ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13278, 10 September 1906, Page 6

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES .

[FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] '| | ; London, August i.. ■ [ A SPOUTING writer dealing to-day, in a I«fi ing London daily, with "Totalizator I n . Illuence," Bays:— totalizator system m' New Zealand has dene a lot to reduce very big wagering, without, by comparison with ether countries, materially increasing sijver: betting. Betting shops, too, haw not been, stamped out in Australia; they flourish th««, ! \ but arc practically non-existent in New Ze». land." I Mr. E. Fondi Wright's scheme for a 22day service between England and New Zealand, via the Tehuantcpce railway, which I , explained some months ago, has been taken.' up by some London papers, which set, it forth at considerable length. It will bo" iremembered that his proposal is for V steamer service of six days between Liveipool and New York, train service- of lour* days between New York and Saiina Cruz 'Mexico), and 12 days—by 20-kr.ot boats— between Salina Cruz and New Zealand. It is announced that the Board of Trade has issued the finding of the Naval Court at Valparaiso into the total loss by fire of the British ship Pitcairn Island. The ship was .loaded chiefly with wool from Wellington, New.Zealand, but she also had 700 bales, of tow shipped at Dunedin. The Court finds: "That it has been impossible to ascertain the direct, cause of the fire, but the Court is of strong opinion that it generated from spontaneous combustion of the tow, either due to friction of the steel hoops binding the bales of tow, to dampness, in the tow when. it was stowed, or from water, which might have penetrated into the hold during the, bad weather experienced previous to the breaking out of the fire." The abandonment of the vessel was, in the circumstances, found to bo perfectly justifiable.

Mr. W. J. Napier has a long letter in the Glasgow Herald of a recent date, in whichlie says with reference to his tour through Scotland:—"What particularly struck mo was the truly awful conditions under which the poor live in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the deserted condition of the land in tie rural district?, and its monopoly by a few individuals. I have, never seen before human beings herded together in such insanitary surroundings as thousands are in the 'closes,' 'entries,' and 'courts' of your twft principal cities. On the other hand, I have never seen, even in a sparsely-populat-ed colony, so few people living upon and cultivating the soil. I understand that the people have been swept off the laud by tho landlord*, in order to make room for '.-leer. If so, a terrible blunder has been made. A deer is valueless as a fighting 'machine; a human being can defend his country. And, depend upon it, if the British Empire is to be kept by Britons it will have no bo fought) for sooner or later."