POST'S LONDON LETTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XIX, Issue 245, 19 October 1883, Page 2

POST'S LONDON LETTER.

London, Sept. 6. Lord and Lady Koaebery started for San Fiancisco, via New York, on Saturday last and will be passengers for Anokland and Sydney either by the mail steamer which carries this letter or the succeeding boat. I sincerely hope you may be able to persuade his Lordship to visit the principal cities and sights of New Zealand. He is far and away the most influential English statesman who has travelled m Australia for many a long year, and too much stress cannot possibly be laid upon the importance of impressing him agreeably with your climate, resources, society, and above all, your rapidlyincreasing wealth and power. The Duke of Manchester, though a sincere well-wisher of the colonies, has not materially forwarded your interests. In the first place, he is a ; man whose words and opinions carry little weight either m or out of the House of Lords; and m the second place, people have always credited him with what Scotchmen would call " a bee m his bonnet " on the subject of colonisation. Lord Rosebery, on the other hand, ia emphatically a "coming man." A large section of the more moderate Liberals look upon him as one of the future leaders of the party, aud it is everywhere admitted that his striking abilities,'great wealth, and restless ambition continue to mark him out as a peer who may some day assume even the Premiership itself. Lord Rosebery was, for a short time, a member of the present Government, and the reasons of- his withdrawal will be well within the memory of your readers. There can be no doubt he will hold an important portfolio m the next Liberal administration, and hia impressions of the colonies are sure to be listened to. Pew people have more interest with Mr Gladstone tharpLord Rosebery. Apart from the fact that the two men are intimate personal friends, thePre--mier holds (aud has publicly expressed) the highest possible opinion of his Lordship's abilities. Lady Rosebery was a Miss Rothschild, and a great heiress ia hei own right. She is a very clever, fascinating woman, and quite one of the gramhs dapies-pi London society. If her ladyship speaks well of her antipodean tour, you*raay expoct. a .regular influx of aristocratic visitors every September. Many rich people are quite worn out with trying to discover a new distraction, and will I doubt not, jump at the idea of a " ran round tha world," should it becomo fashionable.

An amusing discussion took place at a meeting of the City of London Union on Tues:hy l.v.t re the desirability of frozen meat being used m London workhouses. It seems four: carcases of frozen mutton had been recently sent by a meat contractor to Bow Workhouse, and returned by the master on the ground that they were unfit for human food. The Chairman remarked that some excellent mutton was brought m a frozen condition from New Zealand, and was perfectly good and nutritious. It was sold by hundreds, if not thousands, of butchers m London, and purchased freely for family use. He did not think the •master; at Bas was justified m toturning such meat. Mr Young asked how they could expect to get best English or Scotch beef at the contract price if they refused foreign mutton. They must expeot to, pay/la to Is 4d por pound for it, inßtoad of, as they now did, 7d per pound. Why they could not buy scraps on stalls m Leadenhall or Sraithfield at the price. Mr Paramore, speaking for " the trade," condemned the rejection of this frozen, which was sold by almost every .butcher m London, and taken by thousands elf aristocratic •■ families. (Laughter.) ■ In faot, there was not an aristocratic house m the West End, pr anywhere else, but received this meateither one way or another. Mr A. Lyon, of the Metropolitan Meat Market, said theie had been no greater boon to this country of late years than the importation of killed ttieat from America, Australia, and New Zealand. It was extonsively used m our best hotels and. eating houses. If they excluded such meat from the workhouse, it would tead to a vast increase m the rates. After a lengthy debate, it was decided to add to future contracts that American killed beef and Australian and New Zealand mutton might be included m the supply. Several English papers have contained obituary notices of the Rer. Thomas Buddie, of Auckland, upon whose life Mr Spurgeon recently founded a raoat impressive discourse at the Tabernacle. The death is announced of Lieut.Oolonol Charles Mighbred Shuttleworth, who went through the last Maori war, and fought valiantly at the Gate Pah and Te Rangai. He was twice mentioned m despatches for gallant conduct during the New Zealand campaign. " Pro Bono Publico" writes to the Globe, asking whore New Zealand frozen meat may be purchased? He says he raads of thousands of carcases arriving from the Antipodes weekly, yet if he asks a butcher for colonial meat the man indignantly denies keeping anything but " prime Scotch." "Banking m Australasia, fiom a London official's point of view," is the i title of a new work on colonial finance issued by Blades, East, and Blades. The namo of the author is not given. ' The Ageut-Geneval will despatch 200 Governmant immigrants by the lonic on the 22nd inst. Shaw, Saville's Triumph is filling fast, somewhat to the detriment of the lonic, freight rates i for which are 10s per ton higher all round. The New Zealand Shipping Company are about to remove their office*

to splendid new chambers m Leaden-hall-street, at a rental of £1700 per annum. The rental of the present offices is £700. This looks as if Mr Coster expected to do a big business. Sydney Dolman, announced as a well-known colonial ventriloquist and entertainer, just arrived from Wellington, N.Z., is appearing nightly at the Toacadero Music Hall, m Windmillstreet, with considerable success. Mr J. C. Royse writes to the Morning Post, claiming that the longest telephone m the world is one m use between Royse, Stead and Company's establishment at_Christchurch and Timaru. In order to induce people to join Vesey Steward's party, tho passage rates by tho Northumberland (which will not after all go to Tauranga direct, but to Auckland) have been fixed exceptionally low. Third cabin will be 13 guineas only, and the Baloon itaelf but £35. The worst storm that haa been known m tho North Atlantic for two years raged last Sunday (2nd September), doing terrible damage on the English Coast, and wrecking and disabling scores of small craft, Those two fine ships, the Lady Jocelyn and St Leonards, both of which had only just cleared the Downs on their way to New Zealand; came m for the full force of the hurricane, and were so severely disabled by the wind and sea a3 to have to put back, the former to spithoad and the latter to Gravesend. The St Leonards seems to have got off the choapest— a lifeboat lost and the bowsprit sprung being the extent of her damges. Ths Lady Jocelyn, on the contrary, was m great danger for a time. At tho height of the storm a mountainous. green sea (like the one that did such appalling damage on the Chimborazo a few years ago) thundered on board, carrying away over 30 feet of bulwarks, not to mention Btanchions and deck gear, smashing skylights, etc, flooding the saloon and staterooms, to the great aiarm of seasick passengers. Quantities of luggage have been soaked and ruined, and tho repairs necessary before the Lady Jpdelyn can resume her voyage will ocoupy a week at least. Five. Government immigrants are passengers on the St Leonards. .

The ship West Biding (Oaptaiu Thomas), which «ras reported . by another vessel some weekß ago as having met with a disastrous squall when only a few days out from Lyttelton, arrived safely at the docks on the 31st August, after a prolonged and eventful passage of 123 days. The West Riding left Port Lyttelton on the 19th April, and had not been many hours out before bad weather | came on. Things grew worse up to 2 a.m. on the 20th, when a sudden squall struck the ship violently from the south, carrying away the upper foretopsail, topgallant and royal yards with sails attached, flying jibboora and all the after staysails. Several big seas came aboard, m fact, so much water was shipped that up to 4 a.m. the docks were flooded and could hot be cleared. At dawn the storm moderated, and m due course the West Riding proceeded on her voyage, which was fairly prosperous up to the 22nd May (off Oape Horn) when another terri6c hurricane arose. On this occasion the ship parted with her mainroyal yard, and an appalling thunderbolt fell into the sea within four yards of the bulwarks, absolutely scorching the captain and mate, who were on deck. From this point the passage of the We3t Riding proved ordinary enough. The National Review for September contains an article by Lord Harris on "The Development of Cricket," m which the following paragraph occurs :

— " Having offered a word of advice to. c.'iokot enthusiasts m England, I shall venture to offer ono to Australians,' I do not say enthusiasts m this case, because every Australian native or colonist is that. They should discourage any too anxious inclination on the part of amateurs towards turning cricket into a lucrative) profession. If professional cricketers prove to be necessary m Australia, as I say that they are m England, encourage their appearing by all means ; but do not do anything to encourage the formation of a class of semi-professionals. Cricketing tours round the world are expensive, and it is only fair that those who, for love of the game, leave their professions for timeahould Inadequately remunerated, but there is a happy mean capable of attainment, and too eager stipulation for favorable terms may lead to these visits being trsatod with indifference rather than welcome."

It is unquestionably • a great pity that the Australian mail which brought over the newspapers containing articles on Mr Gladstone's refusal to sanction the annexation of New Guinea and the Pacific Islands should not have arrived before the rising of Parliament. Now that the. colonial view of the question is at last thoroughly understood, a strong revulsion of feeling has taken place, and even thoie who at first strenuously opposed the idea of further annexation now admit that the matter requires grave conaideiation.