ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14245, 20 June 1908, Page 10

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

(Pjou Our Own Cormisi'OXDent.) .LONDON, May 8. Lord Curzon will bo the principal guest of the United Empire Club at its Empire Day dinner on the 25th inst. The club opened its present quarters at 117 : Piccadilly in November. 1907, its object being to promote the cause of tariff reform and colonial preference, and generally to assist in cementing the unity of the British Empire. It oilers facilities ior the tooiul courtesies which aro so < desirable in the metropolis of the Empire; and although there aro other organisations which also aim at cultivating the social side of Imperialism, the United Empire Club alone combines this with a definite assertion of its adhesion in polities to the cause of colonial preference; and these colonial members, or colonial visitors, to whom the club is o|x;n, have tho advantage not only of enjoying its privileges, but of co-operating with aji organisation which exists in order to promote a closer interconnection between the Mother Country and the outlying portions of tho Empire, on the terms which the leading statesmen of Hie colonies have so much at heart illfi dub numbers among its distingui: hod vice-presidents the Duke of Somerset, the Duk-o of Marlborough,. Mr Austen Chamberlain, Mr Honry Chaplin, Mr Walter Loudon, Lord Ridley, Sir J. Lawrence, Colonel Sir Albert Hume, Admiral Sir Charles Fane, and otheis. This week the report for tho half-year ended December 31 last of the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Teleirraph Company has been issued. The meeting is to take place next week. The directors state that tho gross receipts as shown in the revenue .account amounted to £304,116, against £296,393 for the corresponding half-year of 1906. The working expenses, including £26,069 for maintenance of cables, absorb £154,203, against £139,549 for the corresponding period of 1905, leaving £150,212. From this is deducted £19,770 for income tax payablo in England, interest on mortgage debenture stock, and , othbr extraordinary expenditure, leaving as the net profit for the halfyear £130,442. After adding £74,947 brought forward from tho previous halfyear there is an available balance of £205,389. One quarterly interim dividend of li per cent, has bceii paid for the halfyear,'and it is now proposed to distribute another of like amount, making, with- the interim dividends paid for the first halfyear, a total distribution of 5 per cent. It ia also proposed to pay a bonus of 4s per share, or 2 por cent., making a total distribution of 7 per cent, for tho year 1907. The sum of £50,000 has been transferred to the general resorvo fund and £20,389 carried forward. Several partial renewals of the company's cables have been effected 'during the half-year, and the cost, amounting to £28,848, has been charged against tho general reserve fund. Since the close of the year the company's new direct cable between Java and the Cocos Islands has been successfully laid and opened for traffic. Tho Select Committee of the House of Commons on Home Work, presided over by Sir T. P. Whittaker, was engaged on Wednesday in hearing the evidence of Mr Ernest Aves, who recently was sent .by the Home Office to look into the operation of the various laws in Australia and New Zealand affecting wages and conditions of labour. Examined by the chairman, he said that the general effect of the determinations of tho wages boards was to weaken the trades unions. He also said there was no organisation among the homo workers. The trade unions in Australia played an important part in assisting to enforce tho determinations. Ho believed the legal rate was practically observed in the payment of women, but if there were constant evasion of tho determinations the motive for organisation would become stronger. In New Zealand there was a minimum wage for boys' and girls— 5s a week, up to 16, and then yearly rises of 3s a week till the age of 20. Women therefore approximated to the rate of 20s per week. In New Zealand, however, home work was a small clement. )p that country also there had not yet been the tost of unpopular decisions in tho shapo of reductions of wages, though advances had boon refused. Tho special boards were more beneficial to tho weak and disorganised trades. Por a very long time past crowds ,of people havo always been attracted to the windows of a jewellery shop at the top of Ludgate Hill, just .opposite St. Paul' 3 Cathedral, and .the attraction has consisted in the display of Now Zealand greenstone made into ornaments of every possible description, the majority being peculiarly New Zealand in type, including the tiki of varying sizes, tho kiwi, etc. This morning I have received by post a taking little advertisement from this firm; it is a little booklet with cover of the darkest green, shaped and embossed as a tiki. Internally it is illustrated, and it sets forth in print the "lucky" features supposed to attach to tho wearing of ornaments of the jado. Thus:- " Greeting: • " To the man whose horses consistently lose tho races for which they aro hopefully entered.; to the man who has been shooting under or over his birds with heart-brcakiing regularity; to tho man whoso car persists in developing crazy littlo ailments at the most inconvenient times; and to the many others who will recognise themselves 'as sad units of the unlucky brigade New Zealand greenstone, or Lucky Maori Jado, will appeal, firstly, for Hs beauty and secondly, for its luck-bring-ing attributes. It is a very old superstition, in fact hundreds of years ago the old Maori chiefs believed firmly that a piece of the greenstone carried by them guarded them against all the evil powers, and that good fortune would always bo with them. Out of many of the authentic stories that reach us we have selected the following as illustrative of the charin:—Just before St. Amant's Derby there eamo to Mr de Rothschild a letter from an anonymous correspondent imploring him to wear during tho race a gift which was enclosed with the letter; the enclosure was a New Zealand greenstone charm representing the Maori god 'Hei Tiki.' The anonymous writer so fervently assured Mr de >JRbthsehild that the amulet was a pledge of victory that the popular owner wore tho charm. St. Amant won, but whether St. Aniant was the best horse in the race is a question that has been talked to death, and whether St. Amant would have won had Gouvernante been at his best despite the spoil of tho ' luck-bringer' is a question which everyone will settle according to his or her superstitions." .The Times to-day remarks: "The New Zealand pavilion at the Franco-British Exhibition, comprises an exhibit organised mainly to demonstrate the natural resources and productive economy of tho Dominion. That the exhibit of products of this class rests on solid achievement is shown by the value of the. oversea export trado of New Zealand, which amounted in 1907 to ovor 20 millions sterling—all but. a, small part was derived from the country's pastures, fields, mines, and forests." .