ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9369, 20 May 1889, Page 6

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

[FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

London, April 5. I .UNDERSTAND that the whole of the copies of Sir Walter Buller's " Birds of New Zenland" for subscribers in the colony are going out in the present mail steamer, being consigned separately to Auckland, Gisborne, Napier. Wellington, Christchurch, and Dimedin. The work continues to receive very favourable notice from the literary and scientific reviews in this country and on the Continent. The " Ibis," which is looked upon as the severest critic we have in matters ornithological, and is edited by Dr. Sclater, F.R.S., gives the book a lengthy review in the April number just published. It concludes thus —" Good work deserves to be well supported, and in the present instance it would seem to have met with its merits, the whole edition of 1000 copies being, if we understand it rightly, nearly disposed of. Few bird books we believe have ever met a similar success/' At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the New Zealand Antimony Company, last week, the contract for the sale of the gold mine at Jackson's Head was duly executed on the lines indicated at the annual meeting on January 16th. the terms being, £10,000 in cash and £125,000 in fully paid-up shares in a company now being formed to work and develop the same.

The opinion of the shareholders in the Blue Sour and Gabriel's Gullv Consolidated Gold Mine Company (Limited) seems to be that a payment oi £3000 to secure only a temporary arrangement with the vendors is not satisfaeterv. In this view the Chairman (Sir Walter Buller) concurs, and a vigorous effort is now being made to raise the full amount authorised at the recent general meeting, namely, £15,700. by the sale of debentures of the value of £23,009. the chairman himself taking debentures to the value of £5000 on the same terms as the other shareholders.

Mr. W. H. Alisoun Tebbs, of Auckland, has won the Treasurer's Exhibition (Anatomy and Physiology) at Westminster Hospital. which is ten guineas in books or medal, and also the class prize for Chemistry. I On Wednesday afternoon a Bill for increasing the number of securities in which trust funds mav be invested was brought forward for second reading in the House of Commons by Mr. Cozens Hardy. There was no specific mention of colonial securities in the Bill, but there was a suggestion that they should be included in the scope of the measure in its committee stage. The Bill found a good deal of support on both sides of the House, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer would only consent to the second reading being passed on condition that the entire subject was referred to either a select committee of the House, or to the Standing Committee, to which it was referred last year. While dwelling upon the danger of adding to the number of securities sanctioned by Parliament for the investment of trust funds, and stigmatising the Bill in question as one containing many dangerous provisions in regard to the class of securities in which it was proposed to authorise investment, Mr. Gosehen expressed approval of the consolidation of the law in regard to this matter. On Tuesday evening a discussion took place in the House of Commons on the condition of the poor, Mr. Broadhurst, M.P., bringing forward a motion to the effect that the poverty prevailing in large towns is a danger to the Suite, anil one which called for instant remedial measures by which the depopulation of the agricultural districts may be checked, and the congestion of the great centres of population relieved. To this resolution Mr. S?ton Karr moved an amendment advocating the consideration and development by the Government of some well-devised scheme of Suite colonisation as a remedy for overcrowding in large towns. This, lie maintained, would provide an outlet for our unemployed agricultural class now migrating to large cities and towns, would probably utilise the large tracts of tertile and unoccupied lauds in our colonies, and would relieve the evils arising from over-population and agricultural depression at home. No decision was arrived at by the House on either the motion or the amendment, but Mr. Ritchie, President of the Local Government Board, stated that the Government proposed to appoint a Select Committee to inquire into the subject of emigration. It would inquire into the various schemes which had been proDosed to Her Majesty's Government to facilitate emigration to the British Colonies, examine the results of any scheme which had received practical trial, report generally whether it was desirable that further facilities should be given, and if so, by what means such emigration could best be carried out, and the quarters most suitable. " Pomigolama," the well-known writer on New Zealand subjects, criticises Mr. Westgarth's paper on Australasian Public Finance"' in a letter to the Press this week, though in no unfriendly spirit. He thinks that before Australasian stocks can be consolidated and converted into three per cent, colonial consols, as Mr. Westgarth suggests, ic will be necessary for the Australasian colonies to enter into closer bom's of fiscal union, and establish a Zollverein amongst themselves.

An interesting novelette, entitled, " For England's Sake," has just been published by Mr. Robert Cromie, who, I believe, is well known to New Zealand. Mr. Cromie tells a story of English heroism in a thrilling and pleasing style. The news of the disaster at Samoa caused the greatest consternation in Berlin, and deeply affected the young Emperor. At present the Germans talk of persevering in their colonial policy in spite of this reverse, and are dispatching a couple of ships to replace those that have been lost, but the accident will still further strengthen Prince Bismarck's dislike to colonialism, and may have an important effect in moulding his policy. A good impression has been produced in the German capital by the intelligence of the assistance rendered to the shipwrecked Germans by King Mataafa's followers, as well as the kindness of the New Zealand Government.

The German navy seems fated to disaster. Soon after Germany began to build anything that could be called a navy, the war schooner Frauenlaur was caught in a cyclone in East Asiatic waters, and went to the bottom. Then the training ship Amazone disappeared in the North Sea. In May, 1878, the Grosser Kurfurst collided with the Konig Wilhelm Folkestone, and went down with 252 souls ; in 1885, the cruiser corvette Augusta, with reliefs for foreign stations, numbering nine officers and '214 men, was completely overwhelmed by a hurricane in the Gulf of Aden, and was never heard of again. The Americans take their loss rather coolly, and from the President downwards derive consolation from the fact that the ships which they have lost are ones which they arc better without, and that the disaster will be a good excuse for building better vessels of a newer type. The report of the directors of the Assets Company (Limited) for the year ending olst December last, shows a profit of £20,103 lGs 4d, including £296!) Is brought over from the previous year, out of which the directors recommend a dividend of 5s per share, being equal to 5 per cent on the paid up capital of the company. In this way £25,000 will be divided, leaving a balance of £1196 Jb's 4d to be carried forward to next account. The report of the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, circulated amongst the shareholders of the Assets Company in December last, showed that the former company had declared a dividend of % per cent, on account of the arrears payable in respect of their preference stock. Of that (U per cent, was paid before the close of the Assets Corn- | pany's financial year on Hist December, the remaining 3 per cent, being payable in June next.