OUR LONDON LETTER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, October 30.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 36

OUR LONDON LETTER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, October 30.

ASSETS BOARD'S DEBENTURES.

Last Saturday the Bank of New Zealand invited applications at par for an issue of £750,000 iv 3£ per cent, debentures of the New Zealand Assets Realisation Board, being a part of the £2,680,205 guaranteed by the New Zealand Government. The application list closed on Wednesday, the entire issue having been fully applied for. The letters of allotment have since been posted, and the issue appears to have been a. complete success

COLONIAL PREMIERS AT THE HOTEL CECIL.

"Ib appears" says the Financial News, commenting on the recent meeting of the Cecil Hotel Company, " that the colonial Premiers were no great catch after all for the Hotel Cecil. They were entertained so much outside that they were little more than bed-acd-break-fasfc guests. They were so well treated that none of them ever needed to say, like the Governor of North Carolina, • It's a long time between drinks.' The choice of the Hotel Cecil for the residence of these welcome and „ distinguished guests was really a misfortune for the vendors ; for wealthy colonists or Americins in the same rooms might have eatcu and druuk enough to make a substantial contribution towards the preference dividend." Still a bill for £7000 odd seems not bad !

CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION.

Naturally in the midst of the anxieby and excitement caused by the present disastrous strike in the engineering and cognate trades, much attention has been directed to the New Zealand method of industrial conciliation. The Agent-general for New Zealand, as ex-Miuister lor Labour and the parent of tho act ijott in force in New Z:aland, has been very much sought after for information • on the subject. Mr Reeve 3 has judiciously declined to express any opinion on the prcsout slrupg'e iv Great Britain, and has confined himself to expressing very lucidly tho char*cter, provisions, and working of the Industrial Conciliation Act in New Zealand. Interviewed by a representative of the Daily Chronicle Mtr llsews explained the principal ▼ictue of the New Zealand method to be that it automatically prevented the creation of «uch a position of strain as now cx<stad iv Englaud. It was, iv fact, a preventive, and he declared that ib had proved " absolutely effective," and had exceeded his mosb sanguine hope^i On Friday eveuing last; Me Reeves (by invitation) addressed the Fabian Society and explained the New Zealand method of adjusting labour disputes. At the conclusion of his address Mr ll«evC3 w«ts asked a largo number of questions as to the details and working of the act, all of which he snswered to the evident satisfaction of his audience, receiving a cordinl vote of lhariks al the termination of the meeting.

THE MIDIJiND RAILWAY.

Ones more the unhappy Midland railway of New Zealand has cropped up in tho public journals. Mr Young, the receiver of the New Zealand Midland railway, has issued a circular in' i mating that he has v.-o funds ia his hands at preseut to meet the half-year's iuterfst due upon the debentures on the 15'hinst. This has elicited a letter ftom Mr W. H. Bshop, who quotes the recently received telegraphic report of Mr Seddon's utterance with regard to the Midland railway in Parliament" during the session of 1894, in which, it will be remembered, the New Zealand Premier dtclared that unless the proposals m*.de by his Gwernnienb and accaptsd by the Midland R-iilway Company were endorsed by Parliament the honour of the colony would ba tarnished, its credit would be injured before the world, aud it would jusMy be staged that the co'ony could nob be trusted, because it had failed to do what was right or to do justic-9.\ Mr Bishop, perhaps not unnaturally, invites Mr Seddon to reconcile his two utterances, and to explain the action of the Government with regard to the land grants. He is still pausing for a reply.

ANGr.O-COLONIAt. NOTES,

Sir John and Lady Hall left England last week by the German steamer Bremen for Australia on their way back to New Zealand. Sir John has been remarkably well during his visit to England, »nd look* as young and vigorous as ever. Lwdy Hall'a hoaltb, lam glad to say, is a good deal improved. Dr and Mrs Newman leave England next week on the'r return to New Zealand, having been in the mother country abjut uevea months.

Referring to the latest book of a well-known New Zealand "author, th« Weekly Sun says: — "It is too much to expect that Fergus Hume will achieve such another popular success -as •The Mystery of a Hansom C*b,' which made his reputation in the detective-story line, but 'Claude Duval of Ninety-five' (Digby, Long, and Ci>.) is au iufiaitely better story. Ib is a tale of highway robbarics, in which society ladies are stripped of their jewels by a masked and mysterious horseman. We will not spoil this excellent story by gi?ii>g the p^fc away here, but we made our selection oE the villain on page 30, and the event proved the selection to be right. The plot is very cleverly worked out. The amateur detective is not quite such a bore as the omniscieub professional, for he makes many blunder?, though he is righb in the end. The book is to be heartily commended to the lover of the «xciting detective story."

Another New Zealand author, Mrs Bik«r ("Alien"), continues to advance along her path of success. Her new novel, just finished, which is'enlitted;" Wheat in ihe Ear," has been accepted by Messrs Hutcaioeon and Co., and will be brought out very shortly. 'There is a possibility thab it may first appear as a serial in " Household Words " From what I know of the coming book, I shall nob ba at all surprised to find it among the most popular of Mrs Baker's works. I understand that another story by Mra Baker, with her phobograph appended, will appear ia either the Christmas or New Year's number of " The Lady's Realm." Its title is to be " A Doad Year."

Mr and Mrs John Roberts and the Misses Roberts, of Dunedin, sailed from Plymouth today by the s.s. Gothic on their return voyage to New Zealand.

Mr H. F. yon Huasfc, pending his regular entrance into the legal profession in London, is doing a good deal of literary and journalistic work. His contributions have found a ready acceptance in the columns of- several London papers, including the Fall Mall Gazette and the Daily Mail. A bright little arlicle appears in the Pall Mall of last Monday, headed " Colonial Schooldays," describing his own schoolboy experiences in Canterbury, New Zealand.

The Right Rev. Dc Nevill (Anglican Bishop of Dunedin) and Mrs Nevill leave to-day by the s s. Gothic on their return to New Zealand after their visit to England ia connection with the recent Lambeth Conference.

Mr Frank Armstrong, of Dnpedin, has just returned to London from an interesting tour through Holland, Belgium, and Germany, including tbe u'iual trip up the Rhine. He speaks with enthusiasm of his experiences, which seem

to have been most enjoyable. L&ter he parposes visiting America. TU© l*st number of the •' British ~Jou.mil of Dental Science " contains an article by Mr F. Armstrong on " The State of Dental Education in New Zealand." The following "silver wedding " notice will be read with interest in New Zealand :—": — " Oa October 17, 18,72, afc St. Mildred's, Preslon, next Wingham, Kent, by tho father of the bride, assisted by the father of the bridegroom and the Rev. H. M. Villiers, rector of Adisham, Kenfr, Jame3 Bdgell, Eeq , of. Teddjngton and Clifford's Inn, second surviving ion of the Roy. Wm. Chatfes Edgell, rector of Uggeshall, Suffolk, and grandson of the late Harry Edgell, E«q , of Gray'a Inn, to Mary Beatrice, eldest daughter of the Right Rev. Henry Lascelles Jenner, D.D., first bishop of Dunedin, New Zealand, and granddaughter of the late Right Hou. Sir Herbert Jenner-Fust, Knight, LL.D., Dean of Arches, &c." An article headed " The First Lady Doctor in New Zealand " appeared in last week's issue of The Lady. This was accompanied by a capital portrait of Dr Kmily Siedeberg, who was the subject of the sketch. - After giving an account of her curcer, The Lidy concluded by remarking: "Dr- Siedeberg has a pleasing, frank manner, and is a clever conversationally, her onerous duties not having prevented her from acquiring a knowledge of a wide rauge of subjects outside of her chosen profession." •" Mr John Gebbie, of Dunedin, New Zealand, has returned to London from .a lengthened tour in Scotland. He leaves for the colony next week by the Messagei-ies Maritimea steamer PolynesieD. . „ ' Inquiring to-day at the Norfolk Hotel, South Kensington, I found Sir, George Grey ia , much the same condition as last week. The improvement mentioned in my )a»t letter has not, however, advanced at all. Sir George is able to rise from his bed daily, but hat nob yet beeu entirely dressed or able to. go out for » drive as ib was hoped would be the case. l£ understand that his last severe seizure has- left; behind it effects which can hardly fail to be permanent, antt I fear that there is not much ground for hoping thab he will ever again bs much stronger than at present. While, hov>ever, Sir George Grey lingers on a confirmed iuvalid, he has within the pasfe three months seen two of his successors in the Governorship of New Zealand, both much younger men than himself, precede him into that silent land. Sir William Jetvois passed away iv August, and now I have to record the death also of Lord Rosmoad, better known ia New Zealand as Sir Hercules Robinson, whoso loug illness terminated fatally on Thursday night. JLord Rogmead had long been known to be stricken with mortal diteise, bub he had partially rallied so many times tha v < hopes wera entertained that the end might yet be long deferred. His decease took placo.ab his London residence, 42 Princes Gardens, which is a few doors away from Mr Chamberlain* house. Very general regret is expressed atj. his deatb. Lord Koeraead is succeeded in the t'tl« by his son, the Hon. Hercules Robinson, who is a lieutenant in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and who married the daughter of Lord Caslle'maine. ~ Mr Spencer Gollan won two' of the steeplechases at Nottingham last week with his. New Zealand horses. In both cases the horses bad considerable odds laid 'on them, and they won with easa. , Mr Miller, of Sawyers' Bay, Port .Chalmers, who went out to Otago iv the ship Robert Henderson on her passage which broke the record 40 years ago, is now ia tho mother country, this being his first visit since his departure in 1857.