COLONIAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7593, 24 March 1886, Page 6

COLONIAL ITEMS.

NEW ZEALAND LOAN AND MERCAN- ' TILE AGENCY COMPANY. The twenty-first annual general meeting of the shareholders of thie company took plaoeon February 5, at tho offices, Queen Viotoria-street, under the presidency of Sir James Ferguseon, Bart., M.P; The Chairman stated that he occupied the chair on that occasion iu the absence of Mr. Mundella, whose acceptance of offiae, as a Minister of the Crown, had required the right hou. gentleman to resort to his constituents. Tho ouly unfavourable feature that he had to refer to in the working of the pest year was the small diminution of net profits, which had been £65,729, compared with £72,270 in 1884 ; but they would see that on the volume of the business done by the company the decrease was inconsiderable. The depression which had prevailed had been unprecedented, and as Mr. Goschen pointed out last autumn, there had been diminished profits in every branch of trade, while the volume of business done had not decreased. That had been tho experience of this company. They remained at the head of the New Zealand importers of wool, and they stood seoond of all the importers of wool to this country. Their wool constituents had increased since ISBO from 1021 to 1164, but he regretted to say that the gross proceeds of the consignments had fallen from £1,400,000 to a little over £1,000,000. Again, the company's oonetituenta of all produce had increased from 1223 to 1366, but he had to regret, again, that the proceeds from those consignments had fallen from £1,900.000 to £1,400,C00. They bad a very large business in frozen meat, and to show them the magnitude of it he would inform tbera that the company had had 237,000 carcases consigned to them for sale iu the last four years, the number last year being 106,500. The reserve fund of the oompany had beeninoreased in every year, and now amounted to £265,000, being 75 per cent, in amount of their paid-up capital. The high credit of the company was ehown by the decreased interest thev had to pay now on their debentures. The motion was seconded, and, after a short discussion, was oarried unanimously, and a dividend st the rate of 10 per cent, per annum and a bonus of 5 per cent, were declared (making 15 per oent. for the year). The proceedings closed in the usual manner.

COLONEL STANLEY ON COLONIAL AFFAIRS. The High Commissioner for Canada, Sir C. Tapper, aa<l all the Agents-General, on Tuesday vieited the Colonial Office, where Colonel Stanley took leave of them upon his retirement from the Secretaryship of State for the Coloniea, an office he has filled with judgment and discretion. Sir Charles Tupper at first addressed him, thanking him for the uniform courtesy with which he had received them, and the care and attention he had bestowed upon the many matters of interest which had come before him. Colonel Stanley warmly thanked the High Commissioner aud the Agents-General, and then went on to speak of the various important colonial questions of the day. The condition of South Africa, and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, were both referred to, and Colonel Stanley stated that the Imperial Government had already experienced benefit from the completion of that great work. He then passed to the consideration of Australasian affairsHe said he was favourable to the administration of New Guinea by the Australasian colonies in oonjunotion with the Colonial Office, and it was important that the Federal Council should take up this question, he considering it within their sphere to make representations, and to offer advice to the home Government upon the subject. The question of finance in relation to New Guinea could not, however, be ignored. As far aa those colonies who were not members of the Federal Council were concerned, he was of opinion that they might: be separately consulted ; and it would be a matter for regret if, owing to their not joining the Federal Conntil, such inaction on their part when important questions came up for consideration should be found to lead to their isolation. He had lately received a couple of deputations advocating State-aided emigration. He was himself favourable to the establishment of a Central Bureau in connection with the Colonial Office, which would assist rather than interfere with the arrangements now made by the various colonies. The question had also been raised whether the intimate communication now established between the Colonial Office and the AgentsGeneral had intruded on the duties of the various colonial Governors. Iu his opinion, however, this close communication should be encouraged, and in no wiae interfered with the relations subsisting between the Governors and Her Majesty's subjects in the colonies themselves. After he had again thanked them the Agents-General then took their leave.

FOOD AND LONGEVITY IN NEW ZEALAND, A comparison between the mortality of the population in England and New Zealand is full of instruction with regard to the conditions of life at the antipodes. Statistics published by a noted phveician go to prove that the average death-rate per 1000 in the latter country is only 11, while in England it is 22, This is attributed to the fact that the bulk of the population in the southern colony is well fed, while in England it is the reverse. Something also mast be put down to the healthiness of the climate ; but it still remains a remarkable fact that the chances of prolonging life in New Zealand are double those at home. Assuming that the reported rate of mortality in that colony is correct, the chances of longevity appear to be immensely inoreased by the free use of animal food. It ia well known that a colonial labourer eats meat twice or three times a day, and children are accustomed to that diet in a proportionate scale. The results are to be seen in these comparative statistics. New Zealand is certainly an attractive place of residence. THE FEDERAL OCEAN MAIL SERVICE. Mr. Baker has at length brought his " Federal Ocean Mail Service" scheme to a successful conolusion. Tenders have been issued by the Imperial Post office r.n behalf of Great Britain and the colonies for a weekly mail service in 29 days from London co Adelaide on the termination of the present postal contracts. The mails will be landed at Adelaide and carried overland by railway to Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. The steamship companies are to be invited to tender for the oarriage of mail matter by weight, and Great Britain and each colony are to keep all their own postages, and to pay the cost of the transmission of their own mail matter right through to their destination. Tenders will be received up till April 30, but it is not likely that any decision will be announced for some time after that date, as the tenders will have to be forwarded by the Post Office to the Treasury, and then sent on to the colonies. The new arrangement has been very favourably commented upon by most of the leading London journals, who are disposed to see in it an important contribution to the cause of colonial and imperial federation. THE WORLD ON MR. FROUDE'S NEW BOOK. This week's World contains a very thoughtful criticism upon Mr. Froude's "Oceana," under the title of "Misleading SpreadEagleism." The writer strongly disapproves a practice which is becoming so common of eminent persons visiting our colonies and coming baok and describing everything as coultur de rose. This is not only bad, he says, for the cause of truth, it is likely to have an injurious effect npon the colonies as well. "Those who have tried colonial life," continues this writer, "and who have—as only too many have, through no fault of their own, but ignorance—not been eucceeeful, always tell the same story : they were mieled by the too favourable accounts given by some perhaps interested person, perhaps too facile a recipient of materials for a book of travels. One result of this is that there is an already considerable and continuously increasing number of discontented men in the colonies, as will soon be discovered by any visitor who stays a little time and does not scamper through them with an eye to a cheque from a publisher." Commenting upon Mr. Froude's assertion that during his etay at the antipodes he

" never met a hungry man, or saw J* diecontented face," the writer in the Worldremarks :—" When the author of 'Ooeana' was at Melbourne an inquiry into the etate of the labour market for the previous year would have disclosed circumstances of a oharaoter to make Uβ greatly admire the fortitude of the workmen if they never wore discontented faoes. Even a great historian does not write a book of travels, it is to be supposed, without some preparation ; and a file of Sydney nownpapors for a few months, before his visit would have proved useful if not agreeable reading. Day after day appeared in their columns lugubrious articles, headed, 'The Unemployed." One day ' there were several hundred men in Sydney unable to find employment.' On anolher day representations were made to the Government that upwards of eighty men were Bleeping in the open air in a single public promenade, beoause they were without the means of paying for a lodging." GERMANY AND SAMOA.

The St. James' Gazette is publishing a series of short artioles, descriptive of Samoa, from the pen ot Miss Gordon dimming. The fair writer, at the commencement of the first article, parenthetically remarks that " although it has now been authoritatively asserted that the annexation of Samoa by Germany has not yet been decreed.it is certain that the Germans who have acquired large interests in the oountry will do their very utmost to establish German rule in the Samoan group. The protection of Great Britain has so often being solicited in vain by the distracted islanders—weary of strife and craving peace and union—that Germany might well deem herself entitled to Blip in and assume not merely a proteotorate, but the sovereignty of the lovely islands whioh have long been so torn by ceaseless inter-tribal wars." THE NEW COLONIAL SECRETARY. The post of Colonial Secretary, which has been alloted by popular rumour to nearly every member of tho now Cabinet, has, at length, fallen into the incompetent hands of Earl Granville. The Pall Mall Gazette desoribus this as a sad and disheartening nomination. "We did not want," says that journal, " a Minister saturated and poisoned for thirty years with the evil doctrines of the old Manchester anti-colonial school, to bo installed at the Colonial Office at a time when, if ever, we needed a fresh and sympathetic hand ready to respond warmly to the imperial aspirations of the English on both sides ot the sea."