OUR LONDON LETTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume C, Issue 11725, 1 November 1898, Page 5

OUR LONDON LETTER.

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. [From Oue Correspondent.] LONDON, Sept. 24 MR JUSTICE WILLIAMS AT THE LABOUR CONGRESS.

Mr Justice Williams attended the Congress on Labour at Antwerp,. not as " official delegate from New Zealand,” as somie of the papers described him,, but as a private individual interested in the subjects discussed. He took no part in the debates, but in reply . to a question by the Chairman, as to the law in New Zealand on the subject of the .employment of children in factories, and as to the education of children so employed, informed the meeting that by the colony’s Factory Act, children under fourteen years of age are not allowed to be employed at all, and that children under sixteen are not allowed to work in factories unless they had passed the Fourth Standard. The New Zealander would have been glad to enter into debates on various points raised .during the Congress, but felt unequal to conducting an argument in . French. Speeches in English would have had to he translated, and he felt that it was impossible to translate an argument satisfactorily, and therefore became a mere listener. The feeling of the majority of the Congress was he found, distinctly against legislative interference between employer and employed, but the'minority’s views were not so well set forth as they w»*ulJ have hjeen if the Congress had been differently constituted, and labour more largely represented. ' . _ Judge Williams does not think that any S ractical good will result from the Antwerp ongress. The only real good, indeed, of gatherings of the kind is that thev bring people of different nationality together, enable. them to exchange ideas and encourage , international friendliness. Moreover, they bring money into a country, and for that reason the Belgians encourage them. The average of congresses held in Belgium is' about thirty per annum, and it will be seen that if the visitors only spend a ten pound note apiece, the country profits very considerably. The Belgians, Mr Williams tells me, are most anxious that the Czar’s Disarmament Congress should take place in their country, purely for financial reasons. ARBITRATION. ‘ )' An “ Echo representative gives the readers of that journal particulars of the ad-' dresses sent to Mr Reeves from the Trade Unions of Christchurch and the Trade Societies of Dunedin, and of a short chat with Mr Reeves on the subject of arbitration, in the course of which the Agent-General, referring to the wish for international arbitration expressed in the latter address, made the following remarks: “ It is worth while to note that the aspirations of the New Zealand workmen towards industrial peace, and their insistence, on the ’ benefits of arbitration, should receive, only a few weeks later, the emphatic sanction of the most powerful ruler in the world.” “Are you of opinion,” asked the interviewer, “ that a similar law could be made effectual in England, where trade, organisations are so large and so highly complex?” “ Yes, lam sure of it,” the Agent-General - said. “ The extent of the trade organisation is no obstacle at all. Rather is -it a positive advantage.You can deal with things on a large scale much better than with small worrying matters. ‘ But you cannot go beyond the stajie reached by the general public opinion. We carried advanced labour legislation in New ' Zealand—true; but only after. educating and converting public opinion up to the point of the legislation. And what a task that is, is probably known to me as well aa to any man.”

ACCLIMATISATION OF FISH. Mr L. P. Ayson, the Fisheries Commissioner, arrived in town a few days ago from Scotland, where the fulfilment of his particular mission was seriously hindered by a violent attack of la grippe, from which lie is not even now entirely recovered. Whilst in the land o’ cakes, Mr Ayson 1 visited all the leading salmon and trout hatcheries, and spent a considerable tira6 in the society of the Fisheries Commissioners of the Tay, Dee and Spey—three rivers beloved of salmon and salmon fishers. His inquiries weredirected with a view, to, discovering sono practical method whereby salmon can bo established in New Zealand rivers. T:io recommendations of; the best men he met all pointed to one course of procedure, namely, to establish fisheries on the estuaries of tlio rivers most suitable to salmon-, and let the salmon grow there till the breeding age before liberating. By this means the salmon will he given a chance of becoming acclimatised to your waters, they will naturally return to their spawning ground, and in going down to sea will be fish of a size capable of taking care of themselves. Mr Ayson, whilst in Scotland, went deeply also into the question of marine hatcheries, paying visits to the Scottish Fisheries , Board’s hatchery at Dunbar, and the new one in course of construction at Aberdeen. He has obtained plans and all details necessary should the Now Zealand Government decide to establish such hatcheries. He also made inquiries as to the feasiluHy .if transporting tire ova (or the fish theavadre?) >f' herying, haddocks," turbot, cod. and lobstais to the colony. He consulted alj I he rv;illable piscatorial authorities on this subject, and in the opinion of such men Dr 1' cmy ,-Pulton, scientific superintendent of tiia Scots Fisheries Board, Professor Machr. a* h of the St Andrew’s Marine Laboratory, Hr - Fullerton of Greenock, and Captain Xb-nrio-vig of the Marino Hatchery at Ficddoru, Norway, it is quite possible to transport either ova or fish provided a pia-clical attendant is in charge during the voyage. Mr Ayson, on Ms way youth,. spent, a,--week at Great Grimsby, studying the system of the east coast trav/l'.-ra . erd paying particular attention to their ■ method of keeping the in-h A. ah from time of netting till their arrival at the markets. The whole system, ho considers, is good, and can be adopted by the colony with a fair chance of making a goed profit by sending fish to Melbourne and Sydney, besides supplying the local, centres of population. A week or ten days hence Mr Ayson leaves for America, where I:a pnv-

poses to. spend a considerable time in visiting the r principal fisheries of the States. PERSONAL AND GENERAL. Bishop Jenner, over whose nomination to the sea of Dunedin in 1866 there were such ecclesiastical ructions, died at his vicarage at Preston, next Wingham, near Canterbury, oil Sunday night, at the age of eighty. He had been indisposed for a few days, but Ms condition was not; considered serious. He had, however, a sudden seizure on Sunday, and. expired before his medical attendant could reach the vicarage. The deceased had'hold-the living of-Preston since 1854, being appointed - thereto upon his return from ihe/long and. abortive journey to New Zealand. In early life he -was a Minor Canon of Canterbury Cathedral. He took an interest in botany, music and cricket, and came up, to-town regularly for the ’Varsity cricket match: If.is not,- I fancy, known to many that'the iyas father to that agree? able writer, “ Katherine Lee,” whose novels, “A;. Western Wildflower,” “In London Town” and “In the Alsatian Mountains,”. soihe' 1 of you have read.’" I i uhd6retand :tha‘t. Mr, Williamson, the sculptor of the Bishop Harper memorial, has' completed! the Jubilee, statue of the Queen, for ’Auckland, and that it will be inspected at'Thames iDitton by the Agent-General, on hia return from Liege. The Rev, Edward Walker and Mrs Walker who;’ after .leaving New in the spring;, spent four months in New South Wales, arrived at Southampton by the s.s. Karlsruhe a ago. The fear that Mrs' Walker, who is suffering from what is known as Addison’s disease, might nob be able to endure the heat of an Australian summer, and in view of the fact that there fg no known specific remedy for her malady, the desire that she should once more see her Mfidieilj determined Air Walker’s return to the: Home land. His interest in the prohibition movement, in connection with which he was so well known to the people of New iZealand, *i s unabated. But Mrs Walker’s health, which has now become somewhat critical, will •-revent him going on tour to assist the cause of sobriety by legislation for some, time, to.come. Hehas already received 'a’:very ; cordial, welcome from a number, of his old friends at the Central Offices at the 1 Memorial Hali, London,:. and will probably* seek tac early introduction ’to some vacant English Congregational pastorate. ■ He. says that notwibtiatanding the indifference, if not hostility, of

the present New Zealand Parliament, he coni' fidently anticipates a considerable advance in the voting' strength of the prohibitionists at the next general election. ' The Agent-General will leave on Monday evening after Sir George Grey’s funeral, for the Hydrological Congress at Liege, and as ha is tahing over several photographs and slides of the hot springs, and literature con'ceming them, hopes to have some opportunity of ..doing a little hydrological advertising- in his best oratorical style. Mr Reeves ’has, by the -way,* secured a copy of Busch’s “ Bismarck,’), on which, there is now a big run, and forwarded it to the General Aseenjhly Library. ' Another book which will, doubtless, vfind its way thither shortly, and which will be full of interest for New Zea-

landers, is the large photo-lithographic facsimiles, of the Tasmans’ original manuscript in, the colonial archives of . Hague, with English translation., and facsimiles of the original maps, and. also the life and labours of the .explorers by J. E. Heeres, LL.D;, professor, at , the Dutch' Colonial Institute at Delft.’,, i-.A cursory perusal showed that the text differs- verbally from the translations 'hitherto published 'The book contains one or'two outlines of the coast of New Zea- . land. Thibet Mr ,H. J. of Christchurch,

in the street on the eve of his departure by the Majestic to join the Warimoo at Vancouver. Hh was looking very brown after K pleasant-holiday, spent in, Liverpool—where he spent a, night, with the Fortunes—(Mrs i Fortune nee Miss Kimbell), Derby, Hull and, Brighton, and three weeks with- his . married sister in the south of France, where ‘ . the heat was intense. •' Mr Kenneth Inglis, of Christchurch, who arrived at the beginning of the month fay the Karlsruhe, spent but three days in London, antf went .oh to Edinburgh, where he intends to spend two years, studying science, with a vieiv to talcing the B.Sc. degree. I hear he is .likely- to remain on this side for several years.,

■The Aberdeen “ Evening Gazette ’ devotes two columns to the expression of the views of an Aberdeenshire settler at Timara, who thinks that good property must get up ixi, value with the present low value of money, that loan companies are dead, and can never recover, that the “ Government is determined to level everything down—all for self-interest.”; -That he is a Conservative can be seen by his objection to Jack being as good as f his master, and thinking himself ; better. • ’ , Amongst tho travelled colonists who propose to assist Mr Louis Becke in discomfiting the great, De Rougemont is “ Mokau ” Jones, who was a Government surveyor at Port Darwin in 1869, and prospected and explored the very cormtry of which, Robinson Crusoe IL discourses so glibly. Mr Jones, by the wav, has persuaded the Treasury to prosecute his alleged peccant solicitor, and Mr Paternoster, of “Truth.” assures me more unlikely things may happen than “Mokau” returning to New Zealand one of these days with £150,000 in his pocket, Mr G:-.P: Lee, erstwhile of Christchurch, and now second engineer of a large “ tramp ”, steamer, called in the. other 'day to tell me that _ there are at present (plenty of good epenings for capable marine" engineers, and that ih - his. opinion young New Zealanders with a taste that way might do worse than give the profession a show. Mr Lee expressed himself profoundly grateful for the •thoroughness and excellence of the tuition he had received from Professor Scott at Christchurch JJniversity. He was told, the name of the-latter would carry no weight with ■ the School of Engineeiihg here, but the reverse was; the case. When he went up for LiS exanufiatiM 'recently! after looking,, oyer his New Zealand certificates, rd'Oh ! if y-du Come from there, you’re « sure to "he all right, 'and I needn’t ask many questions.” And he didn’t.