ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13127, 15 May 1903, Page 7

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

rFKOJi Our CoiuwisroxDEOT.] 1 LONDON, April 3. The Agent-Generalis back at work again,. all tho better for his'we'ek's holiday in the country. He manfully asserts that he was' not ill, but only a bit run. down, and that he wanted a change to set him up again. Asking him whether he was going to take any notice of another little "pin-prick" that ia given, in the " Times," by its Wellington correspondent on the subject- of the Auckland cabinet-makers' strike, Mr Beeves iras quite decided. He should certainly ignore it. Vfhafc that correspondent himself had said had already substantiated what" he, Mr Beeves, had assorted. During the week the following callers have put down their names in the AgentGeneral's visitors' book. From Wellington, Messrs Harold Beauchamp, William. Crow, Sydney J. Dver, James Embling, and Miss Henry and Missi G. Henry; from Auckland, Mr J. Frtocis Dixon, ;M.8.; from; Christchurch, Mr C. T. New-ton, and from Temuka, Major Kayhursfc,'-of the South Canterbury Mounted Rifles. It is pleasant to find the steady confidence that reigns io the New Zealand Agency. The returns as to emigration to all the colonies from tho United' Kingdom for 1902 are just out. Canada and South Africa, came a long way ahead of all others, of course, and it seems that at the Emigrants' Information Office comparatively few enquiries are made about New Zealand. 1 Mr Walter Keimaway, however, is

by no means jealous of the other colonies. New Zealand has no need, he saysj to seek for colonists. The penniless kind are not wanted. It is the small capitalist which she encourages, and that she has

succeeded and is steadily pregressing in the right direction is proved by the fact that in 1902 more- emigrants with, more capital were obtained- under the reduced-rate -system for passages, than for four or five years previously. >■ In the Temperate House at Kew, the beautiful white clematis of the New Zealand bush is now the pride of the place. It is fully five and twenty feet in height-, trained along the iron trellis-work, and puch a. mass of flower that hardly a leaf is visible. Unluckily it just won't stand

the hard frosts and fog, and only in such favoured spots as the South of Ireland, or .down in Cornwall, will it live out of doors. For greenhouse use it is now rapidly being adopted everywhere, and is a pleasant reminder of the beauties of the native bush.

The Bishop-designate of Auckland, before leaving for 'his new home, told the story of an amusing experience which Lad recently befallen him. The parish of St Stephen's, Paddington, has a parish magazine published by the church authorities. The "inside" pages of this magazine are supplied to a considerable number by other magazines of a like nature, and are, therefore, not seen by the St Stephen's authorities until they are ready for publication. Just prior to severing his connection with his old parish, Dr iNeligan was astounded to see in the "inside" pages of his own magazine a portrait of himself in Bishop's robes. . His astonishment was great, as not only had he never had a portrait taken in his episcopal robes, bub had never even had the robes on—he 'hadi conscientious objections to so doing. In wrathful mood he hurried off to the editor of the "inside" pages to get an explanation. This, when given, was too much foj Dr Neligan. The head in the illustration was his; it had been obtained from a, portrait. But the body and robes were the Bishop of Stepney's! One photograph had b?en "used for the head and the other for the body, the result being a composite presentment of Dr Neligan, not as he is, or even has been, but as ha will be on Ascension Day at Auckland. The "fun of the thing" appealed to Dr Neligan's sense of humour, and he freely forgave the "too previous" editor. Mr Edward Fondi Wright (Canterbury) has returned to England from the . Cape Colony, whither he went in September, 1897, "to .gain experience and experiment with his theory as to the cause and cure of rinderpest and other allied diseases on r, chemical basis. At first the'Agricultural Department at the Cape gave Mr? Wright pome little help andi encouragement, bub when they found that Mr Wright's views were so completely subversive of the principles upon which they had' hitherto treated the disease, they withdrew all assistance, and Mr Wright says he, thereafter met with such obstruct!veness on the part of the officials that he had' to give up all attempts at inducing them to adopt his views. Mr Wright then went into mercantile business of various kinds, travelling nil over the Eastern province, of the Cape Colony, bub never, so it happened,; coming anywhere near the seat of war. All this time

he was working away and developing his theories, and says that from recent ex-

periments and from evidence which he has collected from over a very wide area, he

is more than ever convinced that the solution of the problem is to be found from a chemical standpoint, but that that mode of approaching the difficulty is far more complicated than what has hitherto been supposed to be the case. Mr Wright has a manuscript now nearly ready for publication which occupies all his time, and he intends to stay in England until it is published. His movements after that are uncertain.

in contrast to the frays of the Agricultural Departments of certain colonies, Mr Wright says that the consideration he has always met -with at the hands of the Board of Agriculture in London has been exceptional; both before he went out to the Cape and during the -whole time that he was out there and in correspondence ■with them. Many, many weeks age- Mr Cadman gave a promise to the -writer to let him know wheri anything definite was to be told concerning the attempt to form a, company - here to exploit Taranaki ironsands. So far I have heard nothing from the authoritative source, bub an ©ld friend! who has dabbled with New Zealand ironsand in days gone by, tells me that several gentlemen havo interested; themselves sufficiently in Mr Cadman's venture to form a. small syndicate to'tackle'the business-in a businesslike fashion before appealing 'to the British public for the large amount of capital which will be necessary to commence operations or« a large scale. The first step of the syndicate, I understand, will be to send out to the colony for 500 tons of .'-the sand 1 , which will be made into iron and steel in England ■under their own eyes. They do not. I am told, propose to use Mr E. M. Smith's system of treatment, but will proceed on,the lines of the Swedish' electrical process. If the results are satisfactory they will then'proceed to form a company with a capital of £600,000. The course to be pursued is the right one, undoubtedly, for up to the present the experiments made ' with the sand in England (what has b-een done in New Zealand counts for very little with financiers here) have been "draw-ing-room " tests only, and of very little value in the eyes of practical men. Though eleven years have'passed since Lord Onslow completed' his' four years' service as Governor of New Zealand, his career will, for anany years ihence, be : watched by you with interest. After the hard' work of practically sole co»fcrol*over the Colonial Office during Mr Chamborlain's absence, Lord and Lady Onslow have - just gone off on ani Eastsr holiday run through Normandy a,nd Brittany, in their motor-car.' Prebendary Selwyn, the Provost of Eton, and several high church dignitaries a,ro interesting themselves in. raising, a fund to provide some suitable memorial to the Right Rev Charles John Abraham, who died early in February. As Bishop Abraham was the colleague both in_ New Zealand ant! in this country of Bishop Selvryn, the memorial, it is thought, might tak« the foom of a Bishop Abraham Scholarship ab Selwyn College, Cambridge, tho foundation of which he was the first to suggest, arid took a leading part in securing. Buibscriptions may ba sent to Prebendary; BromfjoWl yicarag&j R.^.O.^

Shropshire, or to Lloyd's Bank, London, the cheques to ba crossed "The. Bishop Abraham- Memorial Fund."