COLONIAL ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9011, 17 October 1892, Page 5

COLONIAL ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

— ■»- — .[FROM 00R LONDON CORRESPONDENT.] The meeting of the British Association this year was singularly deficient in subjects of direct colonial,. or at anyrate Australasian, interest. So far as I observed Mr. H. O. Forbes alone read any papers having a distinct colonial bearing. His paper upon " Geographical Distribution in the Southern Hemisphere" was listened to with great attention, and elicited both discussion and criticism. He gave an account of his recent visit to the Chatham with the view of obtaining some particulars regarding the species to which a flightless —the bones of which, brought from the Chatham Group, had comes into his possession —belonged. The information which he gleaned enabled him to draw some conclusions as to a vast Antarctic continent, once uniting lands now far separated. He found a good deal to support the theory that the Chatham group had, at a past time, been connected by land, now submerged, with New Zealand. Mr. Forbes also dealt generally with the question of the distribution of land in the South Seas, although, he said, his observations had, so far, nob led him to any fresh conclusions. A short _ discussion elicited an expression of opinion that it was desirable to further investigate the subject of the distribution of species in the Southern Hemisphere. The British Association have voted £100 to enable Prof -or A. Newton to continue his investigations into the fauna of the Sandwich Islands. The experiments in hybrid fertilization, which were commenced by the late Dr. Francis Day, have been brought to a successful conclusion at Sir James Maitland's Howietown Fishery, where there are now many thousand yearlings whose pedigree shows one-eighth salmon blood and seveneighths trout blood. Sir James thinks that this crop will prove perfectly fertile inter se, although the higher proportions of salmon blood have been very largely unfertile. 'i This experiment may be tried by those interested in fish rearing in the colonies. lb is fortunate for. the Ballance Government that their dispute with Lord Glasgow in reference to. the nomination of twelve additional members to the Legislative Council will be submitted to the Secretary of State for the colonies of a Gladstonian Administration. Had the appeal been made to Lord Knutsford the decision could scarcely have been favourable. The Gladstonian Government, however, do not disguise their desire to go almost any length to coerce the House of Lords into an acceptance of a Home Rule scheme, and already broad hints are thrown out in irresponsible quarters that this can always be done by an extensive recourse to the Royal perogative of creating peers. If Mr. Glad-tone adopted the advice of his somewhat reckless friends, he would, no doubt, have to swell the roll of the peerage pretty considerably, as at least one hundred new peers whould have to be created.

The report of the New Zealand Farmers' Cooperative Association of Canterbury (Limited), for the year ended May 31, shows that the net profits amounted to £9390, to which falls to be added the amount carried forward from last year, £2488, making the total amount to be dealt with £11,878. The directors propose to allocate this amount as follows: —To payment of the ordinary dividend of 7 per cent, and a bonus of 4 per cent, on the called-up capital. To payment of a bonus of 4 per cent, to shareholders on their purchase of merchandise during the year, and a bonus at same rate on salaries pail and wages earned, and also to refund 25 per cent, on all net commissions earned during the year. To write 10 per cent, off the machinery and office furniture account?, to carry £1500 to the reserve fund, and the balance forward to next year'* account. All bonuses to be claimed before May 31, 1893, or considered forfeited. The Imperial Institute have added one more to the already numerous year-books relating to " Britain beyond seas." It is a volume of 824 pages, and ha 3 be«n compiled by Mr. J. R Fitzgerald, the librarian of the Institute, upon lines arranged by Sir F. Abel and Sir J. R. Somers Vine. The history of each colony, dependency, or protectorate is treated at length, but the most valuable feature of the publication is the prominence it gives to the trade and industries of India and the colonies. Mr. H. Matthews, the late Home Secretary, and Mr. St. John Brodrick, late Financial Secretary to the War Department, with Lady Hilda Brodrick, have taken passages in the Rimutaka for New Zealand. I mentioned in a previous letter the views held by Mr. Rowe, the late president of the Oxford University Boating Club, with reference to the best means of bringing off a great rowing contest in connection with the proposed Pan-Britannic and all Englishspeaking gathering. Mr. Kerr, the president of the Cambridge University Boating Club has since expressed views differing considerably from Mr. Rowe's. Ho agrees with him that the contest should take place in the middle of July, and that the sculling race should be absolutely open to professional and amateur alike. Instead of making it compulsory that the winning grand challenge eight of the year should be the English representatives in the PanBritannic contest, Mr. Kerr would prefer that the winning " grand" should be the basis for the final team, liable to be strengthened, if considered advisable, by the substitution of one or two of the very best men to be selected from any rowing club in England. Mr. Kerr altogether objects to the contest being decided over the Henley course, as that course is, he holds, most unfair, owing to so much depending upon the choice of stations. Putney, he admits, is open to the same objection, but not to the same extent. A two-mile course would be sufficient. Mr. E. W. Burton, of Auckland, has contributed to Greater Britain a thoughtful article, which will repay perusal, on the subject of " Political Shiftiness." He laments the increasing tendency to overlegislation, and dwells upon the especial danger of making important constitutional changes whioh cannot be retraced, and which have not been even demanded by the people. He cites certain instances in connection with the recent legislation of New Zealand in proof of the correctness of his argument. He advocates a referendum to the people on the lines of that contained in the Constitution of New York State, and gently touches up Mr. Ballanoe for his opposition to a constitutional provision so distinctly based upon trust in the people.