ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9083, 18 June 1888, Page 6

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPOND London, May 11. Mr. H. A. Sharpe, of New Zealand, has been called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. It is reported the Pacific Islands Trading Company project has been allowed to drop, as the public response was not sufficiently cordial to justify its being proceeded with. The death of Mr. F. W. Chesson, which occurred from inflammation of the lungs, removes a man who, in name at least, was known throughout all the English colonies. Mr. Chesson was a journalist by profession, but he is best known in his capacity of secre-

tary to the Aborigines Protection Society. It cannot be denied that he did a great deal of good, but at the same time he was the well meaning cause of some amount of mischief. He certainly made his mark upon South Africa, and I think it was he who was mainly instrumental in bringing about the prosecution of Governor Eyre, of Jamaica. Amongst other journalistic work Mr. Chesson used up to very recently to contribute articles on English politics to the South Australian Register. The .great lines of steamers competing for the Australian trade do not all make a good thing out of it. The Orient Company have been again compelled to pass their dividend, though they have placed a substantial sum to the credit of the reserve fund. The North German Lloyds appear to have done even worse. Their dividend has dropped from ten to five per cent this year, it is said, to the unsatisfactory workings of the subventionised steamship lines to Australia, which have resulted in a gross loss of 1,753,361 marks, or, after deducting the subvention paid by the Government, a net loss of 202,176 marks. The Field, in the course of an article advocating some means of preventing butchers from selling imported meat as home-grown produce, pays a nigh tribute to the New Zealand mutton, which, it says, is, in the opinion of many a bon rivant equal, or even superior to the average of British meat. Mr. Pritchard Morgan is discovering that gold, if not actually the root of all evil, is at least the source of many unpleasantnesses. He has had to prosecute his mining manager for removing gold from Gwynfynnyd, and now he himself has been served with an injunction forbidding him to remove any more gold from his mine until some arrangement has been come to with the Crown about the royalty dues. The land on which his mine is " situated is not his own; he has obtained a mining lease of it for thirty vears at a rent of £400 a-year. Considering that Mr. Morgan hopes to get about two millions sterling out of his mine it must be admitted that he has made a good bargain. But this is not all. If the Crown succeeds in making good its claim to the royalty, it is not Mr. Pritchard Morgan but the hapless ground landlord who will have to pay it, so that this poor gentleman may find himself forced to pay royalties to the amount of many thousands of pounds annually for a property which only brings him in a paltry four hundred pound? a year. Mr. Pritchard Morgan is a clever man.

At the last meeting of the winter session of the Edinburgh Field "Naturalists and Microscopical Society, a paper on " Weasels " was read by Mr. Tom Speedy, who stated that the idea of preparing a paper on this subject had been suggested to him in consequence of his having collected a large number of weasels for shipment to New Zealand. Mr. Brooks, the Melbourne merchant whose litigation on the subject of the payment of income tax is of so much interest to colonists, has scored a victory in the Court of Appeal, but there seems to be such a divergency of opinion on the merits of his case amongst the judges that the matter is sure to be brought before the House of Lords. It may, perhaps, be as well to recall the facts of the case, which are briefly as follows : —Mr. Brooks is a partner in two firmsone in London and one in Melbourne. He has been in the habit of having certain of the profits of his Melbourne business transmitted to him in England, and upon these has paid income tax. But for the year ending April, 1885, the surveyor assessed him upon the whole of the profits of the Melbourne firm, whether the same were received by him in England or not. Fromthisassessment he appealed, and the commissioners reduced it. lhe surveyor carried the case to the Court of Queen's Bench. The two judges were divided in opinion, and, according to custom, the junior judge withdrew his judgment, and Mr. Justice Stephens, the senior, decided in favour of the Crown. From this decision Mr. Brooks has appealed, with the result that the court has declared in his favour. Inasmuch, however, as this is a peculiar case, the ultimate decision of which will affect not only Anglo-Colonials but foreigners residing in England having property abroad, the Crown is not likely to rest content until it has been adjudicated upon by the highest court in the land. The Crown is treating it as a test case, and is, therefore, paving Mr. Brooks' legal expenses. The news received on this side that the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand passed off successfully, and that a dividend of 7 per cent, had been declared has had a favourable effect upon the position of the Bank's shares in the market.

Advices have been received from Sir Wm. Fitzherberi that he has shipped five tons of quartz from the gold mine belonging to the New Zealand Antimony Company, in the Doric. This will be treated as .soon as it arrives, and the result will be awaited with keen interest.