ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11046, 25 February 1898, Page 3

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(Fuoji Oub Own Correspondent.} London, January 1. PERSONAL. MrW. P. Reeves returned to his duties at the Agency-general department on Monday, after spending a, very pleasant Christmas holidaytime in the New Forest and at Stratford-sm-Avon successively. Mrs Reeves is at present on a visit to Mr and Mrs E. D. O'Rorke, at Brooklyn, near Leamington, Warwickshire.

Mr A. G. Cook, oFChristchurch, who was staying with relatives in Scotland for gome time, hafjhst returned from a trip to Paris, which he appears to have thoroughly enjoyed. He left London again to-day on hi 3 return to Scotland. Mr Cook tells me that he is almost certain to remain in England for the coming summer. Dr and Mrs Mickle, of Christcburch, went to Bournemouth for the Christmas holidays, and »eem to have had a pleasant time. On returning to London they found the fog so oppressive, and somewhat injurious to Mrs Mickle's health, that they decided to take up their residence for the present a little way out of town, and have accordingly secured pleasant rooms in Sfc. Aubyn's road, Upper Burwood, close to the Crystal Palace.

In the delijrhtf nl " Personal Recollections of , Arthur H. Hallam," which Mr Gladstone has given to the world practically on his eightyeighth birthday, there is an interesting refer- I ence to the first Biehop Selwyn of New Zea- j land, which will doubtless" be read with ' pleasure by all those who. realise how much the colony and its church owes to that great man. Mr Gladstone says. "There were other con- ! temporaries of Hallam, such in their calibre j as to mark the period. One o^ them was George Selwyn, afterward Bishop of New Zealand then of Lichfield, a man whose character is summed up, from alpha to omega, in the i single word 'noble,' sad whose high office, in a ' large measure, it wag to reintroduce among the ! 4flEl'can clergy the pure heroic type." general Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, whose uutimely death by murder on the Indian frontier everyone is lamenting, was another of the surviving heroes of the old wars of New Zealand. Sir Henry was actively eDgaged in the New Zealand war of 1863 and was several' times in action, fighting, according to his wont, with desperate valour. He received the Companionship of the Bath for his services on that ! occasion.

By the South African mail just to hand I b*ve received another letter from Mr E. P. Wright,, dated from Ditenhagen. He is still proceeding actively with his experiments as to the cure and prevention of rinderpest, the Cape Government having placed a number of cattle, &c, at his disposal for experimenting purpose^, this being the only caao id which this hr.s been done for any outsider. He is sanguine of success, bufe, of courso, sufficient time has not yet elapsed for the full effect of his treatment to be known. Mr Wright is strongly impressed with the mischievous rssulta accruing and impending from the stupid and ignorant policy of ih^ Boers in the Transvaal, of which policy Oom Paul is the principal champion and exponent. MrWright describes the condition of the country an disastrous, mines being constantly, shut down, business departing, and everything tending towards financial ruin and bankrnptcy. If Present Kruger be re-elected and his policy continue Mr Wright predict* that the Transvaal wiU virtually fall to pieces by dint of sheer commercial ruin, and will probably drift into Euj/lish hands again. Sir George and Lady Bowen are still residing in Rome, where they will probably remain until the spring. They are staying at the Grand Hotel.

An old and respected Canterbury (New Zealand) name appears in a recent obituary column. Katherine Xorlesse, eldest daughter of the late Mr C. O. Torlesse, of Canterbury, New Zealand, passed away 00. New Year's Eve at Ilfracombej North Devon. The cause of death was influenza.

A statement having appeared in the London papers to the effect that the New Zealand Government had made it3elf responsible for the expense of Mr Ben Tillett's vojage to and from that colony, and any expenses for railway travelling, ah official denial has been published in the following shape.—"We are authorised to state that -the statement * that the New Zealand Government are responsible for the expanses of Mr Ben Tillett's voyage to and from New Zealand is incorrect, the Government of that colony not having undettaken any such responsibility." ■ ■••.■

Mr T. Mackenzie Las been asked to-join the Finance Committee of the Imperial Institute, and has consented to do "so: He tells'me that ! regret is expressed at the action of; the colony j in withdrawing the grant of £200 previously | given to the institute. ■ Hethuifts; that this j action on the part of the colony will tend aiiill further to hamper the' usefiiiness''ofHh"# ihiti- ••' tute so far as New Zealand is conceriie'd; Mr Mackenzie has noticed with some anmJement astatsment in various New Zealand papers to the effect that he has been captured-by the Government, and has become a supporter' of the Seddon Ministry. He simply laughs at this, remarking that ha is in Eogland to further the interests of the-coloDy, and not those of j any party in politics.'

At the annual dinner of the Seed Trade, held at ths Holborn Restaurant a few days ago, at which 150 guests' were present, Mr Thomas Mackenzie was asked to propose the toast of the evening, and in doing so took occasion to refer to the remarkable capacity of New Zealand in the way of seed-growing, mentioning the grea* quantity of cocksfoot, clover, and other Beedn already produced, and the vast scope there was for the extension of this class of produce. At another public dinner, one held- at Bridpbrt, in* Dorset, Mr Mackenzie was asked to propose toast of " The Imperial Parliament," arid again took occasion to say a good deal about New Zealand' and its advantages. ' ■ ■: ■". ' ' '

Mr Frank Armstrong, or Dunedin, who left England some little time ago on his return to New Zealand, is now in/ Philadelphia. He writes to me that he has spent a most enjoyable 10 days' tour in Canada and a visit to the Falls of Niagara. Referring to the Dental Hospital at Philadelphia, Mr Armstrong says : ♦• It is certainly the moist elaborate and. most expensively fltted-up dental hospital I have seen. There are men of every nationality here. Quite a small colony of Euglisk-degree dentists. In spite of all the talk of American dentistry, there are thiogs of great use done in England that are' not ever* talked of here. Still, there are aavriy things here that have not yet reached E fgland. Some of the hospital tees are real • good.' I have a piece of bridge work to do, for which the patient pays £7—a sum that seems rather high' for a charitable institution' to charge."

Inquiring at the Norfolk Hotel yesterday, I learned that Sir George Grey's condition remains virtually uncharged. His physical health is fairly good, but his mental power seems to be almost wholly gone. He rarely recognises anyone about him, and appears to pass his days in a state of serai - unconsciousness. It- is a melancholy close to snch a long and vigorous life.

Mr W. P. Reeves was present at the dinner of the Article Club .on Wednesday night, but for once was "let off" his usual post prandial sneech.

, Mr Thomaa Mackenzie has been- appointed one of the governors of the Imperial Institute, a<r representing New Zealand, in succession to S:r Weetby Perceval, who now represents Tasmania.

■ THIS WORK OF THE AGENCY-GENERAL. Apparently an extraordinary amount of ignorance still exists, in New Zealand even— or perhaps I should aay particularly—among its. legislators touching the functions and work of the Agsncy-general in London. I have had occasion at-various times during the terms of office of the last two Agents-general to do something towards dispelling the prevalent misconception that there is virtually no real work to fes doDe at the London agency, and- that all is eitbsr " beer and skittles," or else "caktsand ale" at No. 13 Victoria street. • But glancing at the last numbers of Hansard to hand, I observe that & surprising number of silly Esisstatementa were made in the House o? Representatives daring the debate on the Estimates for the Agent-general's department. , It was complained, for example, that no annual report of the operations of the department is furnished to the Government and to Parliament, as was done in the other Government departments of the colony. Now this, if it were true, would really be a well-grounded cause of complaint. Its weak point is that there is not a syllable of truth in the allegation. Indeed, the statement is. not only untrue, but grotesquely far more than the trnfcfa. As a matter of fact, a report is annually furnished to the New Zaaland Government by the Agent-general's department, and not only so, but that report is fuller aod more elaborate and deals with a larger number of varied and complex subjects than does the report of aDy other Government department.

"Then," it may be asked, " what becomes of it- ? How is it that nothing is ever heard of it either in Parliament or ia the columns of the press ? Why is it not laid on-*the table of the i House, and why are copies not distributed as in the case of other reports?" Well, thereby i Langs a tale. Formerly the reports of the I Agent-general's department were duly laid before Parliament like all other reports, bub about 18 years ago certain complications arose as between the Government and the ! Agent-general of that day, upon which I need ! not enlarge here, as they could easily be found i upon reference to newspapers, files, and docu- ! ments of that period. It was then agreed that | a'-l future report's which might be made should ■ be regarded and treated as strictly confiden- j tittl, and this has been done ever since. So far ; &i I can ascertain, there is no earthly reason • «rliy this system should continue. It has various ' prave drawbacks, and both the Jfarliament and ti>e public of New Zealand are deprived of a : peat deal of valuable information that there ia i no valid reason for withaoldiog from them. Bat ■

assuredly all the Agents-general—Sir Julius Vogel, Sir Francis Dillon Bell, Sir Westby Perceval, and Mr W. P. Reeves alike—have I transmitted regularly, as each year enme round, to the Colonial Government full and ample reports of all that has been done by their departI ment during the year. It is just as well that i this should be clearly understood, and that, if possible, the discontinuance ot a somewhat gratuitous »nd absurd practice of reticence should be put an end to. "While I am on this subject, I may as well notice another misstatDment which was made in the House, evidently due to want of knowledge of facts. It was asserted in effect that the London correspondents of New Zealand journals opposed to the present Ministry were nnable to obtain information from the Agent-general. I think it is only fair—and, indeed, absolutely incumbant upon me—to state most emphatically that, at all events so far as I myself Km concerned, there is no foundation whatever for this impression As in the case of Sir Francis Dillon Ball and Sir Westby Perceval, so in tbe case of Mr W. P. Reeves, I hare always experienced the utmost courtesy at the Agentgeneral's office, and have invariably been met with the fullest readiness to afford any information that could be made public Without pre]™'°B'o tb-e public service or interests. Ido not believe that any press representative who has gone in * spirit of courtesy to any one of the last three Agents-general—the only ones whom I have known iv office-can with truth complain of discourteous treatment, or of the refusal of any interesting information that could with propriety be made public. - GENERAL. . T*! e "P«of "of the last of the new stamps for ths New Zealand Postal departmont have just been received by the Agent-general from Messrs Waterlow. Like the rest of their work, it is beautifully executed, but it seem 3to me scarcaly to cctne up in intersst or attractiveness to most of the other stamps. It represents the value of Bii, and the design is a large figure 8 entwined with foliage and having a sort of floral background. Ifc was originally printed off in a i. Ut thls had sucn a sombre and lugubrious i effect that the Agent-general requested to have some less funereal hue substituted, and I believe that a sort of slatish-grey colour has now been chosen. This does .not' sound very pretty, but I understand it looks better than it sounds.

Colonial.geography continues to be almost as "if °, wn a «cience as ever in London. Only the other day a lady of obvious education and culture called at the New Zealand Agencygeneral to make some inquiries regarding Melbourne. She was informed that Melbtmrne was not in New Zealand, and was referred to the Agent-general for Victoria. At first she declined to believe that Melbourne was not a New Zealand town, and was rather,inclined to be annoyed at what she seemed to think was an unworthy attempt to •' shunt " her; bfub at last one of the courteous officers of the department did succeed in convincing her that Melbourne was in Victoria. "Ab, yes," she said, "I understand now, Victoria! That is in New bonth Wales, isn't it ? " There .is a good prospect of a new and profitable industry being/opened up in New Zealand. 1 suppose most people in the colony know that valuable and nutritive stimulant " bovcil." Possibly some may have heard of "Bovril Johnson," who virtually "runs that show." Mr "Bovril" Johnson and Mr Thomas Mackenzie were. nea r DT^°« B Whil° tbe latter lived at Dulwich, and Mr Mackenzie had several opportunities of impressing upon Mr Jobnson the large resources possessed by Nov. Zealand in the way of beef, on whim the Bovril Company might well draw tor material to bs. manufactured into their famous meat extract. The result ia that Mr Johnson ig tending one of his staff out to New Zealand for tbe express purpose of ascertaining -what can profitably be done'in the way of pnichaKing cattle wholesale out there and setting up local works for the purpose of manufacturing the essence. If the result of his investigation! should prova satisfactory, a useful new industry will be started in NewZaalaud Sir Charles Dilke has been writing in the _Kevuede Paris" about Imperial Federation. Hecontends that only in-the matter of defence "■there any room for.drawing closer, together the bonds which.unite the various parts oi tbe .British Empire. He saw advantages in the present provisional political relations of the constituents of the Empire which he' did not find equalled in any substitute which had been proposed. He saw no ground for regarding as at all possible the representation of the Empire in a single Parliament, neither did he at all anticipate that a British Zollverein would be created All that, he thought could fairly b8 looked for was a closer defensive union of the various British . countries based upon liberally-contracted engagements. Sir Charles also remarked that the expense which the .British colonies imposed upon -the mother country was insignificant beside the cost involved to France: and Germany: % theic colonies. . • v

A full-page illustration of the Wanga nui Jubilee Cup is publishedin the Brifcißb. Australasian. The ctfp has been manufactured by Messrs Walker and Hall,,of Sheffield, to the order of Messrs Hick, Dawaoii, and Co., the London agents of the Wanganui Club. / - . The New Zealand Electric ;LJgat and Traction Company has been registers by Paines and Co., 14, S*. Helen's place,.London," with a capital of £5000 in £100 shares. The. object of the company is stated to be to carry ou the business of elecbric light and traction in the colony. The directors are to be electod by the subscribers, and the quali&catiou is one share Under-the head of, "New Zealand Looking Up, the Westminster Gizatte says ;—" At last New Zealand is prospering. Sha has had au uphill struggle against: adversity for many years. But'now the tide has turned. The last mail to hand brings encouraging accounts from all parts of the colony of recent progress in trade and commerce. Population, too, i 3 increasing markedly;, and immigration and colonisation:are primarily responsible for the increment. A large percentage of the arrivals top, is composed of small capitalists'and persons with some means. Reports from the South leland are particularly bright and encouraging and nnmistßkable evidence of what may be termed commercial optimism is said to be everywhere manifest." • . ' '

THB i NEW. MAIL SERVICE. it will probably surprise few people to learn that difficulties have arisen in the way of carrying out the new Vancouver mail service In view of the fact that its establishment means the diversion from the two federal services— namely, the P. and O. and the Orient lines—of a very considerable portion of the mail matter that they now carry, it wag hardly to be expected that they would not make a fight to retain it, and of course their influence is1 very large. . , ■ J

«. 2r c Otb6r hsnd' ifc is maniF<«fc that unless tne Huddarthne by Vancouver be recognised as the sole regular service alternating with that via ban-Franci'cp, the.two forming, together a complete^ fortnightly, service, it would be practically, of little value so far as eonpern-. the transmission of the mails from this end. If the Imperial postal authorities insist on sending by the nexS outgoing mail, whether by Suez and Australia or by Vancouver, all correspondence posted before its closing and since the departure of the last mail, but a small and unimportant share would go to the Vancouver line. This has been recognised from the first, and it has therefore been strongly urged upon the Imperial authorities that the Vancouver line should be placed upon exactly the same footing as the San Francisco' service. All possible difficulties are being raised by tne postal authorities at this end. Without doubt the representatives of the Australian federal service have left no stone unturned to get their own lines retained on the" same footing as the Vancouver, so that no preference should ba given to the* latter unless directed by the special superscription of any letter. Manifestly this, if it should be obstinately adhered to, means killing the whole thing, and will prevent the service being ol any substantial good to the colony. Indeed, I presume Messrs Huddart and Co. would hardly carry it on iv auch circumstances. Mr James Haddart had a long conference with the Agent-general to-day on the subject, and Mr Reeves is. using every effort' to bring the imperial authorities into, some reasonable frame otmiud. Of course they cannot openly take up a position of favouritism with regard to the Australian Federal service. What they contend is that these latter would afford quicker means of transit, and by ignoring the want of regularly-subsidised connection between New Zealand and Melbourne they can make out a tolerably fair: case. But the Agentgeneral is persistently hammering into their heads the fact that the fast and regular service is to and from Melbourne only, and that New Zealand has only a qms i casual steamer connection with Melbourne, or, at any rate, has no regular subsidised connection. Another point upon which Mr Reeves is laying much stress is that the new Vancouver service will convey mails direct to and from Wellington, the capital of the colony; whereas, even W-l ri?*u? a re SDlar New Zealau'd connection with the Australian sari-ice," the mails would be delivered at the Blnff, one extreme end of the colony, so that thia would give by no means a satisfactory service to and from Anckl&cd and other places in the North' Island ; whereas the Vancouver service to and from Wellington would serve all parts of the colony with a fair degree of equality. &

Apart from thene questions, another obstacle placed in the way by the Imperial Post Office is that it insists upon makiug all payments to Canada as the principal party to the service, and not to New Zeakud at all. This position also is be\Dg stoutly contested by Mr Reeves. I understand that should the postal authorities continue obdurate theAgent-geoeral will request a personal interview with the Fostma-tei-general, the Duke of Norfolk; and, that tailing, a joint memorandum will most likely be presented by the High CommisKioner for Canada and the Agent-general for New Zealand. Should all these fail to obtain compliauce, then I rather fancy that the respective Premiers of New Zealand and Canada will be requested to bring direct influence to bear upon the Imperial Post Office.