ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4428, 7 August 1901, Page 3

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

LONDON, June 11. THE CIVIL LIST. While the Civil List Bill was passing through committee of the Commons early in the week, Mr Labouchare made s“verai ineffectual attempts to reduce the provision for the Royal family. Foiled m his efforts to diminish the grant for the Sovereign, he fell tooth and nail upon the proposed appropriation of .£20,000 tor the Duke of Cornwall and York. Inasmuch as the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall now amounted to .£60,000 a year he urged that an additional .£10.00(i would be ample, especially in view of the fact that the Duchess was to be paid £>lo,ooo, to be increased to £>30,000 in the event of her becoming a widow. The Chancellor of the Exchequer pointed out that at a time when the receipts from the duchy yielded £46,000 the former Prince of Wales was allowed £40,000, and his consort, the present Queen, £IO,OOO, or £96,000 in all. The House strenuously set its fact against cheeseparing, and passed the vote as proposed by 294 votes against 46. THE DECEASED • WIFE’S SISTER BILL. • , In his usual post-Whitsuntide state, ment as to the Hills which the Government intended, ii possible, to save irom shipwreck during tlie session, the Leader of the House oi Commons announced on .Tuesday last that attention would be concentrated upon tho Loan, f inance. Factory, Education, Sale of Intoxicating Liquor to Children Prevention, Heer, and Agricultural Rating—commonly characterised by Liberals as the ■‘Doles’’ Bills, but made not tho slightest allusion to deceased wife’s sister legislation. From this it) may fairly be assumed that the measures on this subject is to again be a “slaughtered innocent-” It is a singular commentary on the loud professions made by members of a profound interest in matters deeply affecting Australia and the other colon es that Mr Balfour’s contemptuous omission of all reference to the Bill called forth no remark from any of the speakers who followed him. >Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman .wished to know what had become of the measure for reconstituting a Court of Final Appeal, which had been mysteriously drop, ped last year, and had been promised in the King’s speech, but tho deceased wife’s sister was entirely ignored.

THE AUSTRALIAN MAIL SERVICE. In the House of Commons on Friday last, Mr Dillon, on the vote for .£571,085 to complete the appropriation for the post office packet service, sought enlightenment from Ministers concerning the stage which had been reached in the dispute affecting the inadequate accommodation provided,' by 'the P. and O. Company for the Lascars in their ser. vice, but was informed by Mr Gerald Balfour that as the subject was sub judice no information could be vouchsafed to him. Being dissatisfied with the reply, the hon member moved iliac the vote should be reduced by .£50,000, such sum to be deducted from the_ provision for the conveyance of mails to Asia and Australia. Thereupon Mr Henniker Heaton seized the opportunity of denouncing the P. and O. service with Australia as being quite nworthy of the Mother Country, adding that the explanation of this was to he found in the fact that owing to the enormous subsidies paid to the company and to the present method of calling for tenders other companies were prevented from competing. To this indictment no reply was vouchsafed, and Mr Dillon's amendment was rejected by 153 votes to 76, a majority of just two to one. It is probable that more will be heard of the affair, as other members, including Mr Courtney Warner and Captain Norton, who interposed in the discussion, maintain that the point as to the treatment of the Lascars is not so much one of law as of humanity, and has an important bearing on the question of the continuance of subsidy. On Monday last Mr Henniker-Heaton found occasion to bring wholesale accusations of mismanagement against the post office department. He represented it as being a scandal and a

disgrace that the Postmaster-General should be in the House of Lords when only two or three questions were asked in the course of the session* intead of being in the Commons, ■where thousands of inquiries respecting the department were made. He condemned the system of fines when, postal orders were not pre* sented by a certain date, pointing out that in one case % man who presented an order for Is in Dublin was asked to pay Is 4d in penalties. Seeing that the profit on lost orders amounted to aIS,OUU a year, much greater liberality in small matters should be shown. INTERNATIONAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE. Some six years ago a society was started under the above heading, which consists of representatives of all countries having colonial possessions, So far it has not attracted much attention outside of a comparatively narrow circle; but its members are very much in earnest, and? are confident that their labours will be productive of widespread benefits to those in whose behalf they are labouring. As a matter of fact verv little is known as to what it has actually accomplished; but its aims—namely, to facilitate the exchange of views on "matters of finance, administration and education affecting colonies generally in their relations to the mother -country," are .'certainly unexceptionable. During the past few days the society held its annual meetings at the Hague, and these were not only well patronised by members, hut ’were fre nuently attended by Dutch Ministers of State. .The British representatives present were Lord Reay. Sir Alfred Lyall and Sir Hubert Jerningham. The proceedings were conducted in French; but when the conference takes place in London in 1903 the official language used will be English. THE COST OF ARMY REMOUNTS.

Sir Blundell Maple, in. the House of Commons, has beeu directing prominent attention to the imposition practised, upon the Government with regard to tho purchase of remounts in different parts of the world, and particularly in Austria. Commenting upon the hon member's statements, a London journal points out that it would he interesting to know the average price paid by tho various Aus. tralian Governments for the horses sent with the contingents to South Africa. It has been, it says, placed on record that these hdrses were exceptionally suited for the work. When the sixth Queensland contingent was mustering it was stated in February last that "Mr Silas Harding was buying the horses in the Logan district and elsewhere, and getting what he wanted at an average of about £7 10s per head,” THE BLUE ANCHOR STEAMER WAKOOL. On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week counsel wero engaged in the Commercial Court in bringing under tbo notice of Mr Justice Mathew the facts and law connected with a case in which Mr William Lund, of the Blue Anchor line, was nlaintiff, and the Thames and Mersey Marine Insurance Company, Limited, was the defendant. The action was brought under a policy of insurance, the allegation being that through ordinary peril of the sea water was admitted to the charcoal which formed part of the refrigerating apparatus of the Wakool, and the insulation was thus destroyed. * The company pleaded that tho damage was due to unsea,worthiness. On Monday last Judgment was delivered in favour of the defendant with costs, Mr Justice Mathew holding that there was ample evidence that the vessel had leaked, and that this leakage was due to the absence of panting beams which, as a matter of ordinary precaution, should have been put in when tho vessel was built. A stay of execution for 14 days was granted.

FACTORY AND WORKSHOPS BILL. Among tho half dozen measures ■which the Government purpose making an effort to pass this session is the Factory and Workshops Bill, which provides, first, that there shall be proper ventilation in rooms in which people work among noxious fumes; second, that children shall not be allowed to work underneath machinery; third, defining underground bakehouses as places where the floor is 3ft below the surface of the ground; fourth, that laundries, subject to considerable latitude in the matter pf hours, shall be brought under the Act; and fifth, that the Home Secretary shall draw up rules regulating the carrying on of dangerous trades. It is stipulated that both employers and employed shall have liberty to make representations regarding these rules, but any such, representations, before being acceded to, are to be made the subject of a public inquiry. The second reading of the measure was moved on April 11, when strong exception was taken to the proposal in the outwork clauses to transfer power from the factory inspectors to the inspectors of local authorities, and ly Irish members to tho inspection of charitable religious institutions. MISCELLANEOUS. No little stir has been caused among commissioners in England for taking affidavits, declarations and so forth for dis patch'to Australia and other colonies by the receipt of a notification from the Commissioners of Inland Revenue at Somerset House that all such documents must bear English, stamps. This departure from what has been the universal practice in the past is so unreasonable and so utterly without justification that it will not bo quietly submitted to. Among others Sir John Cockburn is taking steps in the matter. The Imperial opal which its owner, Mr Maurice Lyons, generously proposes presenting to the King as a gift from the Commonwealth of Australia still lies in the custody of the royal jewellers at the order and disposition of Sir E. G. W. Herbert. His Majesty has not yet inspected the gem, and pending that intimation of his pleasure regarding it private persons are not being permitted to see it. It is understood that nothing further.’will be done in the matter until Mr Lyons has returned from his visit to Australia. At the thirty-fifth anniversary meet ings of the China Inland Mission, held at the Conference Hall, Mildmay Bark, on June 11, under tho presidency of the venerable Sir George Williams, it was reported that the result of the recent out break in China has been the loss to the society of 66 persons. The accounts presented showed that Great Britain had contributed for tho year <£4(2,149, and China, America and Australia, -£11,215, the total of -£53,365 being larger than that of the previous year by .£l6B. “A pathetic interest,"' says one of thu accounts of the proceedings, "was attached to the story told by Mr and Mrs Green of how their little daughter Vera so cap* tivated the hearts of the Boxers that on three separate occasions she saved the lives of her parents and the friend who was staying with them. The poor child has since died of the hardships she endured/'

Every month, remarks a London daily, the ‘‘Cosme Monthly” arrives upon our table, with the perfume of healthy content. The little Paraguay communistic colony of 87 souls is still doing well, its object is not to make money, but to be happy, and it seems to succeed. In a London slum 32 of every 100 babies died before completing their first year. During the past seven years 39 children have been bom in Cosme. Only one has died under the age of one year. Recruits, are welcomed—on trial. But, says the editor, do not come to Cosme "if yon ar» tired of the wage system only because your own wage is small,” if you think that “liberty means doing what , you like regardless of the rights of others/' and unless "you are anxious to abandon for ever all part in the social war.” The Paris “Siecle” criticises severely the conduct of M. Etienne, formerly Minister for the Colonies, for his invertelbrate action in connection with such me Here of Anglo-French concern as the position of the New Hebrides and of Newfoundland. Of the former, he says: “England and France have made the reciprocal engagement not to establish their respective sovereignty over this group of islands. The islands are claimed now as a dependency of the Australian Federation by the British colonies of the Oceanian continent. It must he clear to those who reflect that in Loudon a desire must bo felt to present the coveted islands to the Commonwealth as an inau. gural and gracious gift.”