OUR LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6001, 10 February 1881, Page 5

OUR LONDON LETTER.

g Loxdox, December 30, ISSO. s FOOD TASTING. * Food tasting is one of the most diilienii e things in the workl to conduct with lieoom ing propriety. When you arc invited for -Ji, special purpose of passing a judgment n.ro: dietary products that you know it is in ih. interest of the host to be praised, you an put in the dilemma, unless the products rui e uniformly excellent, of being either surly o o dishonest. The lurcheon on board thi e Orient, at the Royal Albert Docks, brouiriv out in the usual style all the difficulties o food-tasting. The saloon tables groanei under the weight of the specimen food-suppli h of the colonies, which had been tauisnorte! >• in the Bell-Coleman refrigerator c: t'n 'I" steamer. Nothing was wanting to make v.i I- a most recherche luncheon in all its courses il- I shall not be able to enumerate them all n but by way of fish there was cod, fr»i schnapper, and oysters ; of flesh there wer lamb cutlets, fillets of beef, roast gootie u haunches of mutton, pork, ham, and tongue t of vegetables and fruits there were per.s beans, artichokes, asparagus, tomatoes e pme-apples, oranges, and strawberries Naturally, 111 a company met to praise 0 there was nothing but praise oiibred and the fish and vegetables eer tainly deserved everything that was m their favour. They might have bee: received that morning from Billingsgate ani Covent Garden, ii, was gencrally'admitted Q unfortunately, the same general a.ree e ment could not be over the meat. So far a: r the taste is concerned, there was notbi'iK- :t = indicate the length of the voyage that it hr.< : taken. But neither the lamb nor the fillet c: £ beef looked as it ought to do, and look ir the matter of food is everything when / comes to selling it. The fibres were slacl t the colours dark ; but, for all that, Sii A. Blyth "never wished to have better.' j But the importers are not going to stop r- , what they have achieved. Mr. T. (5. 3. 1 Anderson admitted that the appearance oi the viands was not all that could be hoped for, and looked forward to a time when the , freezing machinery must be brought to a ; higher pitch of perfection. I fancy the Victorian strawberries surprised the guests more than anything on the table. They are small compared with the strawberries oi Holland and Scotland ; but, notwithstanding their journey, they seem to retain all lheix original delicacy of flavour. The prospect of having oysters at sixpence a dozen naturally created considerable excitement. EMIGRATION OF WOMEN. Sir Bartle Frere thinks the colonies arc . much in need of "women of the upper classes." He said so at a drawing-room meeting of the Women's Emigration Society, held at the house of Sir Henry Thompson. . If they are, it is certainly more true now thaja ; ever it was that there are multitudes of . "women of the upper class" who could ht L referred to the colonies. Various interpre- . tr.tions have been put upon this expression j of opinion by the ex-Governor from the Cape. But it is generally understood to ; mean that the graces and amenities of life would stand more improvement, which any importation of marriageable female aristocrats might effect. The reports road concerning those who have been sent out to South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania, Canada, New Zealand, and Queensland, were held to be more than a justification of the laboui's of the society. A pathetic picture was drawn by Sir Bartle, of the hard usage women, accustomed to the refinements of life, had sometimes to undergo through lack of organisations to assist them to their homes; whereas the labourer, by application to Resident Magistrates, &c., found speedy employment. KALAKAUA AND GERMANY. A couple of young Hawaiians have arrived at Berlin, for the purpose of being educated in the mysteries of the Prussian military and 1 marine. By itself that has not much significance, perhaps, but King Kalakaua has taken the opportunity of introducing his name into European Courts along with thern'l The English letter he has addressed to Prince Henry, of Prussia, who visited HoaoMa during his cruise, has the true kingly ring about it. Here it is : —"Your Royal High--1 ness, —The wonderful progress and success of Germany in the' art of war, have in the highest degree turned on it the attention of all rulers and people of the world. Fully conscious of the advantage and necessity of having scientifically trained officers in my service, I have resolved to have two subjects of my State educated in the naval and military establishments of the German Empire. Your Royal Highness' visit to Honolulu, the capital of my kingdom, has left behind an unfading remembrance of your Royal Highness. I hope sincerely, and it is my highest wish, ihr.t neither time nor anything else will extinguish the recollections of it in my heart. Wishiug your Royal Highness a distinguished career in the Imperial German navy, I hope to be yet able to greet your Royal Highness as supreme commander of your national ships.—l am, dear Prince, your good friend, Kalakaua Rex." COLONIAL ART. It is a fact in connection with the ■ that their devotion to trade, ar almost exclusively, as it seems fr- "r 7ra "'' in England, repels eveiy cultivat* ? seryF studying their life and politic? " m? ail • much to learn about old ci e]y .cot" 0 - France, Germany, Italy, "opsin f > £ ° say, that the life of the jtl s merchants, unrelieved as it " ~ .i literature of any Original a>- C . n a, \r ! growth, is dull and uninV a* 1 "- this idea majy 0 f the V i s t away from thoughts ' ,i& , s^ gether, and now the*" .vcs^ tl^V, s se s ; indifferentism of <• tfcc Dilke, when it ir ought to be stP one of his r f I made an a'' W "Afte- J c o-o- y;. * as c<• a-oeeoj l v vcS c r .ec C f t^5 s e :Ws r l co^ v tfao*".. t^ e . s A a, c \ V \ A • >\C ? sr** .oi.

daresay I can find out.' I did find out ill a I few months, and the writer "was the daughter I of a tradesman in a New Zealand provincial town." After an announcement of that sort, from one highly placed in the Government, it is needless to say that a volume will be expected in due coure from " the daughtei of a tradesman." ENGLISH POLITICS. Ireland still engages the largest share of public attention. So far as politics are concerned, it may be said that nothing but IreLaud is discussed in London circles. Socially, things grow from bad to worse. Connaught aad°Munster are rapidly becoming uninhabitable to the land-owning class. You are already familiar with the new system known as "Boycotting." It consists in a whole neighbourhood uniting against one member of the community to deprive him of the all evory-day services of life. If he wants domestic assistance he cannot get it, for his servants all leave him. His labourers dare not go into his fields. At the shops he will not be served. Nobody will carry his letters for him from the post. From the smallest to the largest relationships of life he is shut out, like one of the lepers of old, until at last he lias to seek refuge in Engand. Dublin is not even safe for him ; as in Captain Boycott's case, the very hotel he took refuge in after leaving Mayo was besieged with threatening letters? that the landlord could not afford to ignore. What has occurred in Captain Boycott's case is now happening freely all over si;-: counties. The Land League, directing hundreds of local agencies, is the one Government whose commands are understood i;i Ireland, and promptly obeyed. The penalty of disobedience has been cursing, strangling, shooting, maiming, burning, and stoning. The best news has been received by the Irish magistrates themselves, who, in a circular to the Government, have confessed that, such is the state of the country, they cannot obtain the slightest assistance from thu public in the detection of crime, and that virtually their functions must be considered at an end. Meanwhile, however, the military force in Dublin has been greatly Strengthened, and extraordinary precautions are being adopted during the progress of Sir. Parnell's trial. The apprehensions that were felt at the Castle may be judged from the fact that orders have been issued, con- ' fining all the troops of the Dublin garrison to their respective barracks, while all guards and pickets in the city are to be augmented. Entrenching took—that is, picks, hammers, ©rowbars—are to be served out to each regiment, with lanterns, candles, and matches for the use of patrols. Obviously, however, the trial is to be allowed to pass off without any serious show of organised revolt. When Parliament reassembles it may be taken for granted that much will be said concerning the supineness of the Government for their treatment of Ireland. For three months at least, there has been an absolute cessation of rule, and Government have taken no steps to re-establish order. A contempt for the ordinary course of justice has thus been allowed to take root in the Irish mind that it will take a generation to efface. But though there will be considerable Opposition censure on that point, it seems certain that there will be some amount of co-operation between parties in the construction of a Land Act. Some ' similar attempt will certainly be made to give the Irish tenant fixity of tenure upon the land he cultivates; for, it is now invariably admitted that the system of middlemen and the progress of rack-renting have created infinite grievance in the West and outh of Ireland. The difficulty parliamentary faction will, however, be greatly increased by the policy of the Irish party. Assuredly, they only care about the land ' agitation as a means to do evil, the end being the separation of Ireland from England. They care very little, therefore, about any measure of reform short of Home Rule. But, Radical though the present Parliament is, it will not seek to discuss Home Rule. DEATH OF GEORGE ELIOT. P: y far the most important domestic event is the death of George Eliot, the distin- '. guisked novelist. Round her grave yester- ' day, in Higligate cemetery, gathered most of ' the contemporaries distinguished in art, science, and letters. It is difficult to describe the feeling that obtains here in connection with her death, For years she lias been, without a single peer or rival, the first novelist of England. Other writers may have had special gifts of construction that she did not possess ; but for the qualities of breadth, thought, tenderness, humour, and weight she was unapproachable'. Her style changed considerably in her latter years. Between "Adam Bede" and "Daniel Deronda" there is a wide gulf. In her later days she wrote under a load of scientific and literary culture that clogged her spontaneity of expression. Style apart, however, her profound insight into character was as manifest in the Last as in the earliest book. Readers will look, about in vain for a successor, for there isrno writer in the field with any of her early promise or her natural genius. • J