charities of the day. Indeed, he had come to tha conclusion that these richly endowed bodies were as a practical fact doing on all hands good democratic work. MR 11. O. BETH-SMITH, R.M. Mr Hi G, Seth-Smith, R.M., has taken rather longer to recover from the effects of the last operation to his eyes than, the doctor’s anticipated, hut is now, I am glad to learn, bad: again at hie brother’s house in Surrey. Ho leaves for New Zealand at tbe eni cf the mouth, and will almost certainly go by tho Ruahine. MrSefchSmith wr tes; —“The result of tho operation has been a decided improvement in my eyeoiaht, but tho full recovery of strenoth is a work of time, and I am looking forward to the sea voyage to complete tho cure.” TARANAKI IRON SAND. The Company formed some time since under fiir Julius Vogel, for the purpose of utilising tho iron sand and petroleum oil of Taranaki has not, it seems, altogether lost its vitality, A movement is now afoot for raising a further sura of £IO,OOO by the issue of preference shares. If tlvs should bo done (as I fear is not exactly probable), we may hear o? active operations being resumed at New Plymouth within tho next few months. MB J. M, DOWSETT. Mr J. M. Dowsett has not let tho grass grow under bis feet since arriving in London by tho Oceana three weeks ago.

He came Home, as racst of your readers are aware, to exploit Mr Belt's patent “Nutless Railway Bolt” (an invention which should, on precedent, yield extremely handsome returns to its owners), and he has already found a purchaser for certain of the rights. Sir Julius Yogel has been tha " middleman ” between Sir Dowsett and the wily capitalist. Tour exPremier, after ho had inspected the invention for the first time, at once offered to find a minimum of £IO,OOO for the European rights, but Mr Dowsett considered the rights for Great Britain alone worth that amount. Finally, after much correspondence, it was agreed that Sir Julius should arrange for the disposal of the rights for Great Britain, France and Germany at a minimum of £IO,OOO. The sale is not yet complete, but neither Mr Dowsett nor Sir Julius anticipate any difficulty in settling the matter, Tbe remaining European countries Mr Dowsett hopes to arrange for separately, and he will probably go to America iater on to sell tho rights iu the invention in each State separately. At pvsseat he is considering certain modifiestio'is in the patent with a view of reducing the cost of production. If Mr Belk has many more such promising inventions up his sleeVc—and I am told he is due mass of ’cute notions—he should turn himself into a Limited Liability Company a la Duke of Plaza Toro.

DR PiSNNSFATHEH’a GUIDE TO NEW ZEALAND.

Dr Penne'ather’u “ Handbook to Now Zealand ” is cot likely to be issutd by Messrs Murray until September next. So far as the comniler’a work goes, the volume is finished with the exception of a small amount of proof reading and indexing, and the only bar to its immed ate publication is tha absence of up-to-date maps. These will be prepared in New Z,a and in order to get the latest work of the Survey Dej artmeat. Dr Peuncfather is immensely pleased with the efficiency of this particular division o? the Colony’s public service, and owns to a large debt of gratitude to various gentlemen connected therewith. His publishers profess themselves delighted with hia work, but it is not true that Messrs Murray have commissioned Dr Pennefsther to compile other Australian handbooks. Some gossip put it about that he waa writing a brochure oa the northern territory of South Australia, but this also haa no foundation in fact. Dr Pennefather, indeed, states openly that bt has no interest in any of the Australasian Colonies save New Zealand. H;s present intention ia to remain in London till toward i the end of the year, breaking the monotony by short trips to Ireland and elsewhere, as fancy dictates. Up to tbe present he has been engaged in private business and small matters connected with Adelaide Uiivarsity.

MR TOM SPURGEOW’O ENEMIES,

At the ousting which was held at the Tabernacle last Friday evening, for the purpose of presenting teßliraoniils to the retiring pastors. Dr Pierson and Dr James Spurgeon, a moat unchristian bitterness w.«, 3 displayed towards the supporters of Mr Thomas Spurgeon. Many of the latter would gladly have subscribed to the testimonials, and joined in giving Dr Pierson a friendly “ send-off,'* but they were not permitted to do either, or even to attend the meeting. Dr Pierson, in the course of a semi-militant, semi-sanctimonious address, urged the congregation to give youog Mr Spurgeon’s ministry every chance of success. (These wore the words, but the tone suggested, “ Give him rops enough and he will hang himself, thea I will come back”). Let them compiss him in loving arms in his youth and inexperience (much shaking of the head here). He himself would be grieved if he thought that anything that he had said in public or in private would imperil the success of his ministry. Dr Spurgeon’s benedictions were even more forcible. Ho prayed his nephew’s ministry might bo blessed j ha hoped the work of the Lord might nob be wrecked; but his expectations,'it was painfully evident, lay in a totally different direction. Other speeches judiciously combining spite and piety were made, and altogether, to a dispassionate) onlooker, the exhibition proved most unedifying. K?,W SEiLAKD SCIENTISTS, Mr H. O. Foib/ii has failed in his applies t on for the curatorshlo of the Singapore Museum. He is slid in town, and is engaged in a correspondence with Professor Newton in the columns of Jsatura about the fossil remains from the Chatham Islands. The Professor, who ia considered the leading authority, declares that they are not the bones of Aphanapteryx, as Mr i?i rbea supposed, but of seme great ralline bird now erjnet.

Mr ■ Alfred E. Wallace, the great scientist, has furnished to Nature a very appreciative review of Mr G. W. Purnell's little work,"The Intelligence of Animals 5 ' (Christchurch and Dunedin, 18&3). After questioning some of the author's views end conclusions, Mr Wallace says: —** On the whole the book is very clearly and pleasingly written. It is a pity it, is net issued in a, more attractive form, the paper covers being scarcely fitted to such a book ; but it ia nevertheless! well adapted as an introduction to the study of the subject and will bo especially interesting to those who think highly of the intelligence as opposed to the more instincts of animals, and who are not afraid to recognise that even in their mental faculties and emotions the

lower animals have much in common with ourselves.”

The firnt volume of Professor Newton’s Dictionary of Birds bas just appeared. In the preface he acknowledges the assistance he bas received from Sir Walter Buller, F.R.S., and under the heading of “ Extermination ” remarks :—“ln respect of extermination leading immediately to extinction, the present condition cf the New Zealand fauna ia one which must grieve to the utmost every ornithologist who cares for more than the stuffed skin of a bird on a shelf. * * * No one can doubt that the rabbit plague has inflict ed serious loss on the Colony ; yet a remedy may be worse than & disease, and the ao-called remedy applied iu this case has been of a kind that every true naturalist knew to be most foolish, namely, tbs importation from England and elsewhere and liberation of divers carnivorous mammals, polecats, or famtj, stoats and weasels! * * * Assuredly the scientific naturalist of another generation, especially if he he of Now Zealand birth, will brand with infamy the short-sighted folly begotten of greed which will have deprived him of interpreting some of the great secrets of nature .while utterly failing to put au end to tbe nuisance.” This is strong language, aud should, vulgarly speaking, make the Btoat-cMm-wea=el importers “ sit-up.” PERSONAL AND GENERAL, Sir Arthur Gordon, who owns a nice estate at Ascot, on the borders of the Roj.al Heath, does not countenance the annual carnival, and usually lets hia home for the race week. Thia year the Duke of Beaufort has the Red House (as it ia called) foi’ Ascot.. Mr J. B. Russell is surprising the by the rapidity with which he is eairxiug off the effects of last week’s serious operation, When I saw him yesterday morning, I waa fairly amazed. Ho seemed aa bright and cheery and talkative as a man could he. Mrs Russell looks, and no doubt feels, immensely relieved. Bar accidents Mr Russell’s complete recovery ia now only a question of weeks. Within six from date he should be able to move to the seaside. Mr Horton, of the Nciv Zealand Herald, is, I regret to learn, in very indifferent health, and haa placed himself under tbe care of Sir Andrew Clarke, the Queen's physician, and the best possible man for hia case. Mr and Mrs Horton and family have taken rooms at Dorchester terrace, Bayswater. Other recent arrivals are Mr Peter Cunningham aud Mr W. D. Wood, of Christchurch (who are at the Langham), and Mr James Smith, of Dunedin. Tho New Zealand firemen who were advertised to tike part in the International Fire Congress and Displays now in progress at the Agricultural Hall, have not seemingly put in an appearance. Nothing at least is known of them at the Agent-General's office or the headquarters of tho London Brigade at Southwark.

Mr Perceval will bs examined before tbe Meat Marking Committee of the House of Lords this (Friday) afternoon.