OUR LONDON LETTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11889, 12 May 1899, Page 5

OUR LONDON LETTER.

ANGLO'-COLONIAL NOTES. [FeOM OUR COEETiSPONDENT.] I . ■ LONDON. March 30 CAPTAIN RUSSELL’S REMINISCENCE OP THE MAORI WAR. Though few- people are aware of the fact, there is still a halfpenny daily paper published in St. Bride’s Street, called the London Morning.” As a compilation of pure Press Agencies’ and Associations’ matter, it forms an entertaining study for experts, there being no staff ■ employed worth mentioning. Its one featme is Mr David Christie Murray’s article on. the. front page on the “Topics of the Hour.” Mr Murray’s views are always fresh and virile—if occasionally startlingly heterodox--and he has an inexhaustible flow of anecdote and reminiscence which makes him easy to read. Thus, in an article last Monday of the inetiteble description, on the “fine British pluck ” displayed by the Oxford and Cambridge crews in the Boat Race, Mr Murray . manages to drag in a-notable story of the Maori War. As I have never heard it before, some of'your readers may be m similar plight; so here you are. The peg the novelist hangs the reminiscence oh is that the Cambndge-crew were coached and shown the way to victory by an Oxonian. Mr Murray says . —“ There is a fine simplicity about this; there is something in, it which reminds one of the-chivalry of certain savage races; Eor example, I recall a story which was related to me by Captain Russell, Minister of Education in New Zealand at a time when he and I were together in the Maori Reserve of the King Country. The gallant captain had fought in the Maori War, arid amongst many interesting experiences was tips The British force of which he was l a member were, besieged by the Maoris. They had taken, refuge in a ’ native Pah, the, stockade of which they held against the besiegers with great difficulty, and, as he imagined* with the customary British courage. Them troubles increased day by day, for the commissariat was minced to a terrible condition, and their supply of ammunition was all but exhausted. There was . very little probability of a rescue, and the hearts of the defenders began to despond. When things had reached their almost possible worst, a native envoy appeared outside the Pah with a white rag tied to a pole, and demanded a parley. The white men naturally supposed that they were being. summoned to a surrender. Their interpreter was sent to the gate, and the dusky messenger stated bis case. His chiefs had been holding a palaver, and had arrived at a conclusion. They had noticed that the besieged no longer fought with their original ‘ elan ’ and vigour, and they had attributed this fact to its true arid proper source. The supplies of pig ami potato which the Pah was known to contain must be giving oiit. Without pig and potato the physical '-forces of the soldier were likely to fall away. The Maori chieftains therefore tendered to tile' besieged a supply of pig and potato that the’ white man might eat and be refreshed, and that there might once more be a chance of, it good' stand-up fight. At present, they tirged through their representative, there was ho fhn going at all. >, Now that, ladies ahd| gentlemen, is not an invention; or in , any sense' a mere pleasantry.. It is a bit of-.solid; history, and it deserves to bs told side by side with the,story of young Oxford’s honest love of honest sport.” A NEW- ZEALANDER’S INVENTIONS. In the City last Monday I ran across Mr E. Rishton Walker, of Christchurch, who came Home by the G-othic early in March for the purpose of introducing sundxy of his owh inventions to the great British public. He has already made considerable progress with one of his patents, to wit, a nonrefillable bottle. Tliis invention he has submitted to most of the leading whisky-dis-tillers, and it has met with their warm ap-

prpval. One firm in the north, of Irelland hfyVe; indeed, ■ pledged themselves to take 10,00 gross as soon as Mr VVaiker is in a posithem, providing the cost does not'exceed a certain figure per gross. Mr Walker i, has had expert advice as to the provable-cost of manufacturing Ins bottles, arid'-is* satisfied.that he can make a handsome Jirofit at the price names! ny mo hrm ' in'questooh. -Another invention upon which the "New , Zealander builds considerable hopes is an automatic sale on the penny-xn-uhe-sloi principle. This.ingenious device is meant for use in clubs, hotels, swimmingbaths; athletic dressing-rooms and other daces where men’s clothes are liable to be gone',through ” whilst their owners are occopied'elsewhere. "With Mr Walker s sa e ybii can, “for” the price of one penny, -make certain, that your valuables will not be abstracted nor your private papers tempered . with whilst you are absent. Mr Walker s other inventions relat j to railway traffic, the first being a new method of locking the bolts' of fish'-pkites, and the second a very clever' device for coupling and uncoupling railway vehicles, which does away with the necessity of a man going between the carriages,. either operation being perform’d from* the six-foot way or the platform by means of an attachment to the existing coup■bl3The duration of Mr Walker’s stay in the Old Country depends entirely on the success he has in placing-these inventions. In regard to safety railway coupling, he lms placet} himself in .communication with the President of the Board of Trade, Mr Eitcbie., who is so anxious to reduce the mortality among railway operatives arising from the attachment and detachment of rolling stock ■ that, he 4s bringing in a Bill to compel the companies to adopt automatic couplings. If'he. succeeds hi this, the companies reckon that they will have to spend about £lO on every vehicle in use on their lines jn order to meet the-requirements of tl ‘ e 8111 ’^ he T e ‘ as Mr Walker calculates that by adopting hi*'patent equal immunity for their savants can lbe . ensured for not more than hi .per .vehicle,'and the additional advantage, of security against the eccentricities of things ' automatic secured. „ T ■ 1 - PRSONAL AND GENERAL. • The Agent-General is one of the legion of sufferers from influenza. 'He caught a chi on Thursday night going out to ~Radical ■ dinner at Haggerston, bcd>, never ■ theless, went to the National Literal Club i?Say'an'd spoke on'the estxonof Old , jue- Pensions. He was confined to his bed fiSTwo'daysnf thl week, and.it seems ■ doubtful whether he wilt be well enough to 'go' away' for his Easter holidays, as he. m'teMrdCecil Rhodes has given £SO to the Grey Memorial Fund. _ . Dr'H. o.' Forbes Ims just retoxnfed from bis snientific. expedition to Socotra. tie at the Royal Colonial ' 'TS.rAI.-Lv ' bearing testimony to. the goou ‘SS’ne % Sh William M’Gregor, who was an old fellow-student of his '.JP r t J.°£S • Jtoself went to-New Guinea with the late Sr Df P ? ir w‘S“fi™, °t Christchurch, wko is now pljtog a® f? nt! ® ”1 °[ -cine' ind surgery at Brechin, was in London for a few days last week, looking very_ and well, He.came to town to see his brother,' Mr Leonard Parkinson, who has ... enkwed-twelve months holiday.in the Old cSy, Off by the Rome last Thursday., ; Dr™shison intends to take a run out; ' ‘to the extent of £16,194 only, which, bar- ; ring £2500 to his wife, in J°£ -her affectionate care of bun m ag , Is ©dually divided between his children. He tb his son, ■ : Bmrea, : as heirlooms, his magma,of the Order* of St. Michael and St. George, the certificate of' Ms family ams gold ‘ +mwel with which he laid the first stone of , buildings at Melbourne the silver centre-piece which he received m ■ Zealand, the murninated^addres 3 from, <>*» ; colonies, add, subject.to of witerest, the vases from the Emperor oi 'Japan.; ;