TOPICS OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1200, 1 March 1895, Page 11

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

From Our Own Correspondent. THE NEW ZEALAND MIDLAND RAILWAY. London, January 4 is evidence of an improved condition of affairs in New Zealand in the latest report issued by the New Zealand Midland Railway Company, covering the twelve months preceding June 30th, 1894. The gross traffic of the line increased during the period in review from £12,700 to .£25,300, and the net results from .£4409 to .£6572. The directors regret that the Bill embodying the offer of the Government substituting a money payment for the land grant, and giving an extension of the contract time for completing the railway has been rejected by the House of Representatives, and they intimate their intention to appeal to arbitration. The directors have "reluctantly formed the conclusion that there,is no intention on the part of the Government to accord the Company that measure of justice to which it is entitled." Since the- formation of the Company .£1,273,547' has been spent in construction and incidental expenses. The gross receipts from all sources, including the value at contract valuation of land earned but not sold, amount to .£427,604. /During the 12 months reported upon, land to the amount of .£44,450 at contract Valuation was earned, and private sales to the extent of .£100,168 were effected. The Financial Times regards the land grant system as cumbrous and unworkable, and sympathises with the reluctance of the Government to part with " the ready " in these hard times.

THE WAIHI MINE. The appreciation of. Waihi gold shares from If to 7 7-16, which took place during the second half of the bygone year, was certainly one of the prominent features of the i 894 mining market. The improvement commenced soon after the arrival Home of: Mr Thomas Russell, and doubtless . that many - sided colonist had a good deal to do with the rise in value of Waihi shares. The directors of the Company now propose to increase the capital of the concern to £160,000 by the creation Df 10,000 £1 shares. These will be first offered to existing shareholders in the proportion of one share for every 15 heldj " at such price, not being less than par, and generally upon such terms and conditions as the directors may determine." The actual price to be paid for each share has not yet been made public; but it is not likely that the shareholders will be able to obtain them at par or where near thereto. A fall to 6% took place on Wednesday, but to-day the shares have rallied to 7 and '* no sellers." Indeed, all along the shares have been very closely held, and it is not unlikely that a quotation up to 10 may be chronicled during the current quarter, in spite of the small increase.of capital. «

. ".. GAMBLING ON STEAMERS. A story, which it might be as well to sift from your end, appears this week in the London letter of a Liverpool paper. The writer states that several of the big Australian liners have become perfect gambling, hells, and that more or less notorious.' gentlemen of the genus Greek,. who pose as commercial travellers, make a practice of travelling backwards and forwards by thesevessels/ and do exceedingly well out of their smoking-room gains. Several scandals have,"; it is alleged, resulted. Two young fellows going out recently were " cleaned out " of £IOOO and £6OO respectively beforethe ship reached Colombo. The passengers were so satisfied there had been foulplay they petitioned the captain to have the, winning gamester set ashore there. We are the skipper assented to this extraordinary proposition, and that the supposed sharper left the ship breathing vengeance" 'in the shape of legal proceedings. .'//"; :

The P.' arid O. Company, the Orient Company, theN.Z.S. Company, Shaw, Say ill's, and indeed all respectable ship-owners forbid gainbling in any form in the saloons. It is, however, practically impossible to prevent poker, &c, in the smoking-room. I have no sympathy myself with "Jugginses "■ who lose large sums at cards to perfect strangers, and then turn round and call the winners names. Wise men do not play with seductive " drummers."

A MATTER OF SOME IMPORTANCE. I have several tiroes commented upon the apparent inability of English Judges to grasp the measure of time required for the exchange of legal documents between England and the ,Australian colonies. They blithely make orders for colonial claimants upon English estates to come in and prove their claims without any regard to the fact that mails are not delivered in New Zealand till about six weeks have elapsed from the posting of them m London. Mr Justice Stirling is the latest sinner in this respect. He has given directions in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice "in the matter of the estate of John Walker deceased, Edward Gellalty and another against Elizabeth Walker, widow, and upon an application for an enquiry whether testator's son Christopher Walker is living or dead or presumed to be dead/' The said Christopher Walker or any other persons claiming to be entitled under such enquiry are required to come in and enter their claims on or before April Ist, 1895, at Mr Justice Stirling's chambers, or in default they will be excluded from the benefit of the said enquiiy. Christopher Walker left London for New Zealand in the Helen Denny in June, 1874, and was last heard of from the Colony in March, 1875. The advertisement relating to this matter appears in to-day's Times (January 4), but I notice that the order is dated DecemJber 19th, 1894. The adyer^

tisement will be inserted in two New Zealand papers only, and is ordered to appear twice in each on February 21st and 28th respectively. Taking it that possible claimants see the first advertisement, and allowing them but a short week to make the necessary preparations for coming Home or instructing a London solicitor, I fail entirely to see how they are to " come in and prove their claims" at Room 292, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, on or before April Ist. The advertisements ought most certainly to have been forwarded by the last San Francisco mail, with instructions to insert in first issue after arrival. Even then colonial claimants would have had little enough time, and I hold that in justice to all parties at least six months should elapse between the issue of a judge's order and the proving of claims. THE WAIHI MEETING. The Hon Thomas Russell, C.M.G., had a very pleasant duty to perform in presiding over the sardine-packed meeting of the vVaihi Goldmine shareholders convened at Cannon street Hotel on Wednesday for the purpose of creating £IO,OOO fresh capital. The Hon Tom was in his element when, with his speech in manuscript, he laid before the crowded room a full statement of the present grand market position of the Waihi property, the work being done thereon and its results up to date, and the plans* of the directors for the future in regard to those portions of the estate as yet not fully explored. He kept largely to figures and to managerial reports, but in the end stuck on the rose - coloured spectacles and drew a beautiful picture of the possibilities of Waihi. He had been connected with goldmining in New Zealand for 40 years, and was a director of, the famous Caledonian mine, in which the biggest bonanza knotvn in goldmining history was found, and from which £650,000 in dividends was paid within one year. The Waihi was an even greater mine than that, but that .£IO,OOO was necessary to the speedy development of the magnificent property. So with little delay the shareholders gave their directors the requisite authority to issue shares to the desired extent. Let us hope they may never regret their precipitancy !

WHALES AT THE R.C.I, The.monthly meeting of the Fellows of the Royal Colonial Institute, held on Tuesday evening, was a fairly full gathering considering the nature of the paper to be read, namely, " Whales and British and Colonial Whale Fisheries." Sir William Flower opened his subject with a rather windy description of the appearance, peculiarities and geographical distribution of the more important members of the whale family, illustrating his discourse with lantern slides, and also touched upon the history of the regular whale fisheries from the 10th century, at which early period the Basques, hunted the "marine monstre" " in the Bay of Biscay O'." Turning to our colonial whale fisheries, the knight went on to show that they are practically extinct, and will probably never be revived, never, at all events, with anything like the success they met with formerly. It had been a case of killing the goose which laid the golden eggs. Not that any species of whale was likely to be exterminated by man, for the vastness of the oceans gave great chances of escape, and when pursuit was no longer a paying game man dropped it, and the species had a chance to add to its numbers, -i The North Atlantic or Biscay whale was deemed extinct by naturalists 40 years ago, but having ceased to become an object of regular pursuit, it has reappeared, though not as yet in appreciable numbers. Doubtless the southern black whale would increase again in the Southern seas if means were taken to give them ah effectual close time, and thus the Australian and New Zealand black whale fisheries could be revived, as they have partially in Tasmania. But the difficulty and expense of establishing sufficient protection would in . all probability be greater than the value of the pioduce. Whalebone still keeps up its price in the market, and indeed increases owing to its scarcity. The increased price, however, has led to the manufacture of substitutions, and the mineral oils now found in such abundance have superseded all others for lighting purposes. Unless whales can be caught easily and cheaply they will not be worth, catching at all, and this is their best chance for maintaining their place in the world, since experience shows that the cupidity of man will given them no quarter. Sir William strongly condemned the method of whaling adopted by New Zealanders from 1830 to 1840, namely, killing baby whales in order to make sure of mothers, and he doubts whether any laro-e whale will again be met with in the Antarctic regions.

PERSONAL NOTES. London, January 4. Mr Harry B. Vogel arrived in England in time to spend Christmas with the «.' old folks at Home," and tells me he found his father in, comparatively speaking, wonderful health. His infirmity has lessened marvellously during the last year or two, and he can now move about the house with ease; " indeed," said Mr Vogel, " I see many lamer people walking in the streets here in town." Mr Harry Vogel, who, as your readers will be aware, has achieved some success as a writer of short stories, hopes to place several during his stay in London. The Pall Mall Magazine, you may remember, had one of his not long ago, and a very readable tale it was. Mr Vogel, by the way, thinks he has hit on that most marketable of literary commodities, an original idea. Many of us have, alas, believed the same in our time and lived to find we were cherishing a " chestnut." Let us hope Mr Vogel may prove more fortunate. , New Zealand and New South Wales neither of them figure in the Yew's

Honours Hat, which is" distinctly meagre\ Its most interesting features are the " Right Honourable " awarded that striking individuality, Mr Cecil Rhodes, whom South Africans style (as you do Sir George Grey) the Great Pro-Consul, and the baronetcy conferred on " Good Old Tit-Bits," as I regret to say irreverent people call Sir Geo. Newnes. The latter honour was first proposed to Mr Newnes last spring, but he would have preferred a Government .subsidy for the Westminster, and said. so. Lord Rosebery, could not, however, see his way to grant the coin, so the sublimation of the noble art of clipping has to put tip with a minor title. The veteran Henry Russell, composer of " Cheer, Boys, Cheer," and half a hundred other songs, celebrated his 83rd birthday on Christmas Eve. He received many congratulations, one message being from " our only tragedian," who has a particularly happy knack of doing the right thing at the right time and in the neatest manner. Irving wired " Love and greeting, old friend. Reciprocate with all my heart returns of this day, and God bless you always."

At the Greenroom Club last Saturday night Sir Augustus Harris', who was in a loquacious mood, 'entertained the writer and sundry "pros." with some particulars of the cost of " My Panto." at Drury Lane. The great man gobbled a large dish of bacon and eggs as he talked, and, truth to tell, his choice of victuals for midnight consumption rather horrified some of us. Still, if one cannot unbend at 1 a.m. within the sanctity of one's own club when can one unbend. The "greenroomers," I may remark, are distinctly good at unbending, especially in the matter of language. Ajeune premier, who looks on the stage as though butter would not melt in his mouth, displayed a quite phenomenal acquaintance with bargee objurgations. MrPenley was the quietest man there. He is a serious little person in private life, and (unlike most " pros. ") not the least in awe of Druriolanus. The latter told us he gave the Bros. Griffiths .£6O a week, and Ada Blanche £4O. Marie Montrose gets .£3O, and Dan Leno .£SO. Madame Blouet and her husband have been terribly upset by the articles on " Kangaroo Land " which appeared in Melbourne Truth over the signature of " Max O'Rell." No doubt they were intended by the writer as parodies, but the style was such an admirable imitation of the sprightly foreigner's that many people, including, 'tis said, the wily R. S. Smythe himself, were taken in by them. Anyhow Mr Smythe sent the paper home to " Max,", and he being away on yet another farewell tour in the States, Madame Blouet opened it. She consulted Mr J ope Slade and others what should be done, and eventually, after much cabling to and from the injured M. O'Rell in America, the Argus' London correspondent received instructions to disown solemnly " Kangaroo Land " on M„ Paul Blouet's behalf. Max O'Rell may now be added to the list of professional jesters who spend their lives bantering and quizzing other people, but resent angrily even the mildest joke at. their own expense. No doubt this.particular one was painfully practical, still I think Max would have been wise to treat the whole matter 'lightly. Mountains made out of molehills are apt to collapse and render the manufacturer ridiculous.

Mention of R. S. Smythe reminds me to suggest to you to ask the Moltke of managers " What about the contract with Paderewski ? Is it off—very much off—as Arthur Roberts used to say ?" I enquire because I read & resume of the Pole's plans extending well into 1896, and Australia did not figure therein. Antipodean bibliomaniacs who desire to possess the Edinburgh edition of poor Stevenson's works must look sharp unless they wish to pay through the nose for them. The price has already risen from .£l2 10s to .£2O. It is stated, by the way, that Mr Stevenson was a great smoker, consuming from 100 to 150 cigarettes a day, and that this habit probably brought on the attack which proved fatal. London, January 3 2. The Westminster Gazette of Wednesday, January 9, contains a most interesting interview with your Mr W. P. Reeves, sent from Sydney by their correspondent, Mr W. Tighe Ryan. I may mention, whilst on ! this topic, that Mr Edmund Garrett, who has for some years been a prominent member of Mr Cook's staff, will shortly leave for Capetown, Avhere he has accepted the editorship of the principal morning paper. The Postmaster-General has gone to the Riviera to recruit, and so has Mr Henniker Heaton. Curiously enough they not only both selected Monte Carlo as the scene of their sun-holiday, but accidentally (of course) happened on the same hotel. A fellow-lodger says he shall never forget the singular expression which crossed the Right Honourable Arnold Morley's speaking countenance as on entering the salle a manger one bright morning he first caught sight of the unquenchable reformer. Our Henniker, on his side, seemed full of ingenuous surprise and greeted Mr Morley quite affectionately. Sir George Grey is a marvel of vitality. In spite of the severe, sharp, frosty air he looks quite robust, with an almost juvenile face. His manner also is bright and cheery. " Yes," he says, in answer to my question, " I think the cold weather braced me up. What I have to fear is the warm weather." Of course the Auckland Public Library always occupied the foremost place in his thoughts. He is now forming a complete French library for presentation to that institution, and amongst other valuable works he has ferreted out a very rare edition of Voltaire. It is to be hoped that this will not alarm the unco guid strictly orthodox Aucklanders, and that the volumes of Voltaire will not be solemnly burnt and placed in the Index Expurgatoria, When he has completed the French collection Sir George will turn his attention to getting together a German and an Italian section, '

The sensation Lord Yarmouth's goings On have caused in Australia has immensely tickled his "pals" in the Old Country, Who scarcely thought the quiet " hobbledehoy" capable of it all. But Lord Hertford, on dit, can't see the humour of the skirt-dancing escapade, and has cabled some emphatic orders on the subject.

The latest rumour in theatrical circles is that Lady Clancarty hungers for the footlights, and will reappear shortly as Belle Bilton in a new comic opera. I don't think there is any truth in it. Max O'Bell has been telling the Americans many Australian bookmakers make ,£20,000 a year by their calling. What next, Max ?

Mr "Walter Bentley's brother, Mr F. Faithfull Begg, has been adopted as Unionist candidate for the St. Sollox division of Glasgow. His enthusiasm for Imperial Federation will, I fear, scarcely commend him to the hard-headed Scots, as much as the fact that he came to London almost penniless, and made a handsome fortune stockbroking here. Mr Begg was one of the backbones of the Imperial Federation League, and bitterly deplores its extinction by Lord Eosebery. Mr and Mrs Chas. Pharazyn have returned from St. Moritz, and are staying for the present at Bailey's * Hotel, South Kensington. They will not return to New Zealand just yet. Though Miss Pharazyn's death occurred on the 23rd ulto., it was only announced in the British Australasian on Thursday 9th, and is consequently as yet known but to friends of the family. Miss Mary Colborne Veel, daughter of the secretary of the Canterbury Education Board, and a young lady who, I am told, is a great favourite in Christchurch, has joined the melodious army of minor poets. I have not been favoured with a copy of the book for review, so I cannot sample her muse for you. Judging, however, from a hurried galance at a copy belonging to Sir Westby Perceval, it would repay examination. The little volume is tastefully bound in white vellum and published by Horace Cox.

The Times newspaper is, I learn, included in the libel action which Miss Kate Marsden has brought against the Rev Alexander Francis, and the damages are fixed at .£SOOO. The Messrs Colyer were i so long filing particulars of the alleged slander that the defendants' solicitor came to the conclusion the case would not be proceeded with. Miss Marsden was then informed privately that in event of her failing to go on with the action, steps would be taken against her, as neither the clergyman nor the Times thought it would be just to the public to let the matter drop. Whether ohis influenced the lady we do not of course know, but soon after particulars were filed. The statement of claim is extremely vague and general, and touches only on the allegations of improperly conducting the leper mission. Mr Francis' letters to the Times are quoted, and Mr Geo. Edward Wright (the printer of that journal) charged with falsely and maliciously publishing them. Mr H. B. Marriott-Watson has undertaken, at the request of Mr W. E." Henley, to write a series of six stories for the New Review. Mr Watson will carry out his idea of leaving the Pall Mall Gazette at Easter, and settling doAvn in the country to purely literary work. Mrs J. B. Russell is, I hear from Captain Ash by; still residing in London with her daughters, but talks of returning to the Colony shortly. Mr Arthur Clayden lectured on New Zealand at Windsor last Friday, borrowing the Agent-General's lantern slides for the occasion.

j Miss* Abbott, daughter of the well-known Auckland money-lender, who has been living- in England with her brother for the last three years, returns to New Zealand shortly. Young Abbott is learning engineer- ! ing with the famous firm of Marshalls and Sons, at Gainsborough, and getting on extramely well. Mr Walter Moore, of Wierton* and his brothers, whose mother was a sister of the late Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, will doubtless be glad to be able to con- [ gratulate their relative Lord Dalkeith on the birth of a son and heir. Mention of His Grace of Buccleuch always reminds me of the story Mr Gladstone tells of the newcomer's great-grandfather, one of the noblest and gentlest men who ever filled a high position. • Succeeding to the title at five years of age the little Duke lived in an atmosphere of flunkeyism till when at 10 he stood a new boy in the playing fields at Eton. An older lad came swaggering along " Hullo, cocky ! "What's your name ?" "If you please, I am the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry," replied the little peer proudly " Indeed," said his questioner. " Well, I'm Puggy Smith, and I want to make you a present. Here's a smack over the jaw for the Duke of Buccleuch, and a punch on the head for the Duke of Queensberry, with (spinning the victim round) a kick for our noble selves," and he ran off, laughing derisively. The pain of the punishment was as nothing to the astounding discovery that people existed who didn't care for a Duke. This (according to the G.0.M.) began a training which resulted in making His Grace the humblest and kindest of i great nobles. i