ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13855, 19 March 1907, Page 6

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, February 8. NEW ZEALAND EXHIBITION. lMci-ring to tho New Zealand Exhibition, Tho_ Times says:—"The action of the British Government in officially participating has given great satisfaction in the colony, and has evoked enthusiastic expressions of loyalty to the. Mother Country. It is gratifying that the official participation of Great llritain is so much appreciated by Iho cojony, and .that our exhibits are being studied with keen interest and sympathy. The British art section is one of tho chief features of attraction in the Exhibition. It. is a. remarkably good collection, and lias been praised in deservedly high terms, the colonial press oxpressing the unanimous opinion that it is 'one of tho most perfect collections which has ever boon sent from Great Britain, and by far tho finest over shown in a. British colony.'" CITY OF WELLINGTON LOAN. Tho Union Bank of Australia (London), the bankers of tho Municipal Council of the City of Wellington, invites applications for £2110,000 of 4 per cent, debentures, issued under Hie corporate seal of that city, in sums of £100 each, at tho price of £101 per cent. The loan is issued for the purpose of redeeming tho loan of £200,000 at '6 per cent, per annum issued in February, 1U77, and payable on February 26, 1907. In accordance with "The City of Wellington Loans Consolidation Act, 1376." section 10, the debentures o[ the loan now offered are secured upon the city revenues, and have the same force and effect us the debentures for the payment of which tho loan is issued. The interest and sinking fund (£2OOO per annum) during the currency of the lain are secured on an annual special rate of one penny and ono- .■ fifth of a. penny in the pound, on tho basis of the unimproved value of Iho City of Wellington as it was bounded prior to the incorporation of the Borough of Melrose therein, which will vield an annual sum of oyer £40,000, which, by the statute laws of Now Zealand, is equivalent to a rate of Is in the pound on the basis of the annual i value of the rate authorised by "The City of Wellington Loans Consolidation Act, 1876," but the corporation Ins power, to incrcaso the . special rate if necessary. Commenting upon the new loan the Financial Times remark.?: "The authority is not open to tho charge of adding to its' indebtedness, as iho money is simply required for the purpose of redeeming a. 6 per cent, lean on the same amount which was issued in 1877. and is repayable on the 28th inst. Tho holders of I hose debentures are offered tho right of exchanging into the new 4 per cents., and we think we are not far from tho mark when wo predict (hat the fresh loan will to a. large extent resolve itself into a simple conversion operation. Seeing that the rateable value of the cilv has grown sinrc IEB9 from £308,700 to'close on £511,000, there- is little room for dobitt as regards tho security for the new bonds. The existing 4 per cents, wore quoted on Saturday at 103, so that (hero is no reason, to quarrel with the price of issue of the now debentures." SCOTCH WHISKY. What is believed to have been a record shipment of Scotch whisky was made to New Zealand from the Clyde a few days ago. In the holds of the steamer Morayshire, which left for New Zealand ports, via Liverpool, wero stowed no fewer than 20,000 cases of whisky, each case containing a dozen bottles. In addition, there were, carried 1000 casks of whisky. Arithmeticians say that, in point of bulk, tho quantity exceeded the 27,000 cases onco shipped on a Clan liner at Glasgow. " Theso lar 1 ;? exports of Scotch . whisky afford" (says a.London paper) '\o new and not uninteresting illustration of the theory that trade follows the flag." X.WIGATION CONFERENCE. "Considerable interest must," says a London paper, "ho centred shortly upon the Navigation Conference between the Mother Country and Australia and New Zealand, which meets in London on 26th March next. Australia and New Zealand have already selected their delegates, and the president of the Board of Trado is understood to have chosen the homo representatives, whose names will bo announced shortly. Tho Conference meets to discuss ,tbe whole question of navigation as itaffects the Empire. The divergency of legislation by the Parliaments of IhcT'iiited Kingdom and the colonies has caused, and still causes, not a little inconvenience, to shipowners; and the ex-Colonial Secretary readily recognised' that there was nothing else for it but to summon an Imperial Conference, with the object of co-ordinating the navigation laws of the Empire. The. conclusion was forced upon the late Government, that if the merchant shipping of the Empire engaged in the oversea trade was .to prosper in the future, as it has done in tho past, it must be governed try a code as nearly uniform throughout, tho Empire as the diversity of circumstances will allow. Such a code tho coming Conference—which is not to be confused with the Colonial Conference, which in a measure it supplements—will endeavour to draw up. The Conference," continues tho same writer, " originated in the requirements of the Navigation Bill of the Australian Commonwealth, upon which a- Royal Commission reported, and a similar bill by tho Now Zealand Government. Many of tho recommendations put forward in these bills (which in effect are to form the basis of the coming Conference in London) have already been met by tho Merchant Shipping Act of last year, and by the Workmen's Compensation Act. In the matter of better accommodation, sanitary arrangements, and better cooking, for instance— which form part- of tho Australian' proposals—the Merchant Shipping Bill of last year has, to a great extent, anticipated the work of the coming Conference. In the matter also of compensation to seamen, one of the objects of the Conference has boon anticipated by the application of tho Workmen's Compensation Act to ' those who go down to tho sea in There still iremains, however, a largo number of technical subjects, such as crimping, desertion, advance and allotment rates, bills of lading, rebates, quarantine, tho manning scale, the Sea. Carriage of Goods Act, the reservation of coastal il'tidc to local ships, for tho Conference to consider. The Conference will also consider the desirableness of extending preferenc to British shipowners and British producers."