ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. (From Our Own Corresppndent.) London, April 2.

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 55

ANGLO -COLONIAL NOTES. (From Our Own Corresppndent.) London, April 2.

Another " dependency " of the Bank of New Zealand has just been virtually extinguished by paying off its outstanding debentures. I refer to the Auckland Agricultural Company, all. of who«e shares have become vested in the Bank of New Zealand 'Estates Company, and »11 of whose property has been acquired by the new Realisation Board. It was decided to pay eft" all the debentures of the Agricultural Company on the 15th M*y, with a bonus of 1 p°r cenb. for every je^r of unexpired currency ; th»t is to 8&y holders will receive £101 for each £100 that has a year to run, £102 for those that have two years, and so on. A meeting of the debentureLoldera was called one day last week to consider this proposal, but it lapsed for w*nt of a quorum. A second trial resulted in the requisite quorum being obtained, and in a resolution being adopted accepting the proposals. Sir Westby Perceval has been offered and has accepted the position of managing director for the Consolidated Guldftolds of New Zealand C- m party. S<r George Grey, whpzn the late wonderfnlly mid winter and the present marvellou-ly beautiful spring seem to have suited very well, is Btill talking of returning to New Zealand with his niece, Mrs Seymour Thome George, by the Arcadia ; but, as I said wheu I formerly mentioned this idea of his, 1 regard the fulfilment of his intention as in the highest degree problematical. Although in actual health he is fairly well, his feeblenes* has ii,c eased very , seriously, and tte least change in the weather seems to »ff< ct him. Even if he had dt finitely decided to leave by the Arcadia, which he assures me he will not do until the last moment, the slightest atmospheric change or altoration in his health or spirits on the very eve of sailing would put an absolute stop to the plan. In that case I should say all notion of Sir George's return to the colouy would be permanently abandoned, for in my opinion, unless he accompanies Mm Ge *rge and her daughter, for whom be has so warm »n affection, there is very little likelihood that he wt 1 feel inclined to' travel with any other companion, and of course his gong »lod6 is quite out of the question. A story is going the rounds that durir g Sir Julius Vogel's late illness, jusb at the time Tfh<n ho had been wholly given up by S'r Wi lism Broadbeut asd all the doctors, and at the very moment when they were warning Lady Vof,el and the otber naerrbTS of the family that the case wbs entirely hopeless, Sir Julius Vogel,. who had bein for some time in a sate of coma, suddenly revived, and asked for a poßuhed egg nurse at once consulted Sir WilHatn Broadbenr, who said that by a)l means be was to be allowed to have the egg, as iv his present, coi.di-'io i, with the tt'txipt-rature at 103dej^ it wonlil really mhke no difference, and if he wished for it he might jus 1 ; as well hive its. The egg was provide*, aud Sir Julius ate it iri'h unnifes l ; rdishandeujoymeufe. He seemed to get better from that moment, and the decided rally -whici then took place never relapsed, so that veiy soon^his medical attendants wore able to pronounce him out of danger. I have every reason to believe this story in its main features to ba accurate. Mr George Hutchison, M H.R., with whom I had a lengthened chat yesterday, tells me that he is returning to New Zsaland sooner than he origir-a'ly exp- cfed, and will probably leave for the Culenv about the end of tbis'month Mr and Bfrs Hutchison had a pl'-a'-aut trip by the Mt-es" > gei i ies line, and spent a delightful we^k or two in the Riviera en route for Marseilles. They Intended to pay a visit to If.nly, but things were in such a disturbed state at the timf that thej dttermined to defer their Italian tour and spent a longer time in the south of , France. Mrs Hutchison will nob return with her husband, but wilt follow him later, remaining •wilh their children -in England for the summer, in accirdanc* with their original plan. Mr \V. P. Reeves has dined with SirJohu Gors.t, by invitation, at the House of Commons. Mr H. D. Bell, M.H.R. for Wellington, being also Sir Jobn Gorat's guest. On another occasion Mr Beeves met Mr and Mrs Leonard Courtenay, and Mr Richard Oliver, M.L.C., and Mrs Oliver — who, ib will be rercembored, is Mr Leonard Courteimy's sister— were present, as were slso. Mr and Mrs James Mills, of Dun- din. Mr Reeves and Mr Bell are going nrxb week to make a thorough inspection of the London establishment of the Gear Meat Company, of New Zealand. Arthur, formerly M.H R. for 'one of the New Zealand Eas-t Coast constituencies, wa3 at the Agency-general arlay or two tgo. I < hear he has dove remarkably well out of (he Wesforalian mine?, and I hope for his sake that this report is a true one. During the discussion on Mr Valentine's paper before the Society of Arts a spe\kor, whose name did not transpire, remarked, son.ewb>b irrelevantly, that the mode of lar d administration at present in fore« in New Zealand was not oonducive to immigration from this country. Good land there cost £10 per aero. No donbb land was to be bought for less mooer, but then there were no »oacsB to it, and so it could not bo utilised, while in America land was not settled until it was accessible by roads. Eeferring to these observations, Sir Westby Percev&l said that it was nob a fitting time or pKce for him to enter into any discussion upon the policy of the New Zealand Govarnmtnt, but he thcught he might with propriety say this much, that no country in the world offered such a favourable field for the energies of a young man of the right sorb as New Zealand did at the present time. There were no such difficulties in the way of land settlement as those which had been alleged by the gentleman who had just spoken. At a meetiDg of the council of the Royal Ct-louial Institute the Hon. W. P. Reeves, Agent-general for New Zealand, and Mr Hector J. Smith, also of New Zealand, were duly elected Fellows of the Institute. Sir W. B. Perceval has been elected ta a seat on the Bjaid of the New Zealand Exploration Company, of which Baron James de Hirscb. is one of the leading spirits. This is really a Parisian enterprise, and Sir We*tb>'s directorate will involve frequent visits to Paris on .the company's business. Indeed, I understand that hie visit to the French capital last week, although ostensibly for the sake of a holiday after the cares of office, was in reality in connection with hifi new functions. Sir Westby has also joined the Board of the Colonial Consignment Dhtribution Company. Ydnr new Agant-general was present by Invitation at Ihd Canadian dinner, and so had the opportunity of hearing Mr Chamberlains historic speech in which he impliedly advocated the establishment of a British Imperial Zollverein. Mr Raeves was very much struck with the power and iDgnmity displayed in the speech, but he holds that Mr Chamberlain as a post prandia orator, olerer as he is in this respect, is nowhere beside Mr Chamberlain, the parliamentary debater. The New Zealand exMinister for Labour had the good fortune to be

present in the House of Commons on the previous night, when Mr Chamberlain delivered bis great speech oa the Egyptian war question. " It waa the most perfect speech of Ha kind I have ever heard in all my life," said Mr Reeves, " the neatest, most; complete, most point d, and most telling in every way. Aa a debating speech his was simply absolutely perfect, and one cannot say more than that. I shall always regard it as a great privilege to have bean able to listen to such a masterpiece of debating oratory." In reply to my inquiry as to how the colonies would regard the proposed customs union for the whole Empire, Mr Ret yes observed rather dubiously that it would probably depend a good deal upin the terms each side waa willlDg to offer and accept. He thought there was no doubt that sooner or later the colonies would have to face the question of naval defence more thoroughly than they had hitherto. Mr Herbert Jones, F.R.G S , who has now won quite a celebrity in England as a lecturer on " New Zealand, the World's Wonderland," delivered another lecture on New Zealand at Barnttaple lasb Tuesday evening, "T.he Devonshire papers refer to it in terms of enthusiastic praise, and he appears to have been siugularly picturesque and powerful in his descriptions of the various marvels of New Zealand scenery. The Mayor of Barnstip'e, who presided, made a few noteworthy r, marks on the enormous strides New Zealand had made during the past half century and on the great future that lay before the colony. Mr Herbert Jones leaves immediately for Newcastle to dt liver, by invitation, another series of lectures in that city upon New Zealand — its wonders, resju ces, people, and industries in their various aspects. Mr Rednuyae, 8.A., secretary of the Goldsmiths' Institute — one of the largest institutes of the kind in England, — wrote fco Mr Herbert Jonts a few diys &go as follows : — '' Your lecture on New Zealand was one of the most successful we have ever had at Goldsmiths' Institute, and we are rather experienced people here in leo'ure3. I had a number of requests to engige your services again before you had finished 1> ctu ing actually, which is the most practical and gratifying prcof of jour success. I do not supprse that on half a dizsu oookS'oiis in the whole of my experience has a lecture been so thoroughly appreciated by a popular audience. I shall be very glad to arrange auother lecture with you eirly." The sixiy-second annual report of the Batik of Australasia shows a neb profit for the h>»lf-yijar of -£41.158, to which has been added £10 495 brought forward from the previous half-year. Of this, £4-0,000 will be absoibed in paying a d vidfnd of 5 per csnt. per annum, and £21,653 will he carried forward. Tha directors refer with satisfaction to the revival in trade and fco the improvement in the value of wool. On the whole Ihey regard the general position as encouraging, while they report that the br.uk's business connections in the colonies gei.er<vlly have been wi-11 ma : n< ained, and in soms plaoes show a satisfactory increase. The ♦• Illustrated Carpenter and Builder" publishes in its latest issue " Our First New Zealand Suppl-mei.t," which contains eight pag<-s of excellently - illustrated information about New Ze -viand, its buildinga, timbers, industries, flora, &c. The illustrations reprefeut the Supreme Courb at Auckland, the Courthouse at Oamaru, a kauri pine, aod a New Zealand trout stream flowing bit ween biautitully-wooded banks. An English country paper remarks that New Zealand mutton is fold to the local board of guardians for workhouse .consumption at 4£d par Ib, while the same is sold to the general public at 10£1. It adds: "If New Zealand mutton was always sold as such it would still find ready Bale among many thousands of purchasers to whom money is the first object, but it will not be bought by tho?e who prefer English meat and are willing to pay for it." Mr B. R. Baird, of Ofcago, who has been staj ing for some months with his old friends nrar Nairn, in the North of Scotland, writes to me that he expects to be in London in the course of a week or two with reference to some buaine-s .which may prove of considerable iuterest in the colony, and of which he promises further pivrticu'ara later. Many New Zealanders will read with interest the following announcement from to-day's birth column : — '' On the 30th ult , atSelwjn College, Cambridge, Mrs J. R Selwyn cf a son." A request is published that New Zealand papers will copy the announcement which appears of the death (from pulmonary consumption) of Mr Robert Mosebury Adanis, who, died on Monday last at Gravesend, aged 61 years. Four newiniail steamers are about to be constructed by the P. and O. Company for the conveyance of mails and passengers to and from Australia and New Zealand. They are to be of the highest class, with every latest modern improvement, including quadruple expansion engines, and will be similar in type to the magnificent liners Australia, Himalaya, aud Caledonia, bnt considerably larger. Thes* steamers have accommodation for 500 flcst and second saloon passengers each; the new vessels will have provision for an even larger number. The first is to bi named the India.