ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7647, 26 May 1886, Page 7

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) London, April 9. A. conference between the Agents-General and the representatives of several Government departments was held last week, at whioh a discussion took place upon the International Copyright Bill, which the Government propose to introduce this session. The explanations that were made on behalf of the Imperial authorities showed that the latter are very desirous of removing the injustice under which colonial .authors have long laboured in connection with the copyright question. Should this Bill become law, equal protection will bo conceded to authors throughout the Empire, and thun a valuable boon will be conferred upon literary men. The issue of the conference was that it was decided to refer the proposed measure to the colonial Governments, but if, meanwhile, opportunity offers it will be proceeded with in the Commons. The prize list for the examinations held in the Edinburgh School of Medicine have been published. They include a good mnuy Australian names, and amongst them those of Mr. J. C. Palmer, of New Zealand, who has passed in tho lirst year's examination in practical anatomy, and Mr. John Cuuningham, of tho same colony, who cornea out second in the senior division for midwifery and the diseases of women. The London Chamber of Commerce Ins offered a prize of £50 for the best essay upon tho subject of how to give practical effect to a policy of Imperial b'ed"oration, Essays for this competition have to be in tho hautis of Mr. Kenric B. Murray, tho secretary to the Chamber, by August '25. Dr. Julius Von Uaast has lieen elected a Fellow of the Koyal Colonial Institute. Another nail has been driven in the coffin of the man Maxwell, who was arrested soma time ago in Auckland for the murder of Mr. Preller, of Bradford, by the discovery of letters which Freller wrote shortly before hie murder, in whioh he mentions that he had been showing Maxwell, alias Brooks, round Boston, and that they vrere going on together to San Francisco. The Otago Football Ctub wa3 represented at the annual meeting of the Hugby football Union, which was held in London a few days since. The djlejjato (Mr. S. E. Sleigb) explained to the meeting that the rules of his club were identical with those of the Union, with the exception that they had lony ago adopter! the system of scoring by points, and that it had given entire satisfaction. Mr, Sleigh also referred to tho report of the intended vi3it of tho London Hovers to Australasia, and to the letter respecting the same which had been received from the person named Parsons. Mr. Sleigh said that since this individual could not be traced he had come to the conclusion that the affair was a hoax. Nevertheless he assured the meeting that if English players did contemplate a visit to the Antipodes they would dud "gates" as large as any iu England, a true love of sport, aad a cordial reception. Frequent travellers between Australasia and Great Brit&ia will be interested to learn that there is at least a probability of the old point of arrival and departure, Brindisi, being superseded by the historically and politically important port of Salonica. The extension of the Servian Railway to tin; latter place will be completed before the t;mi of this year, aud when this is done the jnuruey from Paris will be able to be effeotsd in 60 hours, an 3 the further journey by sea from Saloniea to Alexandria in 6b , hours, making a total of 1-6 hours. The railway from Paris to Brindisi occupies i>2 hours, and the sea journey from Br:udi3i to Suez $-' hours, making a total of LSI hours, or eight hours longer than the Salonica route. It is possible that the Austrian-Lloyd Company will establish a line of swift steamers bet ween Salonica and Alexandria, in order to develope the advantages offered by this rente. Probably few colonists, however familiar they may be with Sir Ky. Taylor as an author, are aware of his connection with the colonies, or rather with the Coloni.il Office. Yet for 4S years the deceased author and diplomat occupied a highly important position in the Colonial Office, and not only so, but took a degree of pride and interest in hii work which the o.liciais of that department do not often display. He was always on the look-out for fresh talent to intrcduce into the department, and was intensely disappointed when Cardinal Manning, who waa once a clerk in the Colonial Office, quitted it in disgust at the little prospect of promotion which it held out. M. deLeasepshas returned from his flying visit to the Panama Canal, and ha 3 come back with very optimistic accounts as to the future of the undertaking. At the present moment, he says, the dredging ie beiQg carried on at the rate of 3000 cubic metre!) a day. From 15,000 to 20,000 men are being employed on the Canal, and he confidently anticipates its completion at the end of three years. The total cost of the work will be from 40 to 44 millions sterling. M. de Leseeps denies that 2S million sterling was ever mentioned as the total cost of the construction of the Canal, such sum, when put forth, not including the administrative expenses at Paris and Panama, the interest on loans, reimbursement of loans, and incidental expenses. The much-lauded infant phenomenon, Erneat Eutcheson, of Melbourne, who has been grandiloquently termed the Mozart of the Antipodes, has not altogether justified the high expectations which were formed of tim. Since his arrival in England the little lad has competed for one of the open scholarships in the Royal College of Music. He was so far successful to be one of the 2.-,5 condidatee who were weeded out of the original applicants, who numbered Goli, but at the final examination be failed to ,i front place, and had to be content with being claesed proxime accmil. Three scholarship! for pianoforte playing wore awarded to threo girls, two of whom were 14 years of age, like. Hutcheaon, and the other 18. It is alao notable that at this examination severa, children younger than Hutcheson were classed proxime acce-ml as well as himself. Mr. Arthur Ciayden is now lecturing in the provinces, and is also writing letters to tbc leading provincial journals, hearing teatimony to the advantages which Nev« Zealand offers as a field for emigration. Mr. Gladstone having refused, on the part of the Government;, to conveuo a conference in connection with the Indian and Colonial Exhibition upon Imperial federation, Mr. Howard Vincent, M.P., intends at an early date to move a resolution to the effect that the time has arrived for tho Government of the mother country to take active steps to bring about a federation of the British Empire for tiuch Imperial purposes as defence, the control of foreign and the extension of commerce. The conference of the Imperial Federation League and its branches will be h«ld ou the Ist and 2nd of July next, and will be followed on July 'A by a banquet. It is to be hoped that the delegates from the colonial branches will be able to be present. The subject to be specially dealt with will be Imperial federation in itu ■various aspects. Sir Charles Nicholaon, formerly Chancellor of the University of Syrinc-y, haa leccivrd the honorary degree of D.D. from the University of Edinburgh. Sir Charles Cooper, the first Chief Justice of South Australia, is now very ill. The learned judge is a nonagenarian, having been born in the year 1795. Few people in South Australia are aware that he Hurvivcs. The Government know it, because he has been in receipt of a handsome pension from the colony eince IS6O. The establishment of a commercial museum In London for Indian, colonial, and foreign products is being mooted. It is thought that at the expiration of the Exhibition there will be a distribution of a larqe quantity of materials that will be useful in the formation of such a museum. The London Chamber of Commerce and the powerful East and West India Dock Company are interesting themselves in the proiect. " Major Levtn, • nephew »f Lady Dillon Bell, died on the Slet inet,, and was buried fast Saturday. The New Zealand Public Debt Conversion ■oheme is progressing very satisfactorily. Of the New Zealand consols, and the 4/, 5-30's 4wo and a-half millions sterling have applied to be converted, leaving only a balance which ii quite manageable. Freeh experiments with tbe herring ova •re to be made during the South Kensington Exhibition, with a view of ascertaining tbe beet means of keeping the temperature cool. ProfeMor Cas«er Ewart declares that it will be quite possible to obtain fresh ova, as it can be shipped at almost auy time of the year. There is thus every prospect of the experiments beinj; repeated under satiefactory circumstances, f eter Jamieson, the

man. in charge of the ova, has returned from Madeira, and reports that the failure w»8 entirely owing more to mechanical causes than anything else, and which can be readily obviated in any future shipment. Your Agent-General has been fortunate enough to be able indirectly to repay Sir James Maitlaud for his frequent and valuable services to the New Zealand Government in cc'imeotion with the shipment of salmon ova. Recently a private Bill, called the Falkirk Water Bill, hae been before the House of Lords, whioh, had it passed into law would practically have ruined the famous Howietoun hshory, where such valuable experiments in pisciculture have been carried on for so many years. During the investigation of the Bill before the Lords' committee, Sir Dillon Bell was examined as a witness, and it happened most fortunately that, on the very day he was called and examined as to the value of the tishery, he had received, and was alile to produce, a telegram from the New Zealand Government announcing the success of the shipment of salmon ova dispatched by the lonic in January. Ho was questioned as to tho extent of the shipment, and his announcement that it consisted of '250,000 salmon ova greatly impressed the minds of tho committee. Lord Sidmouth, who was chairman of the committee, seeing the impression produced, very adroitly pushed his questions a little further, with the result that when the vote was taken shortly afterwards, tho Bill was rejected, and the Howietown fishery saved. Tho Kev. Mr. Watson, of Cliristchurch, returns in tho Kaikoura. During his visit hero Mr. Watson has delivered about a hundred lectures under the auspices of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and hr.a so impressed the society with thn conviction of his worth that they have made most favourable otters to him to resign Iris Christchurch cure, but he has withstood the temptation. Last Friday a lecture was delivered at tho Royal United Service Institution by Lieutenant Crutehley, of the New Zealand Shipping Company's .Kaikoura, upon the use of merchant steamers for offensive aud ;ind defensive purposes. Lieutenant Crutchley said that in tho event of a war breaking out between England and another naval Power, admirable as was our surveillance of the seas, it would be impossible for our navy to coucentrate an effective forco in any quarter of the globe at a week's notice ao as 1:o such of the enemy's cruisers as might be lying in wait for our rr.erchaut vessels in an out-of-the w.iv corner of the ocean. But if vessels of the Kaikoura type were allowed to carry a moderate armament he thought they would bo able to I','we a good account of any "scratch pack " which, on. the outbreak of a war, miotic be sent to capture them. Lieutenant Crutehley further declared that tho men of tne merchant navy were becoming more and morn favour able i'o the idea of joining the Royal Naval Reserve. A discussion followed, in which M r. B.idcri Powell and Sir Nathaniel Barnaby took part.

The death of Mr. VV. E, Forster came upon London as a very great and terrible surprise, for, though the right lion, gentleman had been indisposed so long, it was thought that he had passed through the worst portion of hie illness, and that tho comparatively mild weather we have beon enjoying lately would have facilitated his complete recovery. It haa been very much commented upon that, although Mr. Gladstone heard of hia late colleague's drath on Monday afternoon before Parliament assembled, he made no allusion to the sad circumstance in the House. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the leader of the Opposition, sat waiting iu his place purposely to second auy remarks which luiyht fall from Mr. Gladstone with reference to the right hon. member for Bradford. It was not until the conclusion of Tuesday night's sitting that the Prime Minister gav 2 expression to any feeling of regret up :i Mr. Foreter'a death. When he did •pek, however, Mr. Gladstone meted out no ungrudging prai3e. Tho late member for Bradford could not have been better described than as a man "upon whom there can be no donbt th»t Nature had laid her han.l for the purpose of forming a thoroughly and independent character," and furthermore jis " a man who never deviated from the straight path he had marked out for himself—a man of unflinching courage, although a lover of peace ; a man profoundly attached to the welfare and greatness of his country, an! acutely sensitive of whatever appertained to its honour." The loss of a man like Mr. Forster is (additionally felt at the present momen'fc when the dUmembermcnt of the Empire is a project actually under the consideration of the Queens Parliament. What would have been the departed statesman's attitude upon this question may be inferred from the fact that " No Home Rule " wati the last message which came to the English people from the chamber of the dying man. Of ! :he keen interest which Mr. Furster took in the colonies it is needleas here to apeak, inasmuch aa his name is aa familiar at the aDtipodea as ait home. The right hon. gentleman commenced his Ministerial career as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and there is no doubt that he would have been well satisfied had hia diplomatic labours been confined to the Co'onial Office. It would certaiuly have been better for the Government and better for tho colonies, though perhaps not quite eo well for Great Britain locally, had Mr. Forster been at the Colonial Ofiiea during the previous Gladstone Government iustcad of Lord Derby, and had some other man taken the dancerous and thaakless po3t of Irish Secretary. It is understood that Mr. Forster will be buried at Burloy-in- Wharfdale to-morrow. This afternoon a funeral tervice over tho body was held in Westminster Abbey, previous to its departure northwards. Old Kugbians wiil not need to be reminded that Mr. Forster married a daughter of their famous headmaster, Dr. Arnold. It is probable that Mr. Arnold Forster, the well-known son of tho deceased statesmen, will be invited to contest Central Bradford in Buccca«ion to hia distinguished father. The Prince of Wales has arranged for the appointment of a deception Committee in connection with the forthcoming Indian and Colonial Exhibition of which the Lord Mayor, Rev. Daniel Cooper, and Sir Charles Tupper are amongst the members, to make arrangements for the reception of Indian and colonial visitors. The idea is one which His Royal Highness haa in great wisdom borrowed from the practice which prevails at the annual congresses of our scientific, literary, and learned institutions. The Reception Committee will organise visits to manufacturing towns, places oi historical ioterpst, etc., and generajly provide facilities for Indian and colonial visitors to see as much of the mother country as possible during their stay here. In order to assist iu the carrying out of the scheme the committee has been authorised to collect subscription, the Society of Arts has consented to allow its houee in the Adelplii and its general organisation to be made use of by the committee, and it ia hoped the authorities of the principal provincial towns v.'hich are visited will afford hospitality to the Indian and colonial quests. On Wednesday a deputation from the Aborigines Protection Society waited upon Sir VV, G. Dea Vceux, late Governor of Fiji, to express their appreciation on tho part of the society in which they held his eminent u?rvices in the cause of civilisation and humanity in various parts of the world, more especially in Fiji and the Western Pacific, and to convey to him and Lady lies Voeux their best wishes for his welfare in the new sphere of action (Newfoundland) to which he is about to proceed. In replying to the deputation, Sir W, Dos Vceux entered | at some length into the general policy which he pursued in Fiji. Four membora of the crewe in the Oxford and Cambridge boat race, which wae decided last Saturday, hailed from the antipodes. Messrs H. M. Maclean and D. H. Maclean (who rowed in the Oxford boat) are Queenslanders ; Mr, W. St. L. Robertson (a dark blue) is a Victorian, aa in also Mr. S. Fairbairn, who pulled in the Cambridge crew. A considerable surplus being left over alter the banquet to Mr. Murray Smith, it was decided to invest the money in a magnificent diamond bracelet for Mre. Murray Smith, who is now on tho Continent. This is to be privately given to her huaband tomorrow. Enough applications have been received for shares in the Kapanga Gold Mining Company to make the reconstruction of the concern a decided success. The show cases made of New Zealand woods are being put up in the courts, and are attracting considerable attention. The Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lome inspected the New Zealand and other Australasian courts a few days ago, and were greatly struck with the beauty of the colonial woods. The Marquis of Lome has been down to the Exhibition several times oi late to see what ie going on, aud he bo

much admired the Victorian trophy that he said he would persuade the I'riucous to come down and see it.