LONDON GOSSIP.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1188, 7 December 1894, Page 8

LONDON GOSSIP.

From Oar Own Correspondent. MR GLADSTONE. London, October 20. Mr Gladstone’s life, despite liis retirement, grows, as he becomes stronger, characteristically full of fresh interests. Visitors of renown follow one another in quick succession at Hawarden, and whilst they are his guests the Grand Old Man absorbs himself in their particular “hobbies ”and makes them his own. One week it is Dr Ginsburg, the famous Hebrew scholar who captivates the great mind with a discovery affecting some important text in the O d Testament, and the next Sir Benjamin Richardson has him deep in a remarkable development of sanitation. Yet with all his countless interests and friends Mr Gladstone never omits to keep a kindly eye on the doings of tenants, villagers and dependents. On Monday last, when little Dorothy Drew’s nurse was married, the child acted bridesmaid and Mr Gladstone himself attended the ceremony. The bridegroom’s father and mother had been servants in the family for many years before their marriage, and this of itself would have been quite enough to ensure the veteran statesman’s interest, even if his favourite grandchild’s nurse had not been concerned. Mr Gladstone’s recent utterances on temperance questions and more especially his approval of tho “ abhorred Gothenburg system/' has struck the Wilfrid Lawson clique with horrified surpriss. Sir Wilfrid wrote a lengthy epistle to Tuesday’s papers, in which not a scintilla of his usual wit can be discerned. He is merely dolefully, dismally, dam—magingly dull. ./ Lady Henry Somerset on reading of the G.O. M.’s falling from grace, whilst lecturing in the States, at once abandoned her tour and resolved to return. “I must go back and convert Mr Gladstone,” she said modestly, “or the temperance cause in England is lost " THE MOTE AND THE BEAM. When, however, good Lady Henry arrives, 1 rather fancy other work will command her attention. Finding motes in the eyes of one’s neighbours and opponents is to women of a certain calibre fascinating work. But it mu3fc be decidedly embarrassing when the culprits are indelicate enough to retort and to show up in their accuser’s opt : cs not a mere mote only but a gigantic beam. Lady Henry Somerset seems not unlikely j to be thus confounded. George R. Sims is the accuser and he does not make j, allegations rashly. His story goes that this eminent philanthropist, whose sensibilities were so acutely outraged by the “ Living Pictures" at the Palace and the “ Polls’ Promenade " at the Empire, is herself the landlord of numberless pios- j titutes who haunt the slums and rookeiios at the back of the Euaton Road which a e her property. These reeking dens of infamy belonging to Her Ladyship absorb the vilest class of women in London, wh> habitually promenade the Euston Road, j making it one of the worst thoroughfares along which respectable men can pass at night. Much of the property to which I refer end from which Lady Henry derives a portion of the income she devotes to the good cause of temperance and purity >was, Mr Sims alleges, condemned by the medical officer of health more than five years ago. Yet nothing has been done. This is the desciiption of disclosure which makes so many smile with cynical contempt when women of Lady HenrySomerset’s sort are mentioned and injures genuine philanthropic work disastrously. Of course, Lady Henry will say she knew nothing about the dreadful state of affairs. But why didn’t she know ? Why couldn’t her charity begin at home ? A pretty reflection it must be for Her Ladyship, if she is at all conscientious, that whilst she was lecturing on the evils of drink and exhorting temperance, her own possessions were encouraging evils of a fifty-fold worse character. DEATH IN THE BAG. In the current Humanitarian there appears a very interesting interview with Sir Benjamin Richardson, the veteran sanitarian-humanitarian, entitled “The Painless Extinction of Life in the Lower Animals." It is well worth perusal, for whatever may be one’s opinions regarding the sensitive creatures who are for ever throwing up their hands in horror at the execution of murderers and shrieking wildly whenever the groan of a ruffian under the cat touches tlveir ears one cannot help but appreciate the efforts of the true workers in the cause of dumb animals. Tho subject of the interview has proved himself one of these. He is the inventor of the wonderful lethal chamber, by means of which at the home for lost and starving, dogs at Battersea 150,000 ownerless mongrels have been painlessly put to death during the past ten years. Sir Benjamin’s chief idea is to create a sleep which will be a sleep ' unto death, and he effects this object by ! introducing in the lethal chamber a narcotic vapour. The animals are placed in a wooden cage, which is divided into > tiers and sections to prevent over*

crowding, and this is run intcT the chamber on a tramway. The doors of the room are closed and the vapour rapidly pumped in. In a few mi.utes every animal falls into a painless sleep from which it never awakes. For fifty pounds every parish could provide itself with a painless killing apparatus in which animals could be slept to death at the nominal cost of a penny per head. Sir Benjamin would apply the vapour method to all killing, whether for food purposes or otherwise. For the killing if sheep his method seems very simple. The operator carries on his back a light impervious bag which is charged with tho vapour of chloroform and ordinary coal gas. From the lower end cf the bag there proceeds a tube some three.feet long which has at its end a funnel which parses over the nose of the sheep. Having caught his victim the opera t< r passes the funnel over the animal’s nose, turns a tap, and in twenty seconds the sheep is ready for the knife, which will inflict no pain on it. Calves and .pigs may be treated in the same manner, but Sir Benjamin doubts whether the French method of stunning with a mallet is not quite as humanitarian and effectual; Truly the operator would need assistance with a healthy sow and so he would a bouncing blackface. “ First hold,your sheep ” would be the opening instruction to the operator. ‘ However, so far as slaughtering for food purposes go.?s, Sir Benjamin only considers his peripatetic death big a mere makeshift. He looks forward to the time when chemistry shall have rendered us all vegetarians, and animals will on’y bo bred for. friends and helpmates of man. “ In the present scientific day we ought not to need the animals as laboratories for making our food,” says the- veteran humanitarian. Well, the day is still far off when Mr Butcher will assure his customers that his mutton contains only prime grass and turnips, but, meanwhile I see no reason for sticking to the knife to convert sheep into meat, THE WALTZ KING. The jubilee of the veteran Waltz King,” Johann Strauss, which was celebrated in Vienna last Satuiday amidst much musical merriment, recalls the days when even sober England danced deliriously to the strains of the . Blue Danube. No man ever wrote or ever will write dance music like Strauss. Not that we in England have much idea what'an Austrian waltz played by an Austrian string band means. The “ Doctrinen ” or the “ Never Wein/’ or the “ Tausend und Eine Nacht,” discoursed by the Guard’s band and by Edward Strauss' orchestra at Vienna are two totally different things. . They were written for strings and it is entrancing to hear them properly given. I remember when in 1873 I first heard the younger Strauss and his band play tho Kuntslerleben waltz in a huge garden on tho outskirts of Vienna I felt it impossible to keep still, and regardless of being a vile dancer from a German point of view seized the nearest availab’e Frauleiu and plunged recklesriy with her into the vortex of whirling figures on the adjacent dance platform. She was a buxom damsel and an adroit steerer withal, or I might not have lived to tell the tale.

On the piano Strauss’ waltzes and polkas souud hollow mockeries, and in consequence only a few-are known to the average Englishman. There are, however, hundreds of them, and several, like the “Blue Danube,” “ The Doctrinen,” the “Tausend und Eine Nacht,” and the “Dreams of the Ocean,” have become classic.

THE LIVING PICTURE SQANDAL. There were some amusing scenes at the hearing of the annual applications for the renewal of theatre and music hall licenses before the Licensing Committee of the County Council last week. Mr MeDoug.'ill and hi 3 brother purists were in great form, and they were enforced by a select band of “ advanced women,” headed by Mrs Ormiston Chant. The Palace Theatre and the Empire Theatre proved the principal subjects of battle. Lady Henry Somerset opposed the renewal of the former’s license on the ground that the nude section of the “ Living Pictures ” was a degrading show and immoral to boob. Now Mr Morton, the manager, had a rplendid answer to this. To rout the enemy completely he had merely to confess the truth; viz , that the nudity is only a stage delusion. Barring their arms and a small section of their legs, the girls are covered with papier-mache shells representing the human form divine (or as much of it as the picture requires) from the neck and bust downward. They put these shells on over their underclothes, and then silk fleshings are drawn thereon and give the figure a wonderful vraisemblance. Girls i sufficiently depraved and with sufficiently good figures to stand shivering on pedestals in nothing but silk tights couldn’t be got for love or money. That - is where prudes and purists of Lady * Henry’s type come to such unmitigated grief. They don’t really know what they are talking about. Mr Morton last Thursday could have turned the laugh against Lady Henry in a moment, but the shrewd old manager knew that if he did he would on the spot three pa) ts hill the attractiveness of the show. Let the respectable middle-class men and matrons who ! go to see the living pictures once compre- j hend that the supposed nudities are . merely stripped to their corsets and j standing perspiring itiside tight fitting i

shells and their interest in the display would fizzle to nothing. The following is the Horb of dialogue which may be heard in the Btalla at the Palace any night during the “ Living Picture ” display. Mts Jones (after Tildes’ “ Poctor ” and Kuidred tableaux liave been displayed) : Well, there’s no “nood"in them ’Enry. I’ve seen locs like them at a penny read'.ink Xiiit “Jones (consulting the programme): ’Ere’s something coming “Eiskee’s Bath 7 ' by Sir Frederick Leighton. That ought to be a bit ’ot.

Mrs Jones (as Psyche appears descending to her bath) : Well, if ever I see such a thing !;■' Not a'rag ’as she gob on ’er, the ussy. ’Enry 1 beg you won’t demean yourself by staring at her. Lend me the opera glasses. Jdnes (chuckling): Well I said it ’ud be a bit ’ot, but you would come. Mrs Jones (staring hard through the glasses) * Such goings-on ought not to be allowed'. (Pause ) .’Enry, ’ow many more “ noods ” are there ?

• Jones : No more I’rii afraid, to night. ...,M.rs Jones : Then we’ll go ’ome. And homo they go to inveigh ever after at the immorality of living pictures. Mr Morton understands the public, to instead of defending his nudities on the ground that they were not nude he pleaded they were high arc, offering at the same time to withdraw any which were seriously objected to by the Council.

. END OF THE EMPIRE. The attack of Mrs Ormiston Chant on the Empire was more deadly, and lias resulted in the practical withdrawal of the license of the beat managed Music . Hall in London. How to deal with the social evil in a great city like this is undoubtedly a most difficult problem. One thing, however, seems unquestion able,. .i.e. , that the system of harrying the women, and driving them , as they ’ have been driven lately, from pillar to post, is bad. Better fifty times have them all. together, orderly and under control, in a part of the Empire or Aquarium known to be their province, than flooding the streets and shocking and annoying our wives and daughters. Bub this is not of much iuterest to you. Mrs Chant;-by the w.ay, showed us what the “advanced wnman ” is capable of, by narrating how she visited the Empire in the fd/e. of a; soiled dove. On the first occasion, the good lady was too quietly , dressed, and nobody noticed her. On the second, however, she was accosted ’ in liquor. “Perhaps," suggested the Empire’s counsel, rather cruelly, “ it was because ho was in liquor he addressed you." But Mrs Chant did not relish the suggestion that her charms are impotent of themselves. “ Othors did so too," she said,“ but lam bound to add wheu they looked into my eyes tbey'eaw I was au honest woman !” At ■ thi. 8 some persons in Court were so misguided as to chuckle. “Shame I" cried the McDougall. “Shame! It is to noble women like Mrs Chant swe owe the regeneration of society." The shareholders of the Empire, whoso 20 per > cent, dividends have faded into thin air, and the unfortunate women driven on the streets, may possibly think somewhat r differently.

EMIGRATION PROSPECTS. The prospects for emigrants to Canada and the Australian colonies, unless they are possessed of reasonable means, are anything but inviting. From all quarters conies the answer “ Labour market overstocked,” and the London papers are warning the emigration agencies against the lamentable, results of mistaken philanthropy. Many of the men sent to Canada by the Mansion House Relief Qomiuittee, though pub through a preparatory course of pink and shovel work, are .-said to be loafing about the streets of Montreal with n> prospect of work during the approaching severity of the vyitiler season. In Cinada, as in-Austra lia and New Zealand, there is little or no demand for immigrants, except those possessed of sufficient means to take up land. Owing to lhe increase in the .number -of the unemployed there is a demand at Montreal f<> r t ! e return of uudesirable in.migr lot's to England.

ELECTORAL RIGHTS OF WOMEN. - - .The VVorneu’s Franchise League is up In arms against an attempt on the part of the Local Government!*Board to exclude women from voting in the election of Towni Councils. ‘ Since the passing of the Married Women’s Property Act in 1882 gave women the right to enter into contracts, or to take a house or sh p in their own ! names, the claims of. ratepaying married women to exercise the franchise at local municipal elections have rarely been But in the recent circular issued by the Local Government Board, town clerks are directed to strike out the names of married women from the burgess lists. This the Franchise League denounces as a breach of the understanding arrived at by Mr Gladstone’s Government* the Liberal Unionists, and many Conservative leaders when the Act of 1882 was under discussion. I understand that the matter will come up for consideration at the annual meeting of the League next week, when a memorial to the House of Commons will probably be drawn up for signature. 1 A ROYAL BIG D. If a big D uttered by Tommy Atkins is but a choleric word from a captain, from- the mouth of a king it must be one of the flowers of speech. We know from

Greville’s Memoirs that “ the first gentleman in Europe ” could bang the table with his fiat, and swear in the old time of Flanders, but the Society Journals, fthich just now ate ralisacking the annals of antiquity for anecdotes ahent the late Earl Grey, have just made the amazing discovery that Georga the Fourth d d that noble man when lie was Lord H owiefe, because the latter had used seme strong langu ige during the stormy debates on the Catholic Emancipation Bill. “ That d d fellow," was the expression used by the King, and it is said to have “staggered" Lord Ellenb.trough, w’ho n.ust have been quite a goody-goody person for those days, .lb w r as in one of his outbursts of eloquence that Lord Ho wick described Lord Aberdeen a 3 “one whose principles made him an enemy of the human race," for which he very handsomely apologised afterwards. At that time Mr Gladstone had actually been five years in Parliament. Going back to these events of a bygone generation seems like resurrecting ancient history.

JOHN BULL THROUGH GERMAN GLASSES. If any Home coming Australian desires to really know the manners and customs of “polite” society in London I should recommend a study of “ London from the Life." The painstaking and minute series of pictures of the social side of life in the metropolis is regarded—in Germany—as a standard work, and it circulates largely in those parts of the Continent most affected by English tourists Here is the author’s impressions of a day io London. The seas n of this specimen day is not specified, but we gather that it had its place during the period known as “The Season,'' We learn that atß a.m. not a servant maid has yet descended to her Work, though “ the half-drunken with sleep milkwoman 7< has stumbled on her rounds, leaving at each door a tiny measure “ no bigger than an egg," containing the household allowance of milk. Even in the wealthiest of families this precious fluid is doled out at the rate of four or five drops per cup of tea or coffee. At nine o’clock the families of the city men assemble for breakfast, but in the houses of “ gentlemen and capitalists" the meal often appears on the table at mid-day- But bo the family high or low the display of hot and cold dishes holds go d, and no Englishman considers he has breakfasted unless two boiled eggs have been included in his matutinal menu. At this meal ladies always wear .silk, and gentlemen never sit down unless “fully dressed, but without neck-cloths." The appointments of the table bear the crest of the owner wherever it i 3 possible to engrave it ; and for this indulgence even middle class folks are happy to pay a heavy tax to the Government 1 Men servants, siys our authority, do nob wear livery at breakfast time, but in “spotlessly glancing linen suits and 1 aprons," make a point of laying before their masters two or three daily papers, the same being all three feet square. In the houses of “capitalists,” “lunch” treads hard on the heels of breakfast. It is an uncanny meal, and the male creatures are wise in their avoidance of it. The ladies, in “ immense hats," and other outdoor wear, wa’k in and out, while the servants hand “ cheese, cold meats, and biscuits" on silver trays ; “ ale and draught porter " are drunk, but no one sits down to feast in comfort. The afternoon is given up to shopping by the ladies, of course. They drive to the best emporiums, and order the articles they require to be broug l t to their carriages. The younger ladies are often so “coldly constituted " that whilst their mothers are considering the wares they read books and never hardly give a glance to the materials laid before them, or to the “handsome young merchant who, wi h curled hair and every appearance of fashion, stands bareheaded before them." Between three and five in the afternoon London wakes up to gaiety, and “ double knocks ” echo unceasingly along Bond street, where “gentility is chit fly at home." “Panoramas, dioramas, bazaars, parks, and pastrycooks" begin to fill up—with ladies; “business men return direct to their homes from the city," and capitalists are scarce. The universal seu'en o’clock dinner is preceded by the family three-quarters of an hour in the drawing-room. The author describes with appreciation the assembled family ; the elders in arm-chairs on either side of the fireplace, the young ladies in low dresses, the gentlemen in correct black, with coloured silk socks and varnished shoes. To them -.enter the guts L .s—such friends as have already presented themselves on the ladies’visiting day—“in overcoats, black neck cloths., and boots." (It is just as well, considering all things, that the overcoats are retained.) If these people be strangers they must not take it amiss if the ladies of tho party do not rise to greet them. English ladies would consider such a proceeding undignified in the extreme, though they are “ the same women," the author explains, “ who permit partners after a ball to fasten on their over shoes and even clasp their ankle while so doing." At dinner tho guest in a “ good house ” will find a napkin on his plate, and a piece of white bread therein, but the napkin is not in general use, and possibly in some houses he may have to fall back upon the tablecloth, which is very voluminous, and falls to the floor. The host “murmurs a prayer," and the guest has to choose between taking the edge off his appetite with “strongly peppered soup"

or a_“ boiled sea fish." He can’t have | Both. Huge hunks of meat, rabbits, geese, and pheasants are next piled on the tables with immense quantities of potatoes and (yoit caii’t escape this) “ Indian curries." The wines are circulated freely, btifc (alas, for the laxity of our Food ,and Hrug Inspectors) are so adulterated with brandy that the stranger is warned not to take niore than a sip at a time. Ale and porter are also served, but in champagne glasses. The guest, however, may sign to the servant to fill up his glass when he pleases. The finale to the repast is “plum pudding" and a glass of “Scotch Ho'.lands,” After the ladies have retired, some toasts will be given, but smoking is not indulged in to any extent, and promptly at ten o’clock the guest must be prepared to make his adieux. The host will accompany him to ilie door, so he will not have to tip the servant. Of courtship and marriage our author has much to aay. English marriages can bo stopped by anyone who Chooses to dry “ Veto 11 to the clergyman ‘Who calls the banns* While Scotch rfiarriages are often fastened on the unwary without their consent \ Women . who don't pick up husbands before their 25th birthday are shipped off to Bombay or Calcutta in charge of experienced captains, who, on reaching port, notify a ball on board to all the bachelors of the settlement, and speedily he clears his spinster cargo. He nets froili .£lO to .£SO on each bale of femininity. Colonists • who feel themselves ignorant of Home life and i s conveniences should get a c *py of “ London from the Life " He will then be. in possession of a mine of valuable information, and will know just as much of Eugland as the Germans. >

PERSONAL. • 3r’ London, October 20. Dr J. Murray Moore, erstwhile of Auckland, and now of Canning street, Liverpool, has written a pamphlet on “ Recent Socialistic and Labour Legislation ill New Zealand,” Avhich Mr Stead pronounces “ the best, the most concise and the most • useful account I have yet come across of the sensible socialism of our most progressive Colony.” An article on the funeral obsequies, of .Tawhiao by Mr E. W. G. Rathbone, of Auckland, with illustrations by Mr Tom Ryan, has been accepted by the Pall Mall Budget, and will appear next week. The publication of Mr Rathbone’s story /“The Doom of the Spoiler ” has been delayed till the annual flood of Christmas literature passes. ■gf-rMr and Mrs H. A. Ewan, of Wellington, who came Home by the Coptic in May last, passed through London this week en route to Davos-Platy. They are travelling, as many of your readers may be aware, on account of the health of Mrs Ewan who suffers from ’ a weak chest. On arrival the doctors ordered the lady straight to Scotland, and she and her ~’lnisband spent the summer partly in Edinburg and partly at the Bridge of Allan. I regret to learn Mrs Ewan does not seem much better. Mr Ewan and his wife will remain at Davos through November and part of December, going on to Naples about Christmas. They sail thence by the Austral in January, and ■ will break the journey at Adelaide, remaining there some weeks/ Mr Ewan may also spend a little time in Melbourne and Sydney, as his leave from the Bank of New Zealand does not expire till April. Mr Walter Severn, the well-known water-colour painter and president of the Dudley Gallery, has just finished a delightful picture of Lord Glasgow’s Scotch home, which is to be sent out to New Zealand. He has also ma'de studies, at the Earl’s request, of two wonderful early 18th century sundials, which are amongst the special attractions of the grounds, hut whether these will go to New Zealand I’m afraid I omitted to ask. Mr Severn himself has for some time been contemplating a professional tour of the Colony, and will almost certainly make it during the present Viceroy’s regime, as the Countess of Glasgow is a relative or connection of his wife’s.

Most of the London dailies devote a few lines to the death of the Rev Lorenzo Moore, at Nelson, New Zealand. A friend of the London correspondent of the Liverpool Post, who recently ran down to Plymouth to see the last of a damsel going out to New Zealand to get married, states that there were six other young ladies in similar plight on board the mail steamer. He concludes from this New Zealand must be an eligible field for young men about t© marry. They apparently emigrate, prosper rapidly and send Home for the girl of their heart. He might have added that very often . the girl of their heart on the voyage out transfers her cardiac organ to another’s keeping. As a rule that other wears brass buttons, and once or twice it has happened that he had a slight impediment to matrimony in the shape of a wife at Home. How the correspondent discovered the fact of the six financecs and which was the vessel that carried them he doesn’t say. This is a pity. It would be interesting to learn liow many reached New Zealand with their troths intact.

Mr Mackie, the well-known Glasgow distiller, and his wife take a run out to New Zealand early next year, leaving by the Rome in January. They have already paid two previous visits to the colonies. Mr Sinclair Gillies’medieal and scientific studies at “ Barts ” are drawing to a close, and by the end of the present year he will be a full-blown M.D.

Mr James Bull, of Rangitikei, is, I hear, in London, but we have not had the pleasure of seeing him at the New Zealand Press Agency yet. I am told he has merely come on a pleasure trip, and is busy enjoying himself. Mr J. W. Walker—" Long Drive,” is his more familiar appellation —has at length

achieved something in connection with his Waihi Grand Junction Syndicate. It has got as far as registi’ation by a Mr H. G. Best, of 6, Lombard Court, E.C. The capital is to be <£lo,ooo, and the Object of the syndicate is thus briefly and vaguely described : “ To adopt an agreement made August id, 1894, between J. W. Walker of the'one part and this Company of the other part, and to acquire and develop certain properties in New Zealand and elsfewHere." The directors, who will number not less than three nor more than seven, are to be elected by the? signatories to the articles of association. They will each have to be interested to the extent of <£loo, and their remuneration will be fixed later on. The following New Zealanders were elected members of the Royal Colonial

Institute at the meeting of the Council held on Tuesday last : Dr Alexander Johnston, Mr Vincent A. Pyke, the Rev Frederic Wallis (Bishop-designate of Wellington) and Mr Joseph H. Stanley. Resolutions were adopted at the same meeting, expressing the Council's sense of the great loss which the Institute had suffered by the death .of the Earl of Albemarle, K.C.M.G., its chief founder, its first president, and a vice-president up to the time of his lamented death • and also expressing synipathy With the' family of the Right Hon Sir Alfred Stephen,G.C.M.G., C. 8., “ whose name was a household word throughout Australasia, where he was universally beloved, honoured and respected.” Dr Gore Gillon has returned in excellent health from his rambles in the continental hospitals, and is now walking the wards at the London at Whitechax>el. Dr Gillon, I should mention, recently took his F.R.C.S. at Edinburg. The Hon C. B. Spencer-Lyttelton, who was for so long the G.O.M.’s private secretary, leaves to-day on a tour of some months in the Australasian Colonies. When I called at his house in Hill street, Mayfair, yesterday afternoon to try and interview him, a “to let ” board was up, and the caretaker said Mr Lyttelton had already started. Ho sailed, in fact, by the Kaikoura yesterday, and Sir George Grey, to whom I mentioned the matter, said he had little doubt it was business Was taking him out, as the family own considerable property in the Colony. Mr W. T. Charlewood, who has been in England for some months, returns by the Kaikoura with Mrs M. A. Charlewood and the Misses Charlewood. Other note-

worthy saloon passengers are the Rev W. Bradbury and Mrs Bradbury, Colonel Wethered, the Rev G. F. D. Hodges and Mrs Hodges, Mr A. S. Russell and Mr F. A. Siddell. The second saloon, intermediate and steerage are crammed. Mr Weston, of the New Zealand Insurance Company is expected next week in London. He comes, it is understood, chiefly to attend the important meeting of the New Zealand and River Plate Land Mortgage Company at the end of the month.

Again and again in these columns I have expressed the opinion that the New Zealand Government might well stretch out a helping hand to Sir Julius Vogel. I cannot, however, agree with Mr Mennell and the British Australasian that he would prove a satisfactory successor to Sir Penrose Julyan. ’Tis true at present, what with Sir Penrose living down at Torquay, and the AgentGeneral being a strong man, the post of Financial Adviser to the New Zealand Government is practically a sinecure, and if one could only rely on Sir Julius keeping it a sinecure, his having it would not so much matter. Nobody acquainted with your ex-Premier’s record can, however, doubt that no sooner was the billet his than he would be bubbling with schemes. As a matter of fact when Sir Penrose Julyan retires it will, I imagine, be a great question -whether any successor at all should be appointed. In the old anticable days his post was no doubt necessary, but now when the Agent-General can in a few hours consult his Government and obtain an answer, advisers at Home are surely supererogatory. >ffi)r and Mrs Hope Lewis and family, of Auckland, have returned to town and taken up their abode for the autumn at 36 St. Petersburg Place W. Since July the doctor has been really holiday making. He and Mis Lewis wont first to Devonshire and then on to Wales. After a jolly time as guests of old friends at Hessle, in Y orkshire, the family moved North and did Edinburgh, the Trossaclis, Stirling, Glasgow and the Firth of Clyde. Returning by the west coast route they broke the journey at the English Lakes (where they enjoyed superb weather) and at Liverpool. Dr Lewis is a native of the “ good old town ”■ and enjoyed himself thoroughly renewing old acquaintances. Dr and Mrs Lewis and family expect to reach Auckland again towards March Ist. The Rev F. R. Hastings, Mr Albert Spicer, Dr Mackennal and other colonists and Anglo-colonists well known in your part of the world are at Liverpool this week assisting at the session of the Congregational Union. Dr Dale is unfortunately too ill to attend, and one of the first things the Union did was to carry and transmit-to him a vote of sympathy. The Rev George S. Barrett, of Norwich, delivered the presidential address, which was on the subject of the “ Secularisation of the Church,” and listened to with great attention. He spoke of the danger of allowing the spiritual mission and work of the Church to be subordinated to its social and philanthropic activities, and also of the general tendency towards, laxity. Later in the day that inevitable nuisance the “ new woman ” had a special meeting of the Union to herself. Thereat Miss Balgarnie (whom I think you know) in the course of a long speech said the new woman was represented as saying things which the old woman would be ashamed of. To her (the author’s) mind, however, she was no j woman at all, but a Frankenstein of man’s

creation. (Laughter and cheers.) The new woman, so dear to the masculine journalist and certain novelists, was a ridiculous burlesque of the higher woman, who was certainly evolving. It was no new womanhood, but the old womanhood, developing, and adorned with finer, subtler, stronger qualities which the opportunities of the century had brought into freer play than at any p'rovious time in the world’s history. The Women might congratulate themselves that almost Without exception those who had taken seats in public bodies had done go' with honour to themselves and advantage t-6 those Whom they served. (Cheers.) A'woman slicaild hot go into public life in order to feminise it. In proportion as she did that she would fail. No one should be returned simply because of sex. They wanted no women’s party. (Cheers.) The ideal to be aimed at was one of true comradeship between women and men. She hoped to see the day when women would not only be able to vote for members of Parliament, but to be returned themselves. Many new powers had been granted to women by the present Government, and whether fresh powers would he granted to them or not depended upon themselves. Sir Robert Hamilton, the ex-Governor of Tasmania, who has always been a favourite with the Liberal Party, and had lucrative billet after lucrative billet thrust upon him, is to be tile new Chairman of Customs, salary <£2ooo per antrum. , - .... Mr Gladstone's literary activity is for such ari old man abnormal. Amongst recent romances he has blessed with his approval are R. L. Stevenson’s "Ebb Tide," Miss Lawless' ,s Maelcho ” and Mr Browne’s “ Modern Buccaneer." Lord Stanmore (who will always be better known as Sir Arthur Gordon) is building a church near his beautiful residence on Ascot Heath. He grows more and more austere every year. The late Sir John Astley had friends all the world over, and at the memorial service in the Royal Military Chapel on Tuesday the faces of several Anglo-Colonists were recognisable. At no similar function (save perhaps Fred. Leslie’s funeral) do I remember to have seen people so moved. The jovial " master," the matter-of-fact proprietor of a great London daily and the supposed iron-hearted Judge Hawkins were amongst many near the reporters who could not restrain their .tears, and the Crimean Veterans,- brother officers of the Mate 40 years ago, seemed also much upset. The funeral took place at Elsham, in Lincolnshire, the local church chancel being smothered in wreaths. The story which Mr Lotiis Becke is putting about concerning “ Rolf Boldrewood ” on the strength of .the latter’s confession that--he- derived the plot of “ A Modern Buccaneer” from an MS. he bought from him is so* extraordinary that until confirmed by Mr T. A. Browne himself I shall decline to believe it. Mr Becke avers that instead of generally using the incidents of- 5 the career of Bully Hayes as was arranged between them, Mr Browne calmly annexed the entire novel, merely adding a few chapters at the commencement and a few at the end, and awarding him not a Word of credit, On the surface this yarn sounds impossible, Still Mr T. A. Browne is 14,000 miles away, so no immediate contradiction can be made, and meanwhile Mr Becke’s “By Reef and Palm ” obtains a bold advertisement. The incident should act as a warning to wellknown authors never to accept goodnatured offers of literary help in this way or that without the clearest possible arrangement [on paper, and full acknowledgment in the book’s preface.

Mr C. Haddon Chambers suffers from chronic youth, and the press won’t let him get over it. The papers sometimes foraret he’s an Australian, but never that he’s young. When his golden hair is silvered, and his comely face is lined, he’ll still; be juvenile. Just now we read that Mr Tree has put in rehearsal “ young Mr Chambers’ ” new comedy, temporarily christened “Two Men and a Woman.” Mr Alfred Dampier’s dramatic version of Boldrewood’s “ Robbery Under Arms ” is due at the Princesses’ Theatre on Monday evening next under Madame Anna Ruppert’s management. The lessee (best known to the public as advertiser of an “unequalled, wash” for the complexion) will content herself with the role of. Aileen; Dampier being starlight; Herbert Flemming, Dick- Marston ; Roth Evans, Jim; Clarence Holt, Ben Marston ; Chas. Charrington, Dan Moran ; Geo. Buller, O’Hara; Bernard Gould, McGuines ; and Miss Dampier, Grace. New scenery is being painted for the revival, and a special feature will be made of the sticking up of the coach. Mr George Ashton, erstwhile of the Bulletin, has left the. staff of the Pall Mall Budget and joined Lika Joko, to the initial number of which he contributes a sketch of a dissipated lion shaking hands with an inebriated kangaroo. This is apropos of the visit of Stoddart’s team to your part of the world, and may be meant as a delicate allusion to the lunching proclivities of recent touring willow-wielders.

)fir The Manchester Guardian is very complimentary to the author in its brief notice of Mr E. MeUand’s pamphlet “The Financial Depression and tire Standard of Value.” The writer’s belief that Mr Melland is an old Manchester man may have something to do this. He says the pamphlet is exceedingly well written, and is as clear and forcible a statement of the history and science of the monetary question as could be wished. “Mr Melland,” he continues, “ has evidently read Professor Francis A. Walker’s works with advantage, a circumstance which in itself testifies that his education in economic and monetary science is tip to date. * '* * * * His pamphlet should do much to educate public opinion in the Colony to the recognition of a sounder ; means of restoring financial health and industrial prosperity than the State-help and paper-currency measures which are contemplated.”’ Mr G. S. Jakins, the proprietor of the Belfast Butter Factory and patentee of the Eureka butter machine, arrived in London

on Sunday last from America, just too late to pass criticism on the Dairy Show. Of his American experiences'- he talks very freely. He has sold his butter machine rights for the United States, subject to patent rights being" granted him there. Regarding New ’ Zealand’s chances of, a butter market in San Francisco, the colonist said that- though at the present moment a good quantity of _ butter could be got rid of there at better prices than will,'in his opinion, rule in England this eason, s if, cool carriage was obtainable ’twixt the Colony and, the mail port, the opening would soon be closed up. The Californian farmers a,re waking up to the advantages of dairying on pyopor methods, and even contemplate invading the Old Country. But, as Mr Jakins*pointed out to them when speaking to ' a meeting of farmers, at the local Chamber of Commerce, their chances of profit from invading the English market are extremely small, as their season synchronises too closely with our summers. * - Of - Chicago, where he “ wasted two days,’'’ Mr Jakins has no great opinion. . He describes it as the dirtiest city he was ever in. I may mention that Mr Jakins has a rather original idea -in connection with the future carriage - of butter to England. If lie can by experiment prove the theory ho now holds New; Zealanders can “ pull snooks ” at the carrying companies and relegate the subject of cold chambers to the limbo of things forgotten. Mr Jakins is strongly imbued with the idea that if butter were made up into pound pats and placed in fifty-six pound boxes (as now) and thoroughly frozen, some twenty of- these half-hundredweight packages might be placed in a half .ton case lined with non-conducting material (pumice, probably) and so shipped as ordinary “ fine goods.’’ A three-inch lining of pumice or other cheap non-conductor to the case would, he believes, prevent the escape to deleterious extent of cold from the butter. Tlie cases he would make of good, stout, r wide kauri planking, and these, he thinks, would sell here at a price equivalent at all events to the cost of making. The action of ' the Gisborne innkeepers who sued for libel a too imaginative female temperance advocate who had traduced them is warmly commended by nearly all the London papers. AN ATTENUATED FRANCHISE. Whatever objections may be entertained in some quarters in the colonies to the principle of “ one man, one vote,” the lodgers in London, whose name is legion, can go the colonists “ one better.” At the Ham Registration Court the other day a whole batch of bogus claimants to the franchise were severely admonished and fined for having tried to work the oracle of “ one room and as many votes as you can get into it.” Three or four persons claimed the lodger franchise in respect to one apartment, while a number of others tried to get their names on the roll for rooms they did not tenant at all. THE IRRIGATION COLONIES. Despite some recent doubts thrown on the success of the Mildura and Renmark irrigation colonies by correspondents in the press, it must be gratifying to all who are interested in the ultimate prosperity of the settlement to learn that the first 5 per cent, mortgage debentures of Messrs Chaffey Bros., Limited, are finding a market at <£9B. , This figure is very reassuring, having regard to the continued depreciation of Australian landed

securities in the English market. On this subject The British Australasian of to-day says :■ —It would indeed be a calamity for the colonies if any sh.adow of doubt were to rest on the complete ultimate success of the great irrigation experiments on the banks of the Murray, whose future prosperous development must be considered as bound up with the future prosperous .exploitation of the interior resources of Australia. Should anything occur to check their remunerative expansion, it would be a deathblow to the hopes of those who regard Australia as capable of supporting a population of * European or American density.’ Referring to the adoption of the Gothenburg system, the same paper expresses a hope that it will add “to the benefits which these Murray settlements have conferred, and are likely to confer, in the sliap9 of inculcating a higher type of civilised being.” THE FOURTEENTH DUKE OF SOMERSET. The late Duke of Somerset was the last of three brothers, who all inherited the dukedom. He was an inoffensive old gentleman, who, during his brief reign, did well by his tenants and took a sympathetic interest in horseflesh. An effective illustration of his love for man and beast is afforded by the drinking fountain and cattle trough which he had erected in the village of Martin-Bradley. The trough contains the following specimen of—if one may say so respectfully—ducal doggrel Drink, travellers, drink of Bradley’s purest rill, Which,' strange to say, runs quite a mile uphill. Then to your panting steeds let all attend ; An honest horse is surely man’s best triend. The huge fortune which that thrifty soul the 13th Duke amassed, and in which his late Grace had only a life interest, passes, not to the eldest son and now holder of the title, but to a younger brother, Lord Percy St. Maur. Lord Seymour (as he has been latterly called) quarrelled with his uncle concerning certain land settlements, and the old gentleman paid him out by leaving away from him all the cash he could. The public’s chief interest in the death of the 14th Duke lies in the fact that it will bring within the grasp of the Chancellor of the Exchequer the first great fortune under the new death duties. I think—indeed I’m pretty sure —it was the frugally-minded 12th Duke of Somerset who, when his wife died in 1884, created a sensation by sending the deceased’s wardrobe to be auctioned at a famous old-clothes mart in the metropolis, Her Grace had not given away a single gown. All had for half a century been most carefully preserved, and there were scores of ancient velvets, silks and satins worn out, and yet kept in perfect repair. The sale I remember describing to you at the time, and relating the astonishment caused by the prices which the bulk of the tag, rag and bobtail fetched. Lord Percy St. Maur, who inherits the ducal fortune, is a bachelor, and so is the new Duke. & THE TIMBER EXPERT. Mr James Freyberg continues to toil unremittingly in the cause of New Zealand timber. The Agent-General tells mo he is first at the office and last away, and barely gives himself time for the necessary midday meal. Whatever be the result of his visit Home, the enthusiastic old man will deserve well of the Colony. He has not spared himself to make his mission a

success. It now x-emains for the New Zealand settlers to put themselves in a position to supply the Home demand for New Zealand timbers the moment it begins. Mr Freyberg has been assured by no less a person than the manager of the Jarrahdale . Company that now is the time to thrust New Zealand timber to the front, and the same expert says that every species of New Zealand wood would find a market hero. He got from, Mr, Frey berg an assortment of small samples to send to the Company’s agents throughout Great Britain and would fam have fixed up some arrangement with the New Zealander whereby the agency for New Zealand timbers would fall into the hands of his Company. Of course, this was. impossible, but very probably the Jarrahdale Company will extend its opei’ations to the Colony before many months have passed. During the 35 weeks to September 30 the decrease in the import of deals .from the import to the same period last year is close upon millions, calculating 90 sixteen foot deals 11 x 2-\ to the standard, and in hard woods there is a greatly decreased import for the same period. The Russians are making strenuous efforts to get the filling up of this decrease for themselves, and at the present moment their chief ■timber expert is in England studying the wants of our market with a view to getting

a larger portion of the timber trade in Russian, hands. Properly worked, the trade from New Zealand' should grow to large proportions, and it is calculated that , in the Colony there is sufficient marketable timber at this present time to pay off the whole of the national debt of the islands. Howevei’, as I have remarked before, New Zealanders must be prepared to risk some money themselves before they can expect to handle English gold in this trade. Mr Freyberg’s reports xvill give you all the information as to the timber to . ship, the sizes required, &c. I am not quite so enthusiastic as your expert regarding the possibilities of the Homo market, but I am sure it would repay settlers if they laid themselves out to cultivate the English demand for useful and ornamental woods. Nature has given the Colony a bountiful supply of both, and only simple machinery is necessary to make your forests a source of income instead of rather a nuisance. Large profits, however, cannot be expected. THE AGENT-GENERAL. Sir Westby Perceval lectures next Saturday evening at a working-man’s club at the East End. Since he achieved sueh. a success at Great Ormond street rather more than a year ago he has received more invitations than he can accept to repeat his pleasant chat (illustrated with lantern slides) at similar institutions. Whenever it is at all possible, however,' the Agent-General assents, as he believes in lectures as a means of attracting that coy bird the really eligible emigrant. When I called at Victoria street yesterday afternoon the Agent-General was looking grave over the news that your Parliament had thrown out the Midland Railway Bill. He opined it would lead to considerable litigation, as he had seen seen some of the Board, and know they were bitterly chagrined.

COOL STORAGE IN THE METROPOLIS. The cold storage available in London, which proved utterly inadequate to the requirements of the frozen and chilled meat imports a month or so ago, will be added to

considerably by the beginning of next summer. Not only have the London and India Docks Joint Committee decided to establish large cool chambers at the West India Docks, but also in proximity to Smithfield Market. The plans for the former are now in course of preparation, and active steps have been taken toward the erection of the Smithfield depot, in which accommodation for between 80,000 and 90,000 carcases will be provided. The site chosen is very convenient to the great meat market, the main frontage, 131 ft in length, being to St. John street. The building, which xvill cover an area of 10,000 square feet, is to be constructed of red and blue brick and terracotta. It will consist of a basement, ground floor and four floors above, and will contain 16 distinct cold chambers, their total capacity being about 360,000 cubic feet. On the ground floor in the main frontage will be a x*ange of shops and offices, with accommodation in the basement allotted to each suite. In the basement will be the engine-room and boilerhouse, in the former of which will be placed two sets of hydro-carbonic refrigerating engines with their various appurtenances, and also the necessaty machinery for a complete installation of electric light throughout the building. Hand manipulation of the carcases when received from the docks will be reduced to a minimum by means of a very complete arrangement of cradles. Each chamber will be completely insulated from its neighbours, and the arrangements for the maintenance of equable temperatures xvill permit the building to be used not only as a meat depot but as a store for all kinds of colonial and foreign dairy produce. The erection of this store is to proceed forthwith, and when it and the West Indian Docks store are completed there will be no danger of a recurrence of the happenings of August last, when vessels, badly wanted on your side, were detained here to act as cold stores for their frozen meat cargoes. THE CAT O’ NINE TAILS. It seems that the English humanitarians who object so strenuously to the use of the cat o’ nine tails on the cuticle of the ruffians who half murder and rob helpless old men and assault women in the streets of the metropolis, and who start petitions for the reprieve of cold-blooded murderers, have been keeping an eye on the lynching of negroes in America, and intend to stop that method of administering justice. They have despatched a committee to the Southern States to ..investigate—whatever proceedings that word may cover. Well, we can very well spare these tender-hearted busybodies. The fogs are upon us, and an immediate outbreak of garrotting is certain. But America does not seem to be grateful to the committee for its proposed interference in her domestic concerns. The Governors of the Southern States are highly indignant and promise to make matters pretty warm for the committee whenever opportunity occurs. TOM SULLIVAN. The trustees of the Sportsman Cup, now held by Tom Sullivan, have not backed up “ Wag ” Harding’s backer in his demand that the New Zealander should either consent to meet the little champion on the Tyne or descend from his English championship pedestal. Sullivan is therefore not compelled to either forfeit the cup or row Harding on the latter’s chosen water, but he maintains his challenge to his late trainer to try conclusions on the Thames for <£2oo a side and

the Champions hip Cup. Harding’s backer, Jas. Anderson, is determined that his protege shall give Tynesiders his quality, and has now issued a sweeping" challenge on his behalf. Harding, he says, is open to row any man in the world for =£2oo a side, on the Tyne championship course, and “Never mind cups,” • THE MIDLAND’ RAILWAY MUDDLE. Seeing the cablegram reporting the rejection of the Midland Railway Bill, I called on the secretary .to the London Board of Directors, Gracechurch street. In reply to my questions, he informed- me that Mr Seddon and his colleagues have distinctly pledged themselves to the Company to pass the Bill authorising the issue of debentures, and that if this is" not carried out the Government will be liable to an action at law. Mr McDonell, however, said the directors were inclined to believe that the opposition to the measure is merely of a temporary character, arising , out -of the recent deadlock and the heated condition of parties. The board will therefore await further developments in the hope that the Bill will be re-introduced. Meantime they are kept thoroughly posted up through the cable by their New Zealand representative, Mr V ilson. Asked whether, in the event of the proposed issue of debentures for <£690,000 not being authorised by Parliament, the Company would have to abandon the scheme, Mr McDonell said, though such action would seriously embarrass their operations, they would be financially strong enough to weather the storm. DROWNED IN THE ROYAL ALBERT DOCK. The cargo of sheep from New Zealand .which were landed at Leith Docks last Saturday evening led to a fatal and most regrettable accident. Professor Dewar (of the Veterinary College) and his son went down to inspect them, driving to the docks in a four-wheeled cab, accompanied by a friend. After examining the sheep, the party'reentered the cab, and were making their way back to Edinburgh, when the driver missed his road, and tooled his trap at a sharp trot into the Royal Albert dock. The occupants managed somehow' to extricate themselves from the vehicle, and life-buoys were quickly thrown from the adjacent training ship. None of the four, unfortunately, could swim, and before they were rescued young Dewar and the cabby had sunk for the final time. The Professor and his friend were brought round at last, but not till the doctors had given them up. THE EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. By way of making a practical beginning in the work of Federation a movement has been set on foot by Sir John Seeley, Mr Parkin, Mr H. F. Wyatt and other enthusiasts, having for its object the education of the masses anent the importance of politically uniting lands occupied by British people. This. object is sought to be attained by the formation of groups of lecturers to give addresses on the subject in all the large towns of Great Britain, Canada, Australasia and South Africa. Sir John Seeley is president of the new organisation, and Mr G. R. Parkin vicepresident ; and the first group of lecturers includes Mr Raymond Beazley, of Merton ; 1 Rev W. H. Hutton, M.A., Fellow of St. y John’s College, Oxon ; Mi G. E. Colebrook, < Mr H. W. Marcus, Mr H. F. Wilson, and { Mr Tom Raleigh, of All Souls. These / gentlemen give their valuable services (

gratis and are guaranteed to spout " Federation” at the shortest notice. As yet, I regret to learn, athenaeums and mechanics’ institutes have not shown a frantic disposition to avail themselves of their instruction. Just at present in truth the debates of nearly all mutual improvement societies are devoted exclusively to that -fin de siecle monster “The New Woman.” THE AILESBURY HEIRLOOMS. When the present Marquis of Ailesbury took possession of Savernake, he found to his dismay that the family heirlooms (some hundreds of priceless treasures, the property of the Bruces for centuries) had entirely disappeared. Enquiries were made, and it presently transpired that His Lordship’s predecessor had, partly to spite his relatives and partly because really considered old curios "tommy-rot,” made away with them. Thus the sword of his remote ancestor Robert the Bruce, one of the most ancient and famous weapons in existence, “ the Markiss” had blithely bestowed on a feminine "star” of the music halls. Another damsel captured the battle - axe of the Black Douglas, Whilst a magnificent hunting horn with enamelled silver mountings which had been prized beyond expression by the Bruces ior-nges now reposes in the bar of a pugilist’s " pub.” The possession of this horn is said to be the title under which the Wardenship of Savernake Forest is held, under a charter granted by Edward VI. to Protector Somerset. The horn is ,2ft long, and made from an elephant’s tusk'/ ' To recount the other treasures missing would fill a column. Detectives were set to trace the heirlooms, and the most valuable have now been discovered. Directly the long vacation ends the GoUrt's will- be, .moved to oblige the cormorants who decline to disgorge to do so. NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALLERS AT THE UNIVERSITIES. On Tuesday last the annual Freshman’s match at Cambridge University was played in bright autumnal weather. The sides — the " Whites ” and “ Stripes ” —both included a New Zealander, Mr W. Mendelsohn playing at three-quarters for the "Whites,” and Mr E. F. Grigg, his fellowcountryman and collegian, for the « Stripes ” in a similar position. A grand, . fast game resulted in a victory /for the “ Whites,” who won by four goals and one try -to one goal. Mendelsohn played in fine style and converted the first' of the White tries, but his exhibition was somewhat overshadowed byr the' grand play of H. P. Taylor, ■of Jesus College, also a three-quarter back.-; For the “ Stripes ” Grigg showed good form, and to him was entrusted 1 the conversion of the solitary try gained by (At Oxford (whilst the game above-mentioned was in pi ogress) Mr 11. F. Johnston, r who recently entered at Trinity, was distinguishing himself afc half- . back in the losing team of the Dark Blue Freshman’s match. His side was beaten by three tries to one in spite of che New Zealander’s good play. The ground was very slippery, and this fact scarcely enhanced Mr Johnston’s form.