ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8073, 14 October 1887, Page 6

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Yesterday afternoon the mail steamer Alameda arrived in Auckland from San Francisco. She was the bearer of London correspondence to the 12th September, and San Franoisco letters and files to the 23rd September. From correspondence to hand we give the following :— London, September 7. NEW ZEALAND MINING. Circulars have just been issued here to the shareholders of the Robs Gold Mining Company, asking them to subscribe for £20,000 additional capital in the shape of "preference shares." As the circulars are only just out the result of the appeal cannot be determined yet, but in some quarters the response will not be favourable. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agenoy Company are agents for the Westland enterprise.

THE NEW ZEALAND ELECTION'S.

Much interest is felt amongst Australians in the ponding elections in New Zealand. The general opinion is that the Stout-Vogel Ministry will be defeated. Indeed it is currently whispered here that the Premier has admitted in letters to friends in London that such will probably be the case.

COLONIALS IN LONDON. Sir J. B. Thurston, Deputy-Governor of Fiji, has just arrived here. He was in Washington for about a fortnight, but I believe the commission on Samoan and other Pacific affairs did not assemble, as the preliminaries could not be satisfactorily arranged, and the question is to be reconsidered by the British, German, and United States Governments.

Mr. Eissling, the manager of the Bank of New Zealand, Auckland, has been in Yorkshire for a few days, and is to arrive in London to-night. Mr. Dignan, the manager of the same institution at Hokitika, is also in London, as are also Mr. P. Comiskey, of Auckland, and Mr. Kennedy, of Westland. Mr. Henderson has bis Polynesian scheme well advanced, and rumour asserts that an effort will be made to float it into a company in a week or ten days. Mr. Bonner, the cricketer, is residing just now with Mr. Scott, captain of the Australian team of ISS6. He has not decided whether he will return to New South Wales or remain permanently in England.

A FOSSIL CONTINENT. The present number of the Cornhill Magazine contains an article on the fauna of Australia, under the title of "A Fossil Continent." The writer begins by saying that, if an intelligent Australian colonist were suddenly translated backwards from Collins-street, Melbourne, into the flourishing woods of the secondary geological period, he, would look around him with a sweet smile of cheerful recognition, and say to himself in some surprise, " Why, this is just like Australia." The article then proceeds to show by instances from the fauna of Australia that the Continent belongs to the secondary geological formation.

A COLONIAL IN SIBEXIA. The Hon. James Campbell, late PostmasterGeneral of Victoria, who has been travelling through Siberia, starting at Vladivostock, has given an account of bis experiences to an interviewer of the Pall Mall Gazette. Mr. Campbell was not at all impressed with the great Russian port of the Pacific, and thinks that the Victorian Government were unnecessarily fearful as to what was to be apprehended from it in the time of the Russian war scare two years ago. It is, he says, anything but a Russian Gibraltar ; on the contrary, he regards it as a place singularly fitted for capture or destruction by an enemy's fleet. It stands on a small bay, the entrance to which conld no doubt be forbidden by the Russians. But winding to the south lies Victoria Bay, separated from Vladivostok by a mile of territory. In this bay a fleet could anchor with perfect safety and bombard the Russian stronghold at their leisure. Not only so, but an island lies about three miles off the mouth of the bay indented in a deep tranquil fjord, which seems as if it were created for trie purpose of sheltering an attacking fleet.

A PBIZB FIGHT. A week to-day a prize fight with gloves took place at Lambeth, between Tom Lees, of Melbourne, champion Australian boxer, and W.Goode, of London. Lees stands 6ft OJi high and weighs list 71b, while Goode's height is sft 9£in, and his weight is lOst I lib. The fight lasted for fully an hour, and although Lees appeared to get the beat of it during the first five rounds, Goode secured an easy vlotory in the end, Lees finishing up utterly exhausted. BISHOP GKIMZS.

On Sunday, August 28, the Festival of St. Louis, the patron saint of France, tbo Right Rev, Dr. Grimes, Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand, solemnised Pontifical High Mass, and preached in the church of Notre Dame de France, in Leicester Square. AFFAIRS OF TONGA. It was mentioned in a previous letter that four members of the House of Commons Sir Robert Fowler, Commander Bethell, Mr. A McArthnr, and Mr. George Baden-Powell —had waited upon Sir Henry Holland, to call his attention to the conduct of the Rev. Shirley Baker, of Tonga, and that the Colonial Secretary informed them that, though he did not intend to disregard Sir Charles Mitchell's advice to allow Mr. Baker to remain in Tonga, he purposed to keep a close watch upon his actions in the future. It has now further transpired that Sir Henry Holland baa written officially to Mr. Baker informing him "that Her Majesty's Government strongly disap-

prove his conduct; that he must remember that as a British subject he is under the jurisdiction of Her Majesty's High Commissioner, and that he will be liable to be deported if any ill treatment of the people of Tonga is traced to his influence." HANLAN AND TEEMER. According to accounts which reach this country from America, Hanlau seems to have been very much cat up by his recent defeat at the hands of Teemer. His wife had provided wine with which to drink her husband's triumph, but it was left untasted. Teemer seems to be improving very fast, and his friends believe he will be champion of the world if he does not allow his head to be turned by early success. THE HON. MR. BROMBY. The Hon. H. C. Bromby, son of Bishop Bromby, of Tasmania, who, on the strength of bis father's position, was made AttorneyGeneral of that colony for a short time, has been rendering himself ridiculous by taking part in an abortive demonstration of working

men and Socialists, in Trafalgar Square, against the proclamation of the National League. THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION. An effort has been made on the part of those interested m the Melbourne Exhibition to obtain a good representation of Irish indns« tries. But, though the idea was received very cordially by the Irish Press, it does cot seem likely that anything will come of it, owing to the indifference of the Irish people generally to anything save politics. They do not seem to have altered in their characteristics since the days when Dean Swift reproached them for having lost the Spanish linen trade by not looking after it.

CHURCH HOUSE FUND. The Colonial Diocesan contributions to the Church House fund have begun by the payment of £50 by the Bishop of Wellington. The site of the Church House will probably bo announced next month. ' BOUNTIES. The attention of our Foreign Office has been called to the proposal recently laid before the Congress of the Argentine Republic to give a bounty of 20 dollars on every ton of beef exported, a bounty of 6 dollars on every ton of mutton exported, and of 3 dollars on each cattle exported alive. Communications are passing between the Foreign Office And the Argentine Republic on the subject. IMPXBUL FEDERATION. The Imperial Federation League is prospering in its mission to spread the principles of Imperial Federation amongst our public schoolboys. Lectures upon Imperial Federa-

tion have been delivered by Mr. J. £,• Stephen before tba Literary Society of Eton* by Mr. H. F. Wilson, before the upper forms of Clifton College; by Canon Daltcn, the tutor to the young Princes of Wales, at Marlborough College; whilst arrangements ara pending for the delivery of lectures at Cbr.rterhonae, Uppingham, and Harrow. Out of thirty-eight public schools, also, seven have debated the question of Imperial Federation at the school debating societies, whih in nine others it has formed the sub* jsct of a prize poem or an English or Latin essay.

COLONIAL STUDENTS.

The journal of the Imperial Federation League also claims that an important step in federation has been taken by the decision of

the University of Oxford to admit colonial and Indian universities, not into affiliation, but federation, with itself. By this arrange* ment any student hailing from a university thus federated with Oxford, "who shall have pursued during two full years the course of study prescribed by such university, and shall have passed all the examinations connected with the course," will be able to take his degree with only a two years' residence on the banks of the Isis,

MISCELLANEOUS. Mr. Robert Roland Wisdom, son of Sir Robert Wisdom, of New South Wales, was married on August 23, to Miss Agnes Beatrice Bestic, eldest daughter of the late Mr. Brereton Bestic, of Dublin. The wedding took place at St Luke's Church, West Norwood, and was attended by a large assemblage. The Orient Company contemplate aban* doning their coaling station in mid Paoilio, Diego Garcia, and coaling for the future at Albany. The man describing himself as the "Rev.Dr Keating," who was sentenced last December to eighteen months' imprisonment at Dublin for obtaining money nnder false pretences, has just been liberated on account of ill health. He intends to deliver a course of lectures in Dublin, and then return to Australia, where doubtless he will bo well looked after by the authorities. « The death is announced in the London newspapers of Mr. Wilfred E. Roger, chief officer of the Jessie Headman, who was washed overboard between New Zealand and Cape Horn about midnight on June 12. The will has been proved of Mr. John Pearson, J.P., of Golborn Park, Newton-le-Willows, who died on June 2 last. Mr. Pearson possessed property in New Zealand, which he leaves to be divided amongst his two sons, who are resident there. The Tainui reached Plymouth on Saturday last, and landed the captain and crew of an Italian barque which had been burnt at sea. Mr. Musgrave, the well-known Melbourne theatrical manager, has secured the Australian copyright of " The Pointsman," a new play which has just been produced at the Olympic Theatre in London. Father Kelleher, who has been making a tour of the colonies to collect funds for the O'Connell Memorial Church, states that he has received upwards of £5500, so that he has not done very badly. The fate of the Antipodean bunny" appears to be sealed. Ad offer has been made to the Australasian Governments by an English baronet, Sir Hereward Wake, of Courten Hall, Northamptonshire, to annihilate the rabbits of Australia and New Zealand. The plan by which he proposes to do this has not been divulged, bat he is so confident of success that he is understood to be prepared to take payment by results, and, supposing he does not quite destroy the plague he is willing to forego payment. He has made experiments on rabbit warrens at home on a small scale, but desires to carry out further tests before sending in his final proposal. The Daily News has published this week 801110 extracts sent to it by a correspondent from the utterances of prominent public men in Now Zealand tending to show that the feeling of that colony is in favour of granting Home Rule to Ireland.

Mr. Arthur Clayden has been writing to the English newspapers in favourable terms of the future prospects of New Zealand. Ho thinks, however, that there is scope for considerable economy in the administration of the Civil Service.

It has been announced in London that in consequence of the recent persecutions in Tonga, the French have yielded to the entreaties of the Marist Fathers and Queen Lavelua, and taken Wallis Island under their protection. The sole importance of Wallis Island consists in the fact that it lies midway between Samoa and Fiji. There are also rumours that further annexations in the Western Pacific are not improbable. On Saturday last Lady Berry, at New-castle-on-Tyne, launched the Courier, a screw steel excursion steamer, built by Messrs. Swan and Hunter, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, for Messrs. Huddart, Parker and Co., of Melbourne and Sydney. The Courier, which is intended to ply within the waters of Port Philip, has a length of 221 feet, a breadth of 30 feet, and & depth of 14 feet, and will accommodate 2000 passengers. It has also been fitted up so as to be utilised by the Victorian Government in case of emergency as a dispatch boat, a transport ship, or an armed scout. After the ceremony and launching was over a luncheon was given, at which Sir Graham Berry made a speech wherein he defended at some length the protectionist policy of Victoria, and made a few observations of no great note upon the New Hebrides question. A company is about to be launched in London called the Land Owners' and Lands Bank of Australia. The capital is £1,000,000 sterling, of which it is said £200.000 has been subscribed privately, and £300,000 are to be placed upon the London market. Mr. John Kenuaway, Secretary to the New Zealand Office, is spending his vacation at Brighton.