OUR LONDON LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2317, 28 July 1898, Page 40

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(From Our Own Cobrespondent.)

London, May- 13. THE DAIRY fNDUSTRT.

0m ing a conversation ye&terday with M r Richard lloyuolds Le remarked that he thinks the Ntw Zealand butter business is, on tho vhole, well handled, and that he only wished New Zealand meat could be fiolu in the same way— that is to say, at a fixed pric- in New Zealand—instead of being cor.»ignul to agents in London. He considers it would be very ranch better if oirangemtuia ronld be made for the London Lujcrs to purchase the meat in the colony end then do theic befit with it in London, He is of opinion that a fixed yriee of 2£d per lb, paid in the colony for their mutton and beef, would pay tho producers very well, and would enable purchasers to make a good, but uofc excessive, print on a shipment to Liuclou. The dairy industry, he iciterated, is now «i a thoroughly Bound footing, ar.d he maint&ins that farmers can do fairly well, even though they get only 3d p« gallon, or slightly less, for their milk ; in f*cr, he is very sanguine about the future of New Z*«l*«d dairying. . . There is one curious circumfUnee just new w'th respsct to New Zealand butter, and that is that Messrs Lovell and Christinas are sending back to New Zealand and Australia all the colonial butter that they have in store, for which they expect to get Is 2d to Is 4d per lb, wh'.ch of course is a vastly higher price than it would fetch in London at this time of the year, lOd baing quite the top price. Mr Christmas tells use that is is the colonial drought wbicb has brought about this curious reversal of the customer? order ot (he trade. Mr Spragg's conclusion, after an elaborate and txteneive inspection of the dairy factories and appliances throughout (he United States aad Canada, is that in all essential rejects ft«w Zealand is still well ahead. " I saw no factory in advance of those which we have in New Z'.alaud," said Mr Spragg to me to-day. •'You may take nay assurance that in these matters New Zcalaid is thoroughly up to date."

BORACIC ACID

Isboracic acid harmful or not when used for the purpose of preserving dairy produce ? The dispute on its use io connection with colonial butter, to which I have referred at some length in previous letters, still continues with much animation. Recently a Welsh grocer was fioed £5 for gelling butter which contained the acid a the extent of IP31 P 3 per cent., some of the Welsh Authorities Laving adopted a limit of 05 per cent, as the largest quantity that mny be used. Borne of tha experts pronounce ita employment at »)1 as deleterious to health, while others declare that it ia absolutely beneficial to digeotioß. This is the raison d'etre of the agitation and the mative power which has led to so many precautions for tho use of boricic acid. It has been di&tinctly es'-ablishr d that in almost every Cfse, if not invariably, (he preeervative chemicals used in colonial butter did not exceed a propostion of 05to 1 per cenh. It ia urged that thi3 is virtually an infinitesimal quantity, and cannot possibly exercise any injurious influence upon health ; while ife is Eurthcr usserted that such minute additions cannot ba detected by the sense of taste. II is declared, moreover, that tha addition of these preservatives is essential both to preserve the butter and to cause it to retain its aroma unimpaired ; while it is added that the effect upon the human b&iugs is no greater than that ef. a minute quantity of salt, which is itself merely a chemical compound. ' The point now aimed at apparently is 'to have some standard of maximum authoritatively fixed aud rigidly adhered to.

NEW ZEALAND MINES.

It would be idle to ignore tbe fact that the etate of effuirs disclosed at this week's meetiug of t'ae New Zealand Exploration Company is a very unlucky and deplorable ono so far as New Zetland is concerned. I can hsrdly present the case in a more forcible light than to quote certain figures from the balance sheet. "Suudiy property in New Zealand " was valued on the 31st December, 1896, fit £12,500. During last jear tbe turn of £7442 was expended uriou that property, making its total value and cost up to the Ist January, 1898, £20,942. The value of that property to-day it estimated by the directors at juat £10! No less a sum than £20.932 baa been written off ab one fell swoop. Now, this is really one cf tbo most remarkable things iv the way of New Zealand mining matters that has ever come under my notice. Nobody knows bow m<iny other New Zealand properties ought to bave been similarly treated ; these things are usually kept secret. But when a company like the New Zealand Exploration docl*reß opaily and frankly that a property which has cost it nearly £21,000 bus proved to be worth only £10 sterling, tho position is brimful of disagreeable suggestivenes. Even thia is net all, although perhaps it is re-lativtly the worst item. "Sundry investments " which had been valued at £84,512 now appear as representing only £57,712, £26,800 having been written off. "Suudry debtors" owe the company £6539. Of this, £1308 is marked as "doubtful." "Office furniture" was considered to he worth £336 last year — or, to be very precise, £336 Is lid. In this year's valuation tbe directors, with equal minute precision, have written off £236 Is ltd foe depreciation, leaving tbe estimated valus exactly £100. Naturally these disappointing diiclosurcs have caused a good deal oi' talk in the City, acd have tended materially to deepon the gloom in which New Zealand mining investments have been for so long immersed. Sir Wcstby Perceval's resignation from the New Zealand Exploration directorate has noi tended to improva matters, or to brighten the public view cf the case. Clearly the fact of his regigning bis soat on tbo board, coupted with the other f?cl that the corup»ny is covr showu to have lost more than £50,000 during tbe year just expired, must h^ve a tendency to send the barometer of public conndenea to a point still loner than any at which it has etood for some considerable time. At the meeting of the company (h«. Chfiirman B*id : " Sir Wcstby Perccrnl resigned because, aa we have no longer any business in New Zealand, he thought;, as he could do no good for us outside the colony, he aad bftst retire, bub his advice &nd assistance will always be ct oaf service." There baa bten a dr»slic wiping out all round, investment* being written down from £54,512 to £b?,712, debtors from £6539 to £5231, while even tha office furniture h»» come down froai £336 Is lid to £100, tLe lons ou tbe year lx ing £51, 296 13s sd. There is, bow«ver, £4197 4s 7d cash left in hsnel ; but what is that when salaries, office expenses, sod direct ora' fees take £7302 per annum ? Tho directors' rnport shows that tho year'o operations had resulted in a debit balance of £51,296, of which £41,749 wan covered by tho reserve. This loss w»s chiefly due to the writing off of the heavy expenditure incurred iv exploration work on large areas of land belonging to the Kauri Timber Company on which options bad bsen secured, but no payable mines had been found, On other New Zealand pro-

perliei, held partly under option and partly acquired, costly »nd extensive i prospecting operations bad also led to disappointing results, and the respective amounts had to ba written off. Further, the company had had to face a considerable depreciation on its holding of shares in the Arena gold minei. Sporadic efforts continue to be mado in tbe direction of establishing au Adequate Austiaiian and N«vf Zealand club iv London and of kolding an annual dinner in this city. Mr Arthur Royel, who acted as business manager for tho Hudtou Surprise Party during their recent successful tour iv Ntw Zealand, is entering upon a course of assiduous vocal study in London, having discovered (li.it he possesses an excellent baritone voice.

Mr Heury Stockwell, the Nt *■ Zt aland tenor, was not able to leave with Ms'laai-i Amy Sberwiu's Concert Company. He took his departure, however, last Saturday, aad will join tue company. Mr Refcves's " Story of Xt w Ze;,i£.:id " ia considered by the Westminster G*7.<-:'e to b8 "entirely what, such a bov-k s'.n uld be— brief, simple, unpreteutious, Eufli'sieu'." On Wednesday last the olclt6t ojiniatar of the Baptist dfiiomiuation, the R«v. John Aldia, cekbratsd his nineliolb birthday. He was born at Colchester on May 11, 1808, and is now living in retirement at Bf-ekington, near B*th. He came to London when 14, and his early life was passed among the Cvng'egafit'flalista. In 1822 he entered Nox^on Academy, and Etndierl nndrr Dr S'.cadman, accepting the pastorate of George street Chapel, Mdnchcster, in 1830, and marrying Bliss Letitia Sfceadnian. E : ght years later Mr Aldia came to Maze Ford Chapel, London, and it was while holding the pastorate that be became one of tho besl-lamftii of the Metropolitan Bnptist ministers In 1555 ha removed to Reading, and in 1869 went still further w>st to Plymouth, rdh.q;u. uiog the work of the slated ministry in 1&77, bat still preaching in diffeient parts oi the country. Eleven years previously (in 1£66) he was chairman of the Baptist Union. Hia ftvoutite recreation haa been vra'king. The distinguished careers of his cons have ex' ended a knowledge of hia nama. One, tbe popular ex-professor cf tbe Auckland University College, was senior wrangler and Smith's prizeman in 1861, another eixlh wrangler with claß&ical honours in 1863, and a th'rd second wrangler and Smith's prizeman with classical honours in 1566. During tbe Homeward paesage of tha 1\ and O. steamer India, wh'ch srrivtd this week, a sbsmeful trick wag played on April Fool's Dat by some imbfciles among the saloon passecfeera, who unfortunately remain undi*covercd. During tbe night they collected aud threw overbe-aid some 60 deck chairs belooging to their ftlJow psssetig^ra. Lord Brassey w&s amor.gst tho cuff-.-rtrs by thia disgraceful misconduct Perhaps the 'Rorut feature of the rufii tcisiTi was that a chair which had b?cn made at a cort of £7 foe an invalii, a great suffeier, whocouKi find ease iv no other r^st-ing-pUrp, wris aacririee.i with the resi. The brutal tb'evea deserved lyncbiog. Commeniiug on the proposed reform? cf tbe New Zealand law relating to lunatics, iacludiDg the separation of incurable from C'irabia palients in lunatic afylums, tho " British Medical Journal" says:— "lt would appear that; our New Zealand brethren wifrh to acid to their public institutions asjluros like those of the Metropolitan Asylum Board, in which the 'wrecks of humanity csn be -c-llecied and stored until they ceate Io exist. We are by no mesns eatistied that the policy advocated is j seund. While there ara many cases of insanity which can be cbssed wi'.h certainty as hope!ea!«r anu " many caeeß that can bo classed with a near approach to certainty a3 curable, there- is&very large number of caEca that mu>t for lot'g remain doubtful, aud even cases that have beiu for years classed as hopeless do occasionally recover. Ajsart from this consideration, ifc nauet be remembircd that a complete cure is I not the sole object of treatment. In a very large Lumber of cases in which recovery is not to be hoped for great improvement ia possible, and tie classification of patients ac iucur*ble is usually undeialood to ia3au unimprovable slso. ! Warehouses for the storage of human wrecks j arc not favourable places for even ameliorative treatment." | Rcviewicg " New Zealand Ha'bouf Finance," j the Financial Times says that there w&s a period v?hen the creditors of the New Z alacd harbour boards had to gauge the value of their securities merely by the punctual payment of half-yearly interest; coopone, and takes some credit for having rerredicd this by taking the trcuble, some nine years ago, to obtain and analysp tbe accounts of those board*. In commenting on tbe report and balance sheet of the Otago Harbour Board, tbe Financial Times gaya that dredge 222 " always comes in as a godsend when the ntiaucea of the OUgo Harboard go a little astray." After commenting incidentally on tho peculiar name given to the dredge, the paper goes on to regret that some plan baß not been .dtv.'sed for making the accounts more intelligible and complete, and points to the absurdity of do value being t laced j upon property and plant.