OUR LONDON LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2239, 28 January 1897, Page 24

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(From Ouk Own CoSRESPONDgNT. ) London, December 11. THE EMPIBE UEAGtTB. - On Tuesday lasfc'a luncheon was given by the" Council of the United Empire Trade League in honour of one of the vice-presidents, Sir Charles Tupper, the Canadian statesman, who it at present on a visit to England. I fancy that the muster of guests could hardly fail to have been somewhat disappointing. The Bight Hon. James Lowther, M.P.J who presided, briefly prop:sed "The Coifipaeroial Union of the Empire," explaining that the United Empire Trade Leegue advocated the establishment of trading relations of a mutually advantageous character based on a preferential or reciprocal principle among all the various communities that owed .allegiance to the Queen. Mr Lowther utterly waved aside all Bach "dreamy notions" as -the possibility of j Freetrade within the Empire. Sir Charles Tupper, with whose name the toaet w»b coupled, spoke for three-quarters of an hoor in responding. Ho strongly advooated the establishment of reciprocal trading relations between the colonies and the mother country. The greater part of Sir Charles Tupper's speech was devoted to refuting certain allegations put forward by Lord Farrer at a receut meeting of the Cobden Club. Sir Charles asserted authoritatively that all parties in°Canada had adopted the principles of the j Empire Trade League, end would do all that cculd be done to forward them. Mr John Lowles, M.P., whose name also w*s coupled with the toast, asserted that the Seddon Ministry in New Zealand bad just been returned with a substantial majority on the question of reciprocity j of trade within the Empire, which Mr Saddon \ bad made his first plank in his platform. He > concluded with an earnest appeal to all his j hearers to use all possible influence and energy > on behalf of the principles of the league. The ' final toast was " Success to the United Empire . Trade League and its Work," which was briefly j proposed and responded to by Sir David j Tennant (Agent-general for the Cape of Good i Hope) and Sir Howard Vincent, M.P. (director cf the league) respectively, and the aßsemblnga then separated. That the movement on behalf of the commercial federation of the Empire is growing and extending, may I think, be accepted as certain. Bat if it is to succeed at all it will only be by very long aqd uphill work. Many public i men who personally agree with it are afraid j to expreis their views oandidly to the public ! for fear of eliciting the denunciations of the | Freetrade party, who are very stroDg. j THE MANCHESTER DKLEGATES. Mr Joseph Clay, who with Messrs Jones and "Stokes recently visited New Zealand, forming a delegation on buhalf of certain co-operative I institutions in Great Britain, has been somewhat more outspoken than his colleagues with reference to the results of tbe'r mission. The ' ether delegates ■ have deolinsd positively to say j anything until their reports shall hare been laid before their respective boards. Mr Clay does not appetr- to feel himse'f similarly fettered, and he has made some interesting remarks regarding his experiences. He found the beit colonial butter to be most excellent — in fact, equal to any in the world, — aud he is strongly in favour of an extension of it 3 use in the mother country, " because," he says, " we wanttokeep\he - money among our own people," and he recognises the British colonist* as kith and kin. Mr Clay admits that he would prefer to keep the. money in England itself, if it could be -done,, but the difficulty was that there was no unity of action among the farmers,* who could , not be induced to co-operate as they did •in the colonies. "In the colonies," said Mr Clay, "the farmers enter heart and aoul into,, the system of' co-operation in connection with their dailies. . Iv this way they secure all the latest appliances, ano i rodnce butter not only uniform in quality, '• "'so as good as can be seen anywhere in t •• -^orld. I also saw very much to interest me with regard to frozen meat. I admit that I was formerly prejudiced against frczen meat; but the opportunity was afforded me of inspecting every stage in the process of preparing the carcases. The result has been that my .objections bave been greatly modified." Another point which struck Mr Clay was that ' New Zealand had begdn to cultivate tobacco, ' an industry for which he was inclined to anticipate a very favourable future. He appears to | think iti prospects highly promising. ' NEW ZEALAND PEODUCE. Mr H. C. Cameron, of the New Zealand Produce Stores, Manchester, was in London yesterday, and, as usual, I had a long and interesting chat with him. He seemed somewhat disappointed with the way in which his circular letter had been received in New Zealand. It had been materially misunderstood, he said, in several respects by those who tad criticised it. This he attributed partly to Jthe fact that the letter itself had not been published in full, but usually summarised or extracts given. Thii ' had created a wrong impression as to the objects he had in view. For instance, he said one writer" had asserted that his scheme *va« practically the same as that put forward by Me Nathan, of Wellington. Nothing could be further from the truth than | toil. If the two schemes were not diametrically opposed to one another they were, at any rate, so very wide apart as to have no real corelation at all. What Mr Nathan proposed was substantially an amalgamation of all the New Zealand freezing companies under one managemenl", with a capital of several millions ster- i ling. He (Mr Cameron) had nronosed nethine

of this kind ; indeed, his scheme practically almost required that the various New Zealand cctnpanias should remain separate an at present, j What he suggested was that all these dif- i fere nt producing or freezing companies in New ■ Zealand should themselves become shareholders ' in a new distributing company which would ' have itt sphere of operations, wholly- in themother country, and which would require •a capital of only £50,000 or £60,000, all of which need not be called up at once. This was, of course, a very different matter. It involved raising merely some £50.000 or £60,000 instead of four or five millioDs, and it I would be done by agreement or co-operation | Rtnoug companies already established and ab I work which possessed capital or means of raising capital. Mr Cameron still contends that; his plan would be not only much more feasible, but alro far more effective toward the furtherance of its object. COMMERCIAL. ' I Thera is not much change to record in the prices of New Zealand securities on the London ! market. The latest quotations areas follow :—": — " Three per cents., 99£ to 100£ ; 3£ per cents., 10* i . to 105^ (ex div.) ; fours, 111£ to 112£; Auckland City fives, 117 to 120 ; fixes consolidated, ', 127 to 130; Auckland Harbour fives, 112 to 11* ; ChrintKhurchCity sixes, 126 to 128 ; Dim- I ediu City fives. 11l to 113 ; sixes, 130 to 133 ; | Lyttelbon Harbour sixes. 123 to 125 ; Otago : Harbcur fives, 104 to 106 ; 6 per cent. b.n'Js, ' 116 to 118 ; 6 per csnt. debentures, 107 to 109 ; I B.N.Z. 4 per cent, guaranteed stock, 102 to ■ 104 ; Dalgety aud Co." shares, 5 to s^; do 4£ per .cent, debentures, 121 to 123 ; NZ. i Loan and 'Mercantile 4" per ceutf. P.L. debentures, 95 to 98 ; 5 per cent. "A" I stock, 62 to 66; 5 per cent. "B" [ stock, 10 to 13 ; N.Z. Trust and Loan Com- j pany. %to l£d ; N.Z.S. Compauy, 4$ to si ; | S.S. A. Company "A" preference, 5 to s| ; I "B" ordinary, 2$ to 3^ ; "U.B.S. Company of : N.Z, 7 to 8t« dir.); N.Z. Accident, 18*; ,' N.Z. Midland Railway 's ncr cent flrso mod- ' gage debenture?, 30 to 40 ; Wellington and , Manawatu Railway shares, Ito 1^ ; do 5 per cent, debentures, 110 to 112 (ex div.). The direotors of the. N.Z. Trust and Loan Company (Limited) have decided to declare an interim dividend or 2s 6d per share, free of income tax, for the half-year ended June 30 last, being at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum. A SMALL ECONOMY. . A new arrangement has just been made by ! the Agent-general which will bave the agree- j able effect of saving -the New Zealand tar- ; payers £500 per annum. Hitherto Messrs Carruthers and Wilson (the former, Mr J. Carruthers, bning ex-engineer-in-chief for the ' colony) have received a retaining fee of £500 ' per annum, in addition to commission on any actual work they might, do for the colony in connection with inspection of railway material, fee. Latterly there has been so little ' business doing of this kind that it has seemed i hardly worth while to continue paying so large . a retaining fee. Mr Reeves therefore put it to Messrs Carruthers and Wilson that now there was so little to be done in their d-partment they might consent to waive the retaining fee and to be paid simply by commission on snch work as actually wa9 done on behalf of the colony. Messra Carruthers and Wilson met MiReeves in a very courteous and friendly spirit and readily Agreed to his suggestion that the retaining fee should no longer be paid lo them by the colony, while they consented to continud acting for New Ze&iand as consulting onginpera upon commission at the usual rates. The rearrangement seems to be in all respects a satisfactory one. IMPERIAL DEFENCE. With reference to the great speech of the Duke of Devonshire at the Guildhall on the I subject of Imperial defence, some of the daily I papers have been •''interviewing " various ! colonial statesmen. Agents-general, &c, with i the object of getting some idea of what the j colonies will think of the new departure. Sir Saul Samusl (N.S.W.) thought the coloniei were best left alone, and that although they } were loyal they would be jealous of interferI ence, and would resent any appearance of dictation as regords federation. Mr Gillies I (Victoria) declined to be "drawn" at all. and i declared that he had not read a word of the | speech. Mr Playford (South Australia) thought i the colonies would not grudge continued or ! increased contributions to Imperial defence, but they would want to be recognised more ia conneption with the fleet, particularly as to it-t | manning. Sir Malcoloi Fraser (West Aus* > tra'ia) thought the colony would always readily ; join in any suitable scheme for the general i welfare. Mr W. P. Reeves put the case as, from his point of view, it would have to be considered by the colony in the following way:—" If it is meant that the local character of the Australian squadron is to disappear and that the colonies are to be asked in 1898 to make what will virtually be a contribution to the general pur- j pose of the British Navy, then that will demand very cautious and deliberate consideration. Australian and New Zealand colonists agreed in • 1888 te bear the interest and maintenance | charges of a local squadron, and have done so cheerfully. They have also laid out large sums j on local defence. UDlike the electors of the i British Islands they have no voice in the j making of peace or war. They may find them- ; selves exposed at any moment to the dangers of warfare for reasons which' may seem to them mysterious or even bud. On the other hand they. -are loyal and sympathetic, and iv the event of a great blow being aimed at the heart of the empire would be far more disposed to volunteer in numbers .to come home and fight for the mother country than selfishly to refuse to let their squadron move. New Zealanders , especially pride themselves on their loyalty, and their Premier, Mr Seddon, is . a fctaunch Imnerialist. They will no doubt be rpadr to

approach, with open minds, any reasonable proposal fairly laid before them." ANGLO-COLONIAI, NOTES.- ■ At lbe annual meeting ot the P. and O. S.N. Compauy yesterday the usnal dividend* of 5 per cent, on preferred and 10 per cent, on deferred stock were declared. The chairman reported a large improvement in the Australian and New Zealand trad?, especially in the passenger traffic He said they had held their position in this trnde solely by the improvement of Jhf.ir fleet aud their endeavours to meet the requirements of tbe public An amicable arrangement has been come to between the P. and O. Company and the London dock companies, in consequence o which the contemplated new wharves ou the banks of the Thames, for which the P and O. Company had secured suitable siten along the river foreshore, will not be constructed, for the preienb at any rate. ' J ' Mr Arthur Appleby, 4ate of Christchurch, achieved a very marked success iv his impersonation of the Prophet iv Mendelsßohn'n oratorio "E'.ij»h" at the performance of lost S&turd&y evening in the People's Palace. His flue voice told out with excellent effect, and he not only sang tbe mu*ic with much artistic skill, but nho imparted to the whole of his work it* proper dramatic character. Mr Faithtull Begg, M.P., formerly of Dunedin, was entertained at Toronto last Monday evening by the National Club an one of the delegates to the recent Cauadiaa Congress of British Chambers of Commerce. When addressing the *' B'.uudellains " — i c., the students of the fatuous Blundeli'n School — last week on the subject of mission work, it was a pleasant surprise to the R«v. Ttiomaa JPlavt-11 to fiud two New Zeilander* anioug hi* audience The* were Mr Holmes (of the Wairarapa Valley) and Mr L*ing-Me«sou (of Timaru). Mr and Mrs R. E. N. Twopen> , formerly of Duuedin, arrived from Melbourne this week by th« P. aud 0. Company's s.s. Masiilia. It is quite true, I am glad to say, that a complete reconciliation has at last taken placa between Sir George Grey and his wife. He and Lady Grey are still living at the Norfolk Hobel, South Kensington, and they tell "me they intend to remain there for the present at any rate, in fact they have as yet formed no plans for removing to any other residence, as they are quite comfortable where they are. All Sir George Grey'u friends rejoice that his lonely and somewhat desolate London life has given place to something more comfortable and domestic. Lady Grey is assiduous in watching over her distinguished husband, and it is quite pleasant now to see them enjoying together their cosy winter fireside. Sir George Grey seemed much better and brighter to-day than last week. Apparently his health wan more satisfactory, and his spirits had riaen accordingly. He also had lost that wandering, uncertain look which struck me ro painfully last week. Unfortunately, his eyesight continues very weak, and so he is debarred from reading—his severest deprivation of all. He seemed to take more interest in South African affairs than iv anything else, and chatted with eagar enthusiasm about them. Most people nowadays who know anything about the matter deeply regret that the arrangements originally made through the foresight of Sir George Grey were not adhered to, inttead of being wantonly upset through the ignorance and pigheadednes*) of the Imperial authorities. Great Britain's South .African empire would have rested on ;i very different and f»r sounder ba'is to-day had Sir George Grey's programme been carried out iv its entirety.