ANGLO- COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13392, 22 January 1907, Page 3

ANGLO- COLONIAL NOTES.

[mn.M urn own- ("orri'-spondent.] London, Doccniber 15. Tin: Morning Post publishes an article urging that boys should bo taught how to use tin- rifle, and at, the outset the writer asks: " Is Great Britain to continue to lag Ix'hind her colonies in teaching the young idea how to shoot'/ New Zealand has taken the lead in making it a necessary part, of the curriculum of physical training in public elementary schools that boys shall be taught tne use of he rifle, and the reports received from that, colony show that the experiment has been an unqualified success. Firing exorcises, combined with a moderate amount: of drill and discipline, help in tin' process of physical development, and at, the same time build up a nation of marksmen ready to face any emergency in defence of home and country. In Australia, in Natal, and also in Canada boy marksmanship is encouraged. The Mother Country >ti 11 remains in an isolation which can scarce be described as 'splendid.' In our great public schools, it. true, there are volunteer corps, and in secondary schools some amount of rifle-shooting is provided for ; but the central idea, governing operations in the colonies is that, if you are to obtain the best results you must catch your future marksman young and train him up from tender years in the way he should shoot. Twelve years is found to be by no means too early an age at, which the process of tuition may begin with miniature rifles at miniature ranges, and boys of this age even can do wonders with the service Lee held weapon."

THE P. AND t>. COMPANY. Si Thomas Sutherland, presiding at the mooting of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (incorporated by Royal Charter) on Tuesday last, said the most interesting point was the dividend and hi.-, which were identical with those of last year. They paid that dividend after putting tLsicie for a sinking fund the considerable sum of £461,037. lie should like to remind shareholders that their prosperity was due ill great measure to the safe lumgation of the fleet, of which they wen/ the sole underwriters, and which originally co t £8,250.0ut) sterling. During the present year they had acquired 57.000 tons of new shipping at a cost, et £1,165,625. If the profit was not. equal to that, of a great brewer or a great banker, n was at, ait events on a par witii the profit earned in enterprises similar to their own. The China trade hail been satisfactory on tinwhole : but. the same could not be said ot the trade with Australia. They were threatened by a great undertaking to be floated to compete with them. Ire seemed to be thought, that there was "great, and unexplored wealth" in the pii-senger traffic to Australia. From their experience, he drew the ooikJumou thai an attempt to inaugurate a service to Australia on the lineon which, from the advertisements in the press, it v.as evidently intended to start could onlv lead to contusion and loss to all concerned. La-t year their company had 15,000 first and second class passengers berths available for this traffic; but only one-third of those were filled bv Australian passengers. In conclusion Sir Thomas Sutherland pointed out that there was an augmentation in their traffic as a whole, and he thought shareholders had no right to be discontented with the result of the year's working. Passenger traffic generally had brought a total revenue of £1,037,497, which showed an increase of £102,719. The dividend to he paid for the half-year to September 50 last, is 2? per cent, on the. preferred stock, and 6i per cent,, with a bonus of 5 per cent., on the deferred -took.

IMPRESSION'S OF NEW ZEALAND. "C.H.P." writes from Otago, New Zealand, as follows:—"I have been out in New Zealand two years, the whole of the time having been spent in Otago, South Island. Farming generally, and the rearing of sheep in particular, arc. carried on under conditions eminently suitable to the small farmer of 200 to 400 acres, having a starting capital of, say. £500 or more. .Many men are doing well, although they started on much smaller beginnings. Land cannot be considered anything but cheap, ' sheep' country lM'insr procurable at £?> an acre, and sometimes less; while farm land, already broken un and cropped, with excellent results. having fences erected, orchards planted, with living house, stables, outhouses, and other protection built, may be bought from £5 to £10 an acre. New Zealand is an ideal country for the working man," continues this correspondent. "The agricultural labourer may receive as little as £1 2s 6d a week and his keep. lie may also qualify for much more. Casual labourers on unskilled work may obtain 6s to 8s a day. The artisan or craftsman in the towns is remunerated far above the rate of his fellow workman at. Home, and is also the special care of a sympathetic Government. New Zealand suffers, and its progress is comparatively slow, not because of its faults —they are microscopic—but. localise of its disabilities, the greatest, of which are, of course, the distance from its markets and want, of population. The first will only be overcome by speedier and more direct transit of all its seaborne trade the second may operate against the country for many years to come unless a workable scheme of assisted passages is adopted by the Government. Naturally, the careful working man—exactly the kind of man wanted—thinks twice before he spends nearly £100 on passage money for himself and family, say, of three, besides losing from six Jo eight weeks' work in getting here." This letter has been published in one of the'leading London papers.

NEW ZEALAND EGGS. May there not be money in New Zealand eggs? A fresh development in the egg trade is now being brought before the notice of the London produce merchants. For some, years poultry-farming has been taken up more and more l>v farmers and others in South Australia, and the number of eggs produced has increased so much that the •South Australian Government undertook to advance the freight on a small trial shipment, the producers themselves supplying the eggs, with the result that 700 cases of eggs were shipped bv the s.s. Britannia, and arrived in London on Monday last. They were graded, packed, and chilled at the Government Produce Export Department. Port Adelaide, none but absolutely fresh laid eggs being accepted. As a result of the care taken to grade and pack, the eggs have arrived, it is declared, in first-class condition. The South Australian Government has sent to London a commecial agent, Mr. A. E. M. Morton, under whose supervision the grading and packing of the shipment were carried out, to see that the eggs are fairly placed upon the market here, and who, in an interview, said it. must l>e understood that the eggs have not been frozen. They wore, merely chilled in the temperature proved after careful experiments to be most suitable. Although they have travelled 13.000 miles and have reached I .on don slxjur seven or eight, weeks after laying, the consistency of the albumen anil the condition of the yolks are satisfactory. The eggs will boil, poach, or frv. .Sales have been already effected at, prices that, allow of 12s per long hundred to the producers, and this is considered satisfactory. The eggs could reach London in the winter months, when the ordinary supplies of English fresh eggs are scarce.