ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1169, 27 July 1894, Page 37

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

London, June 16. PERSONAL. Major Nelson George and Mrs George are still in town, but hope to be able to get off to Scotland at the end of the week. Mrs George, who is a martyr to neuralgia in the head, has been undergoing a drastic course of treatment at the hands of the famous Belgian specialist, Dr Nonehebel, of Clarges street, who spends a portion of each season in London. The doctor has been very successful in dealing with obstinate cases of neuralgia, and a niece of the Major’s having been cured by him, Mrs George resolved to take his advice. She was not very sanguine of obtaining relief. In times past the poor lady had tried all the recognised processes (even a season at Aix-les-Bains) without success. Her New Zealand friends will rejoice to learn Dr Nonehebel has worked wonders. Whether the cure will be lasting it is of course impossible to say, but there seems reasonable hopes it may be. The doctor maintains that neuralgia in the hesd is caused by a thickening of the scapular tissues. In Mrs George’s instance the latter were almost incredibly thickened, in fact the case was, he said, one of the worst he ever tackled. He had seen a worse, certainly, but the patient went mad. The doctor’s treatment consists of beating these tissues down to their normal state. Once a day Mrs George gees to him and once he comes to her, and on each occasion he for an hour liberally punches his patient’s head. Of course it is not all punching or beating. The doctor’s fingers are hard as steel and polished as marble, and with these a less drastic massage treatment proceeds. Mrs George has now been tinder Dr Nonehebel for a month, and her tissues are almost normal. She goes to Scotland with the Major this week. Mr and Mrs Percy Adams, of Nelson, went down to Epsom on Derby day with a large party, and are having a good time

in town generally just now. Mr Adams does not seem much the worse for his bout of scarlatina in Milan, which must, however, have been a nasty interlude to a continental tour. At the request of—l think it must have been Mr Walrond—Mr Adams has sent a number of photos of the heads of deer he shot in New Zealand to the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. and they will probably appear in to-day’s issue.

A Mrs Jas. McCosh Clarke has just brought out, through Sampson, Low, Marston and Co., a volume of verse called “ Persephone and other Poems ” which is receiving excellent notices in the Home press. Some of the poems refer to New Zealand of which “ distant part of the British Empire ” the authoress seems to have the pleasantest memories, whilst others deal with a wide range of subjects. One or two specimens of East Anglian dialect are particularly good, and deserve quotation when you review the book.

iff I ran across Mr J. S. Thompson, erstwhile of Thompson Bros., of Port Chalmers, the other day. He has been running about the country in the interests of his “ Combined Air and Dasher Churn,” the royalty rights of which he is anxious to dispose of for England and Europe. Like most inventors he has kept his eye on every new thing in the same line, and has found nothing to excel his own invention. Mr Thompson has other ideas to patent at Home, but they are not in connection with dairy produce. Since he left Port Chalmers some eight years ago Mr Thompson has lived in Melbourne, and in Victoria his churn has found many friends. But he does not intend to return to the Colony, and will most probably make the Old Country his future home. Mr Pirie, of Dunedin, continues his endeavours to boom the all curing unguents “ Rangoa,” “ Takaro,” &c., in England. He has established a central dep6t at 167, Edgware Road (a locale of mews and horsey folk) and is preparing to make a “ splash.” Mr Pirie has attended most of the big

agricultural shows, but at the Bath and West of England annual was too late with his application to secure a stall, minus which he was not allowed to distribute either “literature” or samples of his ointments and fluids. He has, however, received an invitation from the secretary of the Tramways Institute of Great Britain and Ireland to read a paper on “ Takaro ” (the horse lotion and ointment) at the Association’s annual meeting to be held on July 5, at Holborn Restaurant—an opportunity for making his preparations known in the best quarter which he fully appreciates. Mrs J. B. Russell and her daughters have left London for Switzerland, and are at present resident in the little village of Chexbres, which is, I fancy, on the lake of Lucerne.

ifTMr G. P. Williams, of Christchurch, is still in town, and enjoying himself mightily according to his own account. Theatres, races, receptions and sight-seeing generally occupy his time, and I should say by his robust appearance these distractions agreed with him uncommonly well. On Saturday night Mr Williams is invariably to be found at the Savage Club, where he has made many friends and seen most of the fin de siecle entertainers from a Phil May drawing lightning caricatures on the blackboard to Mr Ben Nathan’s songs and Mr Robert Ganthony’s imitations. On Saturday week someone betrayed Mr Williams’ gifts as a reciter to the Chairman, and hrppening to be an Anglo-colonist,to wit, Mr Cheesewright, the latter insisted on the “guileless stranger from the land of the Moa” obliging the company. I was not present, but I gather Mr Williams was fortunate enough to give satisfaction. Anyhow, on Saturday last the Savages again called upon the Maorilander, and he will no doubt be a standing dish at the club’s concerts till July ends the season. The matter of the affiliation of the Christchurch Savage Club to the London remains unsettled. Mr Williams seems sanguine of putting the matter through, but I gather the committee are raising difficulties. They object —(1) That the Christchurch Club has no house, and therefore could not give London Savages visiting Christchurch the same conveniences &c., as the London Club offers colonial visitors, and (2) that the Christchurch Savage Club is not strictly composed of artists, actors, and journalists. Mr Williams has written letters to the committee combating both these views. He has, I should also mention, been elected a member of the Press Club.

Hope Lewis, of Auckland, is in town again after a brief vacation in Wales with Mrs Lewis and his youngster. He says he finds the' days much too short —what with his professional work at the hospitals, chats and consultations with old comrades and trips in the country to see friends and re latives. Just atpresentthe doctor is making a special study of the nose, ear and throat, andvisiting interesting cases bearing thereon at several hospitals. He proposes presently to visit the thermal centres of England and the Continent, thermal bathing being, as you know, a subject on which he has written much and takes a particular interest. In the evenings Dr Lewis goes a good deal to the theatre and opera, the latter especially. Dr and Mrs Lewis have not as yet decided by what route they will

return, but I shouldn’t wonder if it would be via the Cape in one of Shaw, Savill’s liners.

Mr R. M. Simpson, of Wellington, who is Home partly on business connected with the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company, and partly for pleasure, looked in at the New Zealand Press Agency on Tuesday. He arrived by the Orient last Saturday, and has taken up his quarters at Bedford place, Russell.

I came across another Wellingtonian yesterday in the son of Mr C. Hill, the well-known musician, who is studying in London at the Conservatoire of Music, and progressing most satisfactorily. •AThe Rev Henry Collins, of Christchurch, called at the New Zealand Press Agency on Friday last. His New Zealand friends will be pleased to learn that he is in a fair way of getting suitable and congenial work, viz., charge of a small parish in Devonshire. The preliminaries have been already settled, and he is only awaiting now a formal answer from the Lord Bishop of Exeter. Relations of Mrs Collins reside in the neighbourhood, and both she and her husband have friends there. Naturally they are both looking forward to taking up their abode in the West of England.

Mr and Mrs Gordon Ponsonby, of Wellington, gave us an accidental look in on Friday last whilst trying to find the whereabouts of Mr C. Rous Marten, an old friend of theirs. They are over here on a pleasure trip, and are at present staying at 20, Markham square, Chelsea. Both Mr and Mrs Ponsonby looked extremely well. Forty years of New Zealand appear to have agreed with the old gentleman, who, by the way, bears a striking likeness to some well-known celebrity of a byegone generation. Is it Lord Palmerston or Admiral Rous or someone else ? I could not decide, but Mr Ponsonby’s fine face was perfectly familiar to me. He complains, I should mention, that there are no Wellington papers at the Imperial Institute. Mr and Mrs Ponsonby return to New Zealand in the autumn.

Mr H. B. M. Watson has been persuaded to reconsider his determination to leave the Pall Mall Gazette, and for the time being, at any rate, stays on.

%rMany old identities in the Waikato can claim acquaintance with the new commander of the British troops at Barbadoes —the much-be-medalled Colonel Leach. The Colonel was “a ten-year sodger” when he fought in the New Zealand war, and his gallantry on several occasions earned him a majorship together with the distinction of being four times mentioned in dispatches. He has seen much service since, and in the Egyptian campaign he played a gallant part, winning dispatch honours, the Osmanich and a C.B. ship. His promotion to the Barbadoes position is very popular with Armymen, but his friends would have liked his preferment to have kept him nearer Home.

New Zealand papers are requested to give publicity to the fact that Mr Michael Henry Cook died at 45 Burn street, Nottingham, on 24th May last.

Mr Christie Murray, whose troubles seem to grow more ignominious daily, was again summoned by his wife for maintenance on Wednesday. The Magistrate’s order of 30s a week made on April 10th had not been obeyed. Mr Murray pleaded that the cab accident which befel him many weeks ago was still preventing him from doing any work. He also, with the “profoundest reluctance,” charged Mrs Murray with infidelity. That a man himself living in open adultery should put forward a plea of this kind naturally greatly disgusted the Court. Mr Vaughan pointed out that the cab accident was antecedent to the order, and as to the other charges he couldn’t consider them there. Mrs Murray said she had filed a petition for divorce against her husband, and she supposed that was why he would not pay her. The Magistrate said Mr Murray must obey the order or take the consequences. It certainly cannot be said that Her Majesty’s Judges have been hard on Mrs Thompson. For more than two years they have allowed the good lady to make scenes at regular intervals in the Courts and treated her as though her bonafides were unquestionable. On Monday last, after a more than usually theatrical display, Mr Justice Cave at length forbade Mrs Thompson to enter or speak in the Courts again without a Judge’s permission. It had apparently at last begun to dawn on the judicial mind that the good lady’s operations might be a dodge adopted for the purpose of extorting sympathy and coin of the realm from a soft-hearted public. Most people came to this conclusion concerning Mrs T. months ago. Whilst she found the dual idles of “the oppressed litigant” and “Rachel mourning for her ' children and refusing to be comforted” pay, the woman was not likely to abandon them. Now, however, I sadly fear her little game is up. Mr Lionel Rignold, whom the public have not seen much of since his return from Australia, is about to support Miss Kate Vaughan (who has seceded from “ King Kodak ”) in a revival of “ The Country Girl.” Mr Rignold will play “ Moody.” DEPARTURES. The first and second-class passenger traffic outward is just at present woefully light with all steamship companies. The Shaw, Savill steamer Doric, which left Plymouth to-day had but ten souls in her first saloon and 36 in the second. She had 114 steerage passengers on board, but more than a third of these disembark at the Cape. The Doric, however, was full up of cargo, and several tons tendered the company to go to New Zealand by her had to be shut out. The first saloon list is as follows: Mr F. H. Bartlett, Mr Alex. Birch, Mr J. B. Donne, Mr E. S. James, Mr A. Kirsten, Mr W. F. Robertson, Mr Paul Stecker, Dr Thorn Thorn, and Messrs W. R. and H. L. Yorke. In the second saloon are Mr and Mrs W. Shephard and family, Mr, Mrs and Miss Warman, Mrs, Miss and Miss D. Roberts

Messrs G. C. Shaw, H. Swinkels, H. Waller, Woodrow, G. N. Wheeler, E. Reading, J. P. Mackay, C. Lorey, R. Ladelle, James Cowin, Or. Kedge, A. M. Graham, H. Franklin, Chadwick and Samuel Briggs, Mrs B. E. Nolan, Mrs Menzies, Mrs Reading, Miss McCormack, Mrs E. Wood and son, and Master G. Wasteneys. Bookings via Suez are very few for immediate steamer. Next week, the P. and O. Massilia carries the following for New Zealand :—Mr and Mrs Dudley Hill, Mr and Mrs J. F. Innes, Mr and Mis J. K. Merritt and family, and Mr A. F. Steinart. By the Himalaya, sailing July 6th: Mr C. Foster, Mr C. C. Moncktonand Mr Vickers Mr Thos. Pringle and Miss E. Wildman have booked by the Ballaarat. The Oroya, which left London on Thursday, has the following New Zealand passengers aboard : —Mr and Mrs Thomas Biggs, MrR. Jones, Rev F. . Martin, Mr P. Smith, Mr Geo. Watson, Mrs E. H. Webb, Miss Hester Bates, Mr Dobbie, Mrs Freeman, and Mr James Cobb. Having received full instructions from their respective Governments, the AgentsGeneral for the Australasian colonies (barring the Hon Thomas Playford, en route for Ottawa), conferred on Monday with Sir Charles Tupper (Canada) and Sir Charles Mills (Cape) regarding the Budget proposals -so far as they affect British dependencies. Sir Charles Tupper occupied the chair. Notes were compared to ascertain with exactitude the character of the provisions of the Finance Bill. Sir William Harco art’s explanation that the intention of the Government was to charge estate duty only upon property in the colonies which is now liable to legacy and succession duty would lead to the inference that no extra impost is being created. That statement, it was said, is somewhat misleading, the fact being that property passing to a widow, which at present escapes taxation entirely, will in certain cases have to contribute as much as eight per cent, if the Ministerial scheme be carried as it now stands. After some discussion, the Agents-General decided to memorialise the Treasury in the usual manner through the Colonial Office. The required document was ably drawn up by Sir Westby Perceval, and after being modified here and there according to the ideas of the rest of the Agents, duly signed. Sir Charles Tupper (acting on Mr Playford’s instructions) signed for South Australia.

/ SIR GEORGE GREY,

' Sir George Grey’s condition must be the reverse of reassuring to his friends. His inflamed eye is better, but he has still a cold, and he looks very, very frail, and tired and old. lam sure he feels the lack of sun and warmth seriously, and I believe if he were to do the really wise thing he would pack up and return to New Zealand by the first steamer. Since his speech at St. James’ Hall on Friday week Sir George has not gone to any public gathering. On Tuesday next the National Liberal Club give a big lunch in his honour. He has promised to attend, and if well enough will speak, but I fear he may not be able to. Much of his time is occupied in receiving visitors, whose name is legion, and answering letters, which pour in upon him in shoals. He purposes, however, when the weather becomes more settled and sunny, to pass some weeks in the country in visiting his numerous relatives and to obtain complete rest. There are no fewer than thirteen branches of his family living in various parts of England, some of them with grandchildren —in fact, quite a multitude of the rising generation whom he has never seen; so that with his well-known fondness for the society of children he anticipates quite a pleasant time in some of the most picturesque parts of the country and at the best time of the year. I drew Sir George’s attention to a cable message from London, published in a New Zealand journal, stating that he intends to work here in the interests of Professor Aldis, whose connection with the Auckland University was severed some months ago. In reference to this Sir George said he did not see how he could do anything on this side to advance the Professor’s interests, but he certainly thought Aldis had been harshly treated, and was entitled to substantial compensation for the loss he had sustained, and he intended, if his health enabled him to do so, to use his influence in bringing the subject before the New Zealand Parliament. In another London message transmitted to the colonial press it is reported that Sir George Grey intended interviewing Mr Gladstone and Lord Rosebery respecting Irish autonomy. Sir George informs me that he has not yet seen Mr Gladstone, in consequence of the latter having been confined to his home while undergoing an operation to one of his eyes, but he intends to 0 visit the ex-Premier, with whom he has been in correspondence, before returning to New Zealand. He has, however, met Lord Rosebery, the Marquis of Ripon and many other prominent statesmen, and in talking over the affairs of the Empire, the question of Irish Home Rule has naturally been incidentally referred to. As an example of an elastic and effective plan of local self-government, Sir George has expatiated on the provincial system, which was formerly in existence in New Zealand, and he has ventured to suggest an adaptation of this scheme as applicable to the condition and requirements of Ireland. Though the Home Rule question is just now almost in abeyance, Sir George is of the opinion that a strong section of the politicians of the nation, including many of those with whom he has conversed on the question, regard the suggestion favourably, as containing a practicable solution of the problem, and he feels sanguine that the idea will take root and develop into a tangible proposal when the time comes for submitting the Home Rule policy of the Rosebery Government. THE AGENT-GENERAL.

Sir Westby Perceval was last Thursday evening one of the principal guests of the strangely-named Article Club, which held its annual feast at the Criterion. The

Article Club is an organisation of gentlemen engaged in commercial and manufacturing pursuits in various parts of the country, but it cannot be termed a “ recognised institution,” nor are its workings apparent to the outside world. However, the Club’s annual is an excellent feast, and hence the presence, perhaps, of such men as your Agent-General, the Hon John Inglis, the famous electrician, Siemens, Sir Charles Tupper, Sir Wm. Charley and others on Thursday. After dinner speeches were of course indulged in. To the toast of “ Our Colonies ” both Sir Charles Tupper and Sir Westby Perceval replied briefly. The High Commissioner for Canada dwelt upon the magnitude of England’s misfortune should her colonies ever cut the painter. The expansion of trade was of vital importance to the Old Country, and experience invariably showed that trade followed the flag. To these and similar platitudes the table subscribed most heartily. Sir Westby’s speech consisted to a large extent of an attack on Sir William Harcourt and his budget proposals affecting the colonies. His chief point was in effect that as Sir William had in times of adversity looked to the colonies to make up his deficit he might reasonably be expected to remember also, if the recommendations of the Ottawa Conference were in favour of the Home Government giving monetary aid to the “ all red ” cable, mail and trade route, the relationship of the colonies to the Mother Country, and be prepared to hold up his end of the log. Sir Westby dwelt also upon the unfair accusation made against the colonies regarding contributions to Imperial defence. He reminded his hearers that the colonies had really never been asked to contribute, and suggested that the abuse should be deferred until they had refused. Colonists had carried on the work of colonisation without aid from the Imperial Exchequer, and this he considered quite as important as Imperial defence.

Sir Westby is persona grata with the Echo’s purveyor of colonial gossip. This gentleman expressed a hope recently that your Agent-General would join Mr LeeSmith at Ottawa to represent New Zealand’s interest, and spoke thus of him : “ As the youngest and one of the most energetic and well-informed of the colonial Ambassadors in London, his presence, influence and counsel will be appreciably advantageous and useful.” I was told recently by an old colonist that the AgentGeneral wasn’t much esteemed in the Colony in his present position. However that may be, he is well appreciated by those in the metropolis who have an opportunity of seeing what he does for New Zealand, and of comparing him with the remaining Australasian Ambassadors. The Agent-General is at present supervising the production of an addition to the lighter literature of the Information Bureau, in the shape of an illustrated resume of his paper read before the Colonial Institute last year, with facts and figures brought up to date, and additions in the shape of special chapters upon sport in the Colony, &c. Complete this brochure will be about the size of “ Rural New Zealand,” but it will not trespass much on the ground covered by Mr Houghton’s work. Sir Westby is a great believer in literature, and the Bureau now contains books and pamphlets and leaflets upon every conceivable subject an intendiug emigrant, merchant or tourist could wish to know about. The use made of the Bureau by journalists connected with Home and foreign papers is sufficient indication of its value. Almost any hour of the day you will find a newspaper man there studying blue books and reports, or working up an article upon New Zealand out of the mass of literature there to be found. The Bureau is indeed a grand advertising

medium, and must well repay the the small cost of its up-keep. Cassell and Co., the world-famous publishers, are about to issue a volume of New Zealand pictures with texts. The work is to be made up out of their large edition of “ Picturesque Australasia,” and the editor has applied to Sir Westby Perceval for a preface. He gives the Agent-General carte blanche as to quantity and matter, and the latter has consented to sponsor the issue. Mr Tennyon Cole’s water colour portrait of your late Premier is still on view at the Agent-General’s Office, but I fancy it will not remain there much longer. All the New Zealanders who knew Mr Ballance during his last month of life and have seen the painting declared it to be an excellent likeness. Amongst them is Mr John Stewart, Chairman of the Wanganui River Trust, who called on Sir Westby a few days ago. He was much pleased with the portrait, and expressed a hope that it wound find a prominent home in Wanganui. I think I have already mentioned thirty guineas as the artist’s price for the work. It is well worth that figure to anyone wishing to have an artistic reminder of one of the best men the Colony ever produced.