OUR LONDON LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2105, 28 June 1894, Page 50

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(Fbom Oun Own Cobkesponkbht.) London, May 5. THE WOOL SALES. With the Ist of May came the opening of this year's third series of colonial wool sales. In all nearly 12,000 bales were offered, of which 3300 came from New Zealand. I regret to say that on the whole the tendency was toward lower rather than higher prices. There was a good attendance, but the competition on the part alike of Home and of foreign buyers was languid, and a downward movement in prices necessarily resulted. Here again, however, the influence of quality asserted itself. While there was an average reduction of about 5 per cent, in prices of merino wools, the actual falling off was mostly in the inferior descriptions, and here it was more than 5 per cent. ; whereas in the best qualities the unfavourable difference was very small. So, too, in crossbreds : the prices of last sales were fairly well maintained in best qualities, but in the case of poorer-conditioned wools the buyers had things all their own way. This experience furnishes another text for the sermons I have had so often to preach upon the imperative need of securing the highest possible excellence in the New Zealand produce sent to the London market. It is not merely that, as in this instance, good qualities maintain their price when inferior qualities fall. In many instances poor qualities of produce are absolutely unsaleable, and this will be the case more and more as rival producers wake up to the fact and speedily improve their produce. From various past experiences in respect of meat, butter, and fruit, New Zealand is in danger of acquiring - the undesirable reputation I of carelessness and untrustworthiness in the respect of quality. Such a reputation is much more easily gained than lest. To establish it would mean to fix New Zealand in perpetuity with a lower market rate for her produce than other colonies would obtain, for it would mean a loss of confidence, and that always reflects itsfclt in prices iv the ca»e of produce just as ifc does with regard to securities

Included in the available supply tf wool for the current sales are 100,693 bales from New Zealand. This is the second largest quantity from any colony. New South Wales stands first with 112,727 bales. New Zealand thus is a good second. Victoria is a poor third with 74,984-, and Queensland a bad fourth with 34,119 South Australia has 24,000, Cape 27,577, and the rest are very small. lam indebted for these figures to the courtesy of Messrs C. Balme and Co., the well-known wool brokers. SIR G. GREY. Sir George Grey has received the following cable message from, the New Zealand Premier .- " On behalf of the people of New Zealand I offer you heartiest congratulations, and trust you may be loßg spared to enjsy well-merited distinction as Privy Councillor which her Majesty the Queen has directed to be conferred." It is stated here that Sir George Grey while in Africa had arranged a federation of the States, all of which save one had agreed to come in, but the plan was disapproved by both political parties in England, and he was recalled. One person, however, held that he was right That person was the Queen, and by her personal wish he was reinstated.

It appears that Sir George Grey and John Stuart Mill worked together early in the sixties in a little room in a little street off the Strand to set on foot a land tenure reform league, based on the principle of unearned increment. But the largest attendance at the meetings only numbered four ! Mill was despondent ; talked of resigning the presidency, but Grey prevailed on him £o stick to the post. Mill left £3000 for the maintenance of the league. But I fear it long ago evaporated. Under the heading "The New Privy Councillor," with three sub-headings— " Career of Sir George Grey," "Impressions and luten-

tions," and "A League of Peace against a World in Arms"— the Pall Mall Gazette devotes a long article to New Zealand's "G.0.M.," who is lauded by the Conservative journal as highly as he was by the Radical Chronicle. At the same time it is, I am afraid, pretty clear that Sir George has had his day as a London lion — or his " nine days'' as a " wonder," if you prefer that — and that he will soon be forgotten by the public. It is a great pity he could not have made his great speech on the federation of AngloSaxondom directly after he arrived, and while the felicitous phrase was in every body 'b mouth. It does not do to miss your chance in London. The great city is too big and has too many ever-varying interests constantly arising to keep anything or anybody in a front place very long. You must take the tide of London favour at its flood, or it soon ebbs into the "slack" of calm indifference. Had Grey made that expected " big speech " he would have been in the front of current thought and talk. And he would have been offered a peerage. He did not — perhaps I should say, could not — and I fear the opportunity has passed, at any rate the opportunity of doing it with effect and success. Such is life— in London 1

But to return to the Pall Mall. It says :—: — " One has only to compare the calibre of the average type of ex-colonial Governors with that of the leonine old man whose advent from New Zealand has been signalised by his admission to the Privy Council, to realise that there is an element of individuality about Sir George Grey which differentiates him from the poor common ran of his compeers."

Remarking that some persons cannot "run in harness," and that to them the world of progress is indebted for its most splendid achievement, while hinting that Sir George Grey is one of this class, the Pall Mall says that "the events of his career have been striking and dramatis, and he never could have been ordinary in any environment."

"His idea is mainly of a league of peace against a world in. arms," continues the Pall Mall, which states that Sir George heartily favours the Samoan proposal, and in eupport of it quotes the Rarotonga experience, saying that Mr F. J. Moss " has already done splendid work in preparing the islands for complete selfgovernment," and expresses his pleasure at the renaissance of a policy for which he risked recall and censure 40 years ago. He thinks it is desirable to " weed out" the foreign influences which have "crept into the Pacific," and he holds that "the Englishspeaking races may yet have to lay down the limits within which the populations of the world shall distribute themselves. .Tbey have opened all the new territories, and should have the potential voice in tnt-ir disposition "

This seems a ''large order," as to which other nations may have a word or two to say before it corats into practical ehapo ! While praising the moderation and good sense of the New Zealand Labour party, Sir George thinks they made a tactical mistake in unreservedly pledging themselves to keep the Liberal Government iv power during the past se.*sion, as they thus lost the opportunity of exacting larger concessions.

But the wily old gentleman was not to be drawn into expressing any opinion about the English colonial parliamentary party. To those in New Zealand who are acquainted with Sir George Grey'B "cunning o' ience" it will be very diverting to read the Pall Mall's naive confession that " our representative could nofcget Sir George Grey to express a definite opinion " as to the utility of that paity, and that as regards South Africa "he was equally reticent, but said he was making inquiries." Just so ! It would take more than the ingenuity of a Pall Mall reporter to extract from that veteran diplomatist a single syllable that he was not already anxious to tell and see in print ! MEAT MAHKING COMMITTEE. That remarkable institution the " Meat Marking Committee " (as it was usually called) of the House of Lords, which produced such a gigantic and useless Blue Book last session, has been reconstituted, and held its first meeting last Wednesday, when Lord Onslow was reelected chairman. It will sit again next Tuesday to take evidence as to the desirableness and feasibleness of marking foreign and colonial meat and produce when imported into this country, so as to prevent their beiDg imposed upon British consumers as Home oroducba. It will be remembered that lasfc year's labours had no practical result whatever, nobody being able to devise any system that should attain the object in view without unduly inconveniencing the course of trade.

I may, perhaps, be permitted to observe here that this qualification is not really entertained at all by the promoters of the committee. Their ostensible object is to save the consumers from being imposed upon by having an article sold to them for double its market value. And some of thes© gentlemen may doubtless have suffered from this form of imposition and may resent it. But I don't think I am far wrong when I hazard the assertion that the real motive power in this instance is the reluctance felt by English landed proprietors to have their stock and that of their tenants undersold in the markets.

Most, if not all, of the noblemen on the committee are large lauded proprietors and landlords. If mutton just as good as that grown on their eßtates can be bought in the market for about half the price that their stock should fetch, it stands to reason that tho more expensive Home-grown article must be at a dirtwdviuitHge. If it* be grown on my lord's self-farmed land this means a direct loss ; if on his tenant's farm, it means indirect los by way of reduced rents. So, from all points of view — including that of my lord, who has to buy his meat in town, and eats New Zealand mutton under the delusion that it is best Welsh or Scotch, — the free and unhampered importation of meat, whether from foreign lands or from British colonies, i« a dreadful mistake whose mischievous effects should be neutralised so far as possible by means of every feasible impediment taafc with any thow of common deceucy can be placed in the way. And this, in my humble opinion, is the rationale of the Meat Marking CommiJtse and its proceedings. It is jusfc as well that this should be clearly understood iv the colony as it may save producers some mental exercise in. the direction of meeting the views of the committee. If New Zealand meatgrowers desire to accommodate the committee exactly they can easily do this in oue way, and in one way only, so far as I can see — that is, by ceasing to send their meat to England. That is in plain terms what is sought to be brought about, and it is manifest that a comparatively small additional burden placed on the trade would kill it so far as profit is concerned.

Evt-ry proposal a.6 to meat marking that was put forward last session was wildly impracticable. 4.11 meant virtual damage to the meat eith;-r by discolouration or by skin puncture. And the absurdity of all the proposals is shown by the fact that iuaemuch as a carcase could not possibly be marked all over, only entire carcases or quarters would bo affected, and butchers could sell separate joints or chops as readily and unrecognisably as at present. THE FUTUHK OF SAMOA. In the House of Commons last Monday evening, replying to Sir T. Eemonde and Mr

Hogan, Sir Edward Grey said: — "Her Majesty's Government are aware of the provisions of article 8 of section 1 of final act of Conference on Bamoan Affairs as regards amelioration of the act ; bnt this article is governed by the declaration of the first article, that none of the Powers parties to the act should exercise any separate control over the islands or the Government thereof. The proposal of the colonies, therefore, is not feasible whilst the act is in force, and the eighth article, which provides for its amelioration, doeß not contemplate its abrogation, to which # her Majesty's Government has no reason to' suppose that the other parties to the act would consent in order to place Samoa under the administration of New Zealand. The whole subject, however, is receiving' the serious consideration of her Majesty's Government." Public opinion is that this answer is politely synonymous with one word in which all might be summed vp — viz., "pigeon-holed." The Allgemeine Zeituug 6ays :—": — " Neither New Zealand nor any other British colony has any business whatever in Samoa, or any right of interference in the affairs of the islands. Tue majority of Germans hold that on the ground of historical development, and in view of the preponderance of German interests, there can be no question of any but a German protectorate in Samoa. If The Times dismisses this view as the opinion of a mere majority of Chauvinists it leads public opinion astray, and this is greatly to be regretted."

Miss Shaw has one of her picturesque descriptions in an article on the Samean question in The Timos. On the merits of the case she is non-committal.

The North German Gazette considers "it is unintelligible on what-grounds the New Zealand or any othec colonial Government can base its claim to interfere in Saraoan affairs "; and declares that in case of a convention ♦* New Zealand would not be considered at all, as it does not possess any interests in Samoa worth mentioning," as the Samoan •' commercial interests " are ♦• almost .exclusively in the hands of the Germans."

Answering the German question "What New Zealand has got to do with Samoa ? " the Pall Mall Gazette says : — " Why, nothing except as the nearest British colony." Ifc suggests that •'Tho commisßionersbip of the Western Pacific might be widened to include Samoa." COMMERCIAL NOTES. The annual report of the Ofcago and Southland Investment Company for the year ended 31st January 1894 has just been issued. It states that the business of the company ha 3 been adversely affected by the distrust which has long prevailed regarding companies and company business in the Australasian colonies ; and, it adds, especially during the latter part of the year in respect to New Zealaud. The fall in share values having been attributed to tear of a [call, the directors say they had no intention of making one, and still hope to avoid it.

With this object £105,000 has been withdrawn from colonial investments during the year to meet maturing liabilities. The necessity of this step is regretted as reducing the earning power of the business, just when colonial rates of interest were improving. Nevertheless, it is considered satisfactory that the requisite funds could be remitted from New Zealand at such short notice.

The interest on securities representing £124,561 has been applied in improving those properties. Hence a debit balance of £1020 appears on profit and loss account, and on securities disposed of to the amount of £36,834 there is a loss of £2832 to meet which £5000 has been transferred from the reserve fund to profit and loss account, leaving £1146 to be carried forward.

New Zealand 3£ per cents, have gone up yet higher and now stand at 101, the highest point they have ever touched. This, of course, is ''cum div." There will be a neceßsary drop when the dividend has been paid and they have to be quoted " ex div."

This price, however, contrasts very remarkably with the current rates for all other Australasian 3£ per cent, stock — e.g., New South Wales, 98£ ; Victorian, 97 ; South Australian, 97 ; Queensland, 96 ; Tasmanian, 97. On the 23rd ulfc. was registered the Auriferous Ironsands Gold Extraction Company (Limited), with a capital of £70,000' in 70,000 shares of £1 each. The object is to purchase certain claims iv Westland, New Zealand, and to work them by means of Mr F. J. Bell's patent process for separating magnetic ore from sand, and to carry on business as miners and smelters in New Zealand and elsewhere, to construct and maintain railways, tramways, canals, roads, docks, piers, quays, &c. This seems a " large order," doesn't it ? ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. Lord Stanmore's name did not meet with a very pleasant reception at the Lord Mayor's St. George's Day banquet. When his name was called out it was greeted with considerable hoofciDgs, which sounded strangely after the cheers with which other names had been welcomed. Such an exhibition on such an occasion was much to be reprehended, and of course it is put down to the colonists present, who had no reason to love the memory of Sir Arthur Gordon. I wish they had not vented their very proper feeliugs in such a very improper way, they being fellow-guests of the Lord Mayor.

A decidedly favourable impression has been created in the cif.y by the announcement that the New Plymouth Harbour Board has remitted to the Bauk of New Zealand f uuds sufficient to pay in full the balance of 5s in the pound on the coupon due May 1, 1893, and the full sum due on coupon of November 1, 1893.

This has had the effect of still further raising the already high credit of the colony. It is taken as showing the stern determination of New Zealanders to pay their way even if they cannot always " come up to time." It is deemed to afford another proof that whatever j temporary embarrassment New Zealand public j bodies may have the misfortune to tumble into, the loathing for the odious word, and still more odious idea, " repudiation," is everywhere intense, and that, come what may, New Zealand will never be a defaulter. Lengthy cable messages from New Zealand appeared in yesterday's morning papers giving an account of the Premier's tour through what all, including The Timeß, call the "Kiny" (sic) country, and of Mr Ward's speech at " Shagpot" (sic), Ofcago. In the office of the New Zealand Agencygeneral a list has been opened, and is permanently kept, of t farmers in New Zealand who are willing to receive cadets. The Agent-General distinctly notifies, however, that the appearance of names in that list is not to be taken as an oificial recommendation, but that persons must make their own inquiries. Mr Samuel Lowe, the New Zealand Government dairy expert, has met with an unfortunate accident, which will incapacitate him from duty for some little time. He was going on board the s.s. Fifesbire to make his official inspection when his foot slipped, and he fell down the gangway, iojuring the muscles of bis leg. He is now laid up under medical treatment, but it is hoped the injury will nob prove serious. Recently I mentioned that Sir Wtabby Perceval was arranging for a shipment of English game birds to Christchurch for the Canterbury

Acclimatisation Society. Your late Governor (Lord Onslow) has taken an active interest in the matter, and has given much useful assistance and au vice. It is found that the birds cannot be shipped before the end of the year, as young~ birds have to be specially bred up for the purpose. This is being done. Among the birds to be sent out are pheasants, English and French partridges, plovers, wild geese, and wood pigeons. With reference to these last Lord Onslow writes: "I suppose your New Zealand friends are aware that English farmers do not regard the wood pigeon as an unmixed blessing when they have fields of newly aown grain." Is the wood pigeon to become a new version of tho terrible rabbit P 1 Sir George Grey has gone to stay for a time \ with Mr and Mrs R. Biddulph Martin, at their ! their residence, Chislehurst, Kent. Mr Martin is a well-known London banker, and is connected with Sir George Grey's family by marriage. The proposed conference between Sir George Grey and the parliamentary Colonial party, which had been fixed a second time for yesterday, has once more been postponed. Some believe that the postponement will be tine die. Whether this is to be so or nob only Sir George himself can say. But ha id inscrutable on the subject. Sir William Jervois was in town a few days ago, looking very well, but decidedly older. He h-»s been staying lately in the south of England for change of air. He reports Lady Jervois and all their family circle as in excelleut health. Mr Harold Johnston, of Wellington, New Zealand, sou of the Hon. Cuarles Johnston, M.L.C , has just had a pleasant experience which is decidedly complimentary to Mr Empson, the principal of the Wanganui College, where he was educated. Mr Johnston went to Cambridge for the Trinity College entrance examination. He had no time or opportunity for any preparation, so went in on the strength of his Wanganui training and passed with flying colours. This is an..ther feather in the cap of the Wanganui College. A letter has been received by the Agentgeneral from the editor of Pearsou's Wtekly calling attention to Truth's assertion that a thousand lady helps are" required at once in New Zealand at good wages, and asking if this bo accvirate. A reply has been sent to the effect that there is always a good demand for persons capable of becoming good domestic servants, but that it would be undesirable for a thousand women to land at once in New Zealand, and pointing out that by the lasb census there were only 88 women to every 100 men in. New Zealand. The Agent-general is sending out to the colony a memorandum he has received from the Imperial Telegraph department containing technical instruction for the construction of aerial lines on roads or railways, by Mr W. H. Preece, engineer-in-chief of 4he department! It is sent to the New Zealand Agency- general on the supposition that the colony may like to know the latest English practice in those respects. Commenting on the New Zealand Ministers' recent utterances respecting borrowing, the Financial News says : — "New Zealand is Btickiug rigidly to her determination to keep out of the loan market, however much pressure may be put on the Government to borrow." It adds : " The undeniably thriving condition of New Zealand is due almost wholly to the resolution of the colony to suit its expenditure to its current resources, instead of basing it on hopes of future increment." Mr Walter Kennaway is inviting contributions from churchmen and New Zealanders iv England toward the proposed Christchurch memorial to the late revered Primate of New Zealand, the Most Rev. Bishop Harper. Mrs M. Ritchie, of Port Chalmers, has returned to London in excellent health after a pleasant sojourn among old friends in Scotland. She has decided to leave for New Zealand by the next trip of the s.s. Gothic. Recently I mentioned that the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company had declined to adopt the new " safety route" proposed by the New Zealand Shipping Company and other lines/ The Shaw, Savill, and Albion prefer to adhere to a route considerably more to the north, their { stated reason being "to avoid ice, the greatest ' and ever-pressnt peril in navigating tho Southern Ocean." By-the-bye, the same company is making very large reductions in passenger fates to New Zealand. I saw to-day a written notification frpnufche oorapany to one applicant that ho could have the choice of cabins in the splendid steamer Gothic for 40 guineas ! Passengers by the previous steamer to New Zealand paid just half as much again— 6o guineas— for a like privilege. Very few passengers are booking for New Zealand just now. The Ruahiue up to this morning had fewer than a dozen booked in her saloon. You have doubtless heard by cable that Mr Howard Vincent's " Marks of Origin" Bill was.' negatived by 26, owing chiefly to the opposition ; of Mr Mundella. Thereby may hang a tale in ! the future. Since the announcement that the New Plymouth Harbour Board would pay up back interest its funds have jumped from 90£ to 97£ — a jump whioh would make the fortunes of any speculators who had a "tip" in good time. Mr J. A. M'llroy, of New Z"a.kud, has passed the secoud examination (four years' course) for degrees of Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Edinburgh and Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of G.asgow. How well these young New Zealanders do at Home! Lately I mentioned the marked success of the setting of "O ! Salutaris "by Mr George Robertson, of Wellington. Since then I hear that the run on the song has continued so great that it is completely ou.c of print, and a second edition will have to be engraved. I hear it highly praised on all Bides. Mr J. K. Campbell, the New Zealand tenor, continues to sing with great success. He took a principal part in a concert at Fulham Hall the night before last, and had a great reception. At the anniversary meetings of the Church Missionary Society, which opened at Exeter Hall on Tuesday, Bishop Stuart, late of Waiapu, New Zealand, was among the speakers, and spoke well. The bishop, who leaves shortly for bis chosen field of missionary work, Persia, is at present staying at Highbury in the north of London. Dc Henry, jun. — son of Dr Henry, of Wellington, New Zealand — who has been seven years at St. Bartholomew's with marked credit, received recently by cable the sad news of his father's death, coupled with an urgent entreaty that he would proceed at once to New Zealand. He lost not a moment in making the necessary arrangements, which included his wedding to a young lady, who coneented to accompany him to the Antipodes, and the young doctor with his newly-wedded wife leave for New Zealand to-morrow in the Ruahine.