OUR LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8661, 2 September 1891, Page 6

OUR LONDON LETTER.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, July 2. - THE GREAT SAMOAN LAND CASE. This case has been before the Privy Council on four days during the past week, and the Court, while deciding to hold over a formal judgment until next November, in the hope that in the meantime a settlement may be arrived at, had yet given this afternoon such clear indications of their mind that the litigants need be in no doubt as to their ultimate decision. They made it evident that they thought Cornwall and Manaema entitled to the lands, and for ordinary damages for having been deprived of them for six years. But they regarded the damages allowed as altogether excessive, and set their faces against recognising anything in the shape of vindictive damages. Lord MacNaughten. one of the judges, made some very strong remarks upon this point. Practically the Court will affirm the decision of the Court below its to damages, and this amounts to ordering a new trial on the ground that the damages allowed are excessive. The Court further made it appareut that they did not consider MeArtlmr and Co. had been guilty of contempt as none had been committed. The McArthurs are not altogether dissatisfied with the verdict. The lands in dispute have not been a source of profit to them; and as regards damages, the £15,00!) damages allowed by the Fiji Court may now be substantially mitigated, and the firm have a counter judgment for a good many thousands to set against any such award. Mr. Campbell will probably sail for Auckland in a month or six weeks. No report of the case has yet appeared— even a line, and yet the case is one of much public interest in many ways.

IMPERIAL FEDERATION. The High Commissioner for Canada is not modest man. Apparently he thinks himself endowed with " the Ugliest patriotism and the strongest intellect of our times," for Lord Salisbury had no sooner flung down a challenge to the Imperial Federation League to suggest a satisfactory solution of tho enigma they (have so boldly brought forward, than Sir Charles Tuppcr picks it up and jauntily responds to it. I have already told you that it-was upon his motion that the committee was appointed about a fortnight ago to prepare a scheme by which the objects of Imperial Federation may be realised. In proposing this motion Sir Charles delivered a speech of considerably over an hour, in. the course of which he sketched out a scheme of federation such as he thought Canada and the colonies generally would adopt. Apparently lie exceeded his otlicial authority for the Canadian Government promptly placed it upon record that they recognised the speech of the High Commissioner, as only the private utterances of Sir Charles Tupper. Taking the speech for what it may be worth it would seem that Sir Charles Tupper really thinks that if Confederated Australasia, South Africa, and Canada had each one colonial representative upon the Imperial Privy Council, and as such become members of the Imperial Cabinet, that then the colonies would consider they had achieved an effective voice in the Councils of the Empire, and would be content. But Sir Charles recognised that only Canada has confederated, and therefore pending the adoption of a similar policy by the other great colonial divisions he proposed that the delegated representative of any colony possessing a population of two millions or over, and being a member of the Colonial Ministry of the day, should be sworn of the Imperial Privy Council, and become a consultative member of the Imperial Cabinet. This, says the High Commissioner, would enable the colonies to enjoy a ready means of assisting in the fulfilment of Imperial policy and aims without impairing in the smallest degree their powers of self-govern-ment or unduly extending their responsibilities. Sir Charles was evidently speaking at random, or he must have recognised the absurdity of his position. Excepting Canada, no other colony of the Empire lias attained the necessary population to qualify for the dignity and responsibility to be conferred upon every population of 2,000,000 and over. How he could have overlooked such an elementary objection nobody knows, but he did, and this may help to account tor the unkind terms in which his oration was spoken of. It was freely called preposterous, as recognising no other colonial interests than those of Canada only. _ _ . Relative to the KriegsvercinandZollverien suggestions of the Prime Minister, Sir Charles Tupper also expressed himself candidly. He thinks that the vast majority of colonists will object to a scheme of Imperial defence which will cripple young colonies with heavy subsidies by diverting to an.lmperial fund money which, if applied locally, would far more effectually build up the best materials of national defence. He point to what Canada had voluntarily done in .the past—to the great Imperial railway she had built, to the military force she had established, to her armed cruisers in the North Pacific, etc., etc., and then triumphantly asked—is not this active colonial policy a far more effective aid to the stability of the Empire than any direct money contributions from the colonics could be? Upon the Zollverein scheme Sir Charles expressed a decided belief in the necessity of some tie of mutual interest between the various sections of the Empire, such as a differential duty within the Empire against the foreigner would afford. He does not believe that such a preferential duty would raise the price of the poor man's loaf in tho mother country. Now, I am told upon the best authority that this speech by no means pleased the audience to whom it was addressed. In the first place Sir Charles pretty well monopolised the talking—alwas a grievance—and in the second, his remarks were one long eulogy of Canada, to the direct exclusion of_ every other member of the Colonial Empire. When, finally, Sir Charles calmly suggested a method of imperial representation which would obliterate all the colonies excepting the Dominion, the indignation, I am told, was deep, and found expression in the word, "preposterous." The resolution submitted was, however, so non-committal in its character, that there was no objection to its adoption, and there was so little time left for discussion, that it was not thought worth while for anyone to rise and answer in d 'ail the speech by which it had been supported. Lord Salisbury warned the League that the solution of the problem they have touched, does not lie on the face of it, and Sir Charles will, doubtless, in time appreciate the grim warning of the Prime Minister.

BAD OUTLOOK FOR COLONIAL LOANS. There will be no Trustees Investment Bill this session. Mr. Gosceen never liked the proposal, and now the state of the money market is such that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would have no difficulty in finding arguments against any hasty alteration of the existing system. Colonists at Home find it hard to believe that the palmy days of Australasian borrowing are over. They think that the market is only " hulled," ami will soon again long for the sweet simplicity of the colonial three and a-halfs. There may lie something in the theory if the colonics would give evidence of their staying powers by voluntarily abstaining from borrowing for a year or two. But there is little hopo of their adopting such a policy of self-restraint. The advent to power of the extreme Labour Party is being closely watched with mixed curiosity and alarm. They must make it very clear both by acts as well as words that their intentions are both honest and peaceful ere they will induce the British investor to entrust his hard - earned savings to the colonial governments and corporations with the readiness hitherto evinced. It maybe thought that the readiness with which the Victorian Government secured the balance of their £3,000,000 loan indicates that money is still almost to be had for the asking. But the colony only obtained 9UJ:, while only last year it realised on no better security as much above par as now it 3 stocks fetched below par. Af it was, the operation was characterised by decided luck. Within ten minutes of the signing of the contract with the syndicate organised by Linton - Clarke, the brokers, it became known in the city that Reuter had received a telegram announcing ■ a large delimit in the Victorian revenue. Had the news leaked out a quarter of an hour earlier Sir Graham Berry would have had to whistle for his million; as it was the. luck was on his side, and the poor syndicate have paid up bravely and tiro doing their best to hold on to the stock in hope of better times. The New South Wales Government have also tried to disnose of the unallotted balance of their £2,000,000 conversion debentures. Unless the bondholders come forward and con vert their stock into 3& per cents they can claim to be paid oil at the beginning of the new year. This will necessitate a loan in the autumn for a large amount, for the Government will require money for public workß'in addition. To lessen the risk of a rebuff'—for even Now South Wales may experience one if she comes down for £3,000,000 or £4,000,000 in October — Government have been ' trying to arrange with a syndicate of capitalists to take up the unapplied for balance under the conversion scheme— £1,500,000,1 should think, at par. The operation nearly came off'. The moment was propitious—stocks were rising, and seemed likely to go still higher. The Agent-General obtained the ratification of his negotiations from Sydney, but only to learn that lie was just a few hours too late, as the market had received a sudden cheek, the upward tendency had ceased, and operators for the rise thought it prudent to hold their hands. Poor Western Australia'was a suf-

ferer by the unlucky telegram re the Victorian deficit. City people say that but for that the Forrest Government would have obtained a premium of two per cent., instead of the 1 per cent, actually secured/ Mr. Burt, the Agent-General, was much chagrined, as he had every prospect of scoring over his first financial transaction. A TRIFLING EXAGGERATION.* Mischief enough is doni on this side by ill-informed globe-trotters, without irresponsible public men from the colonies deliberately setting themselves to work to destroy the credit of the colonies by grossly exaggerated statements of the recklessness of the Australian democracy. The ; Hon. West Erskine, M.L.C., of South Australia, is a notable offender in this direction, unless, as is probable, he is • the victim of some hare-brained representative of the Chicago press, who interviewed him on the 18th insc. as lie 'passed through the city. Mr. Erskiue had much to say respecting the calamitous effect of the strikes upon colonial industries, and he was, of course, within his rights when he chose to denounce as " a knot of disturbers," utterly bereft of conscience, those who turned the great mass of labourers as easily as a potter moulded clay. But his next utterances, supposing he ever uttered them, which I should strongly doubt, would be unjustifiably alarmed, if, indeed, thev were not palpably absurd. Mr. Erskine is credited with saying —and tho news was thought worth while cabling from Chicago to London and inserting in the' Times— These mischief-makers play on the cupidity and laziness of working-men, keeping up a continual clamour and demanding that the different Governments should borrow money from England for public works. Men in search of votes take up this ruinous cry, and tho result must sooner or later ho disastrous. If we include Now_Zealand and Tasmania, the Australian national debt will reach the alarming amount, of a billion sterling for three millions of people. Of course, we have railroads, telegraphs, public buildings, and schools to show for this, but I can safely say that a fourth of the money is invested in unproductive works. The agitators never pause to consider that th : s money must be repaid. There are breakers ahead. ' Fancy any public man possessing any knowledge of affairs, calmly declaring that the national debt of Australasia amounted to a billion —,009,000,000,000. He ought to have known that' it does not reach £185,000,000. A man who could make such a statement as the above ought not to be taken seriously, but, people who quite recognise the absurdity of the particular assertion objected to, are yet willing to believe that Australia is going to the dogs, and quote Mr. Erskine as their authority. THE FEILDING SETTLEMENT. It is seldom that the shareholders in any limited liability enterprise have the pleasure of listening to such a satisfactory story of complete success as Lieut.-General the Hon. William Feilding described to the Colonists' Laud and Loan Corporation on the '21st instant. As chairman of the company he was able to assure the shareholders that not only was their capital intact, but that if they were to go into liquidation there would be nearly 30s payable on the whole of the £1 shares; or, in other words, in addition to having their capital intact, they had a six years' dividend in hand at the present rate. Of late the company had been _operatin<* with a paid-up share capital of £77, and £93,330 debentures. They had accomplished much. They had paid the New Zealand Government £101,500 for land and in taxes, they had settled a thriving population of over 5000 people in the colony, and the dense bush selected in 1871.had been covered with cultivation for an area of over 35 miles. That was the result of 18 years' colonisation, _ and it represented a state of things to which the directors and shareholders might point with pride. One would naturally have thought that the New Zealand Government would have jumped at any offer from the company to repeat those operations elsewhere, but, he regretted to say, their feeling was totally different. Though they had not positively declined the overtures made them, it seemed unlikely they would allow the company to repeat the operation. The company had sold their last acre of rural land, and now only possessed 400 odd acres out of the 100,000 they purchased in 1871-2. These 400 acres consisted chiefly of town and suburban land, and were worth at least ten times the amount they figured for in the balance-sheet. Colonel Gorton, their colonial auditor, had written in the following terms in regard to the future of the company :— " There is no doubt about it the company stands very high in the estimation of the settlers of the West Coast, and that it is a very great boon to them to be able to get money on loan without incurring the expense of valuation or procuration fees, and at a moderate rate of interest. I feef quite convinced the company has got a grand and lasting future before it, as there is yet a vast area of country beyond Feilding to be developed, and the settlers who take up new country will be only too glad to avail themselves of the assistance offered by this company, with benefit to themselves and a safe investment to the shareholders.': The report of the chairman was hailed with satisfaction by all present. Sir Charles Clifford and Mr. .John Balfour were re-elected directors ; a dividend of 5 per cent was declared, (payable in New Zealand one week after the arrival of the outgoing mail), and Sir James Fergusson paid some handsome compliments to the colonial directors and Mr. Maearthur, the general manager. Mr. W. If. Levin responded, expressing perfect confidence in the future of New Zealand. Before separating, the Chairman remarked that the directors were on the look-out for a property at a low price, but none of the offers so far submitted complied | with their requirements.