ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2356, 20 April 1899, Page 44

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(From Otjb Own Correspondent.! LONDON, February 11.

Mr Kidston-Hunter, of Dunedin, is still in London. Most of his time since his arrival in the United Kingdom has been taken up with studying the latest developments in bacteriology, particularly in lelation to dairy matters and public health. In scientific questions of all kinds 'he has been greatly interested, and besides visiting all the chief laboratories in order to see the latest improvements, Mr KidstonHunter has been present at the chiel Clinical Society meetings, where he has met quite a number of leading scientists. The new Government laboratory which has just been built at the cost of £50,000 is, in the opinion of Mr Kidston-Hunter, really the finest of its kind in the world. According to present plans, he and his family will leave on their return to New Zealand by the s.s. lonic, which is due to sail from London on the 23rd of March.

Definite appointments have now been made of the six gentlemen who are to act as veterinary surgeons for the New Zealand Agricultural department, and judging by their qualifications the -colony has eecured a first-class body of men, all in their prime, and, of course, all members of the Royal College of Veterinary "Surgeons. Mr •Edward Nelson, (London), who is a medalj list, is 30 years of age, married, and has i one little girl. He has had over 13 years i veterinary experience both in town and j country, and largely with veterinary inspection. Mr John Greenwood Clayton (now of Tiverton, Devon, I am taking' the names at random), is aged 31, and is unmarried. He has had great experience in Cheshire, Nottingham, and other places.' MrJ&Charles J. Sanderson (of Southsea, Hants) is 28 years of age, and is single. His practice has taken him into Lancashire, Kent, Shropshire, Essex, Wiltshire, Somer- , set, Devon, and London. Mr Alexander Crabb is a Fellow of the Glasgow Veterinary Medical Associatidn, is 27 • years of age, married, and has one of a family. His. knowledge and experience has been gained in Glasgow, Wellington (Shropshire). ( langion (Essex), Congleton (Cheshire), and 'Kenilworth (Warwickshire). Mr Charles Raymond INeale is .a Fellow of the Edinburgh Veterinary Medical Association, is 27 years of age, and is unmarried. . He hae been in private practice at Henley-on-Thames. Mr H. C. Wilkie (of St. Ives, Hunts) is a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and a Fellow of the Zoological Society, London. He is 34 years of age, and immarried. His experience has extended to Wolverhampton, Badmin, Cornwall Barnet, Herts, Chatteris, etc. For the first time in his life Mr Thomas Mackenzie appeared, at the Imperial Institute last Mqnda-y evening, in .the' character of a lecturer, his subject being " Explorations in Fiordland, New Zealand," to which no one is better- able to do justice than he. The audience was -a large one, not only of Fellows of the institute and their .friends, but of the public generally. In fact, the seats 'set apart for those who know not Fellows and yet who like to attend are rarely ao well filled, llr W. P. Reeves presided, and in one of those neat and brief speeches, in which he is perhaps the happiest, introduced the lecturer, who then for fully an hour and a-half kept his audience at unusual tension of attention. Mr Mackenzie ably described the fiordland and the explorations which led,. to the discovery of a pass from the East to the West Coasts, and the views thrown on the screen — for the lecture was illustrated — evoked loud applause. Some of the picjWes, Mr Mackenzie's own, were seen for the first time, and it is probable that he will be astad lo furnish copies to supplement the Government's stock of slides. It is hardly necessary to add that a vote of thanks of the most cordial kind was passed to the lecturer on having made so successful a debut.

"M.A.P." (Mainly About People) in its city article says that Mr Faithfull Begg, M.P. , "who is now qjiite a leading broker on the Stock Exchange," caused a flutter there when he brought an order on to th>y market for £100,000 worth of one <fcook. Yet it is said thai dealers here become so .accustomed to big orders that the only effect of Mr Begg's commission was to raise the market price something under 10s. February 24.*

- A speech characterised by great "breadth of view was that delivered by Sir Robert G. W. r Herbert at .-he annual meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, on Tuesday last. It embraced every topic of first, and. even of lesser, importance to our colonial Empire, and was yet studiously moderate. After speaking of the satisfactory financial position of die institute, he mentioned that the Duke of Cambridge had become a life fellow ; here Sir Robert wished the Duke could be induced to pay a visit to the colonies. On the very much vexed question of double income tax- he confessed himself, so to say, facing a blank wall, for all they had been able to get from the Government here was that if people like to live here they must pay for the protection ,hey get, -whether they'pay taxes in the colonies or not. So that' matter remains as it was unless fellows can manufacture ammunition of another and more effective sort with whicli to keep up the bombardment of Whitehall from Northumberland Avenue. It is hoped by the Council of the institute that colonial Governments may be disposed to press the matter more forcibly upon the Home authorities than hitherto.

Australasian federation, as might naturally be expected, took a leading place in the speech, and a warning -was given not to be too sanguine of the immediate completion of the scheme. Some of tjie lions that remain in Uie path yet, according to Sir Robert Herbert, are the cost of farleral inhibitions, the incomplete lecovery of Australia, so far, from the financial crisis of a few years ago, and half :v dozen other reasons with which you are already familiar. Australasia and ' Canada were looked on to follow the example of the Cape and Natal in the matter of Imperial defences; it was admitted, however, that the Australasian group was doing as much as it honestly thought it could do at the present time.

Imperial penny postage was alluded to as a <" great fact," and one calculated to give Britishers, in their dealings with one another, a great pull over the foreigner. From what he had heard, Sir Robert said, Australasian Ministers were very well dis : posed in the matter, but " they did not want to be much pressed -about it just at present." Possibly the chairman of last Tuesday's meeting may have some information on the subject that has not yet been made public. Anyway, that "at present " sounds promising. As to the. Pacific cable, it was not thought that the mere fact of its being " all British " would be a certain assurance of its continuance in time of war, for " foreign nations would know every mile of it," and the comparative absence of British men-of-war and sailing vessels from the Pacific would add to the ease with which it could be "hooked up." No doubt, however, existed iv the mind of Sir Robert that the Pacific cable would be an accomplished fact before any great length of time.

New Zealand's reported movement in the matter of adopting inland penny postage came in for special mention and laudation, the hope being expressed that such would bo but the precursor to the colony adopting the same as its olwr-sea rate. The council then recorded its satisfaction at the 'work Mr Cecil Rhodes was doing in reference to opening up t»he Cape and Cairo route, and urged the 'Government to support him.

One subjeot came up in the discussion which will be of interest to medical men, so many of whom now periodically find it well to come Home for the purpose of keeping up to date. Those interested in bacteriological studies particularly have had to go to Continental schools to acquire the knowledge necessary ; now, however, a bureau has been opened at Gower street .for medical s?raduates. Here they will be able to get the latest scientific information. Not only in Sir Robert Herbert's sptfech at the Colonial Institute has the subject ol> the Pacific cable received attention this week. The Times returns to the question, and points out^hat the. eastern and western limits of the Empire have no direct connection witli each other across an. ocean which has become the theatre of Un increasingly interesting political development. ." Hongkong,. Wei-haji-wei, Aucklaud, Sydney; and Esquimault can communicate only by telegraph in a. loop-line encircling two hemispheres," it says. In 1897 Austral- : asian cable traffic ' amounted to 2,349ji01 words, and in 1902 it is calculated that at the present rate only it will total 3,600,000 words ; and the sum the Home Government is asked to guarantee is so " absurdly small " nY one would hesitate fon a moment.

. Referring to Mr Reeves's lecture on Sunday night last at Toynbee Hall, the Morning Advertiser, the organ of the "trade," thinks that women's^uffrage in New Zea T land; 'on the Agerifc»generat's showing, "has done but little good' cither socially or politically, and on the other hand it has dono no harm."

Mr Mundella's connection with the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company is being discussed as the outcome of statements, made that " all Mr Gladstone's Ministers abandoned their directorships on taking office in 1892." The Daily Chronicle sticks to it that that statement, is -correct, and puts the "facts" thus: — "Mr Mundella was a director of the New Zealand Loan Company, which came to grief in 1894, but, as was implied in our statement, he resigned his directorship before occupyiug the office of President of the Board of Trade in the 1892 Cabinet. And the mismanagement that led to the collapse of the New Zealand Loan Company, for which Mr Mundella was in no way personally responsible, occurred, moreover, prior to 1892."

I learn that the disclosures made by Mr Thomas Mackenzie regarding the scandals in connection with the assessments of New Zealand frozen meat are causing a considerahle activity in shipping circles, and that efforts will soon be made by that interest to locate thfc damage — if any. It is con- ! ceded that no person has shown so much courage in connection with this matter as Mr Mackenzie, and that before he leaves for New Zealand some practical use should be made of the excellent work done by him. , Several informal meetings of the shipping trade have_ already been held. To-morrow the N.Z.S. Company's new j vessel, the Wakanui, leaves the Tyne on her trial trip to London. She is in excellent trim, and is expected to dock on Monday, and to leave the week after next on her first voyage to the colony.

Outstanding New Zealand 5 per cent, consols (annual drawings and quarterly coupons) and 5 per cent. debentures of the loan of 1863 (redeemable 1914) can, it is announced, be converted into 3 per cent. New Zealand stock, inscribed at the Bank of England. -The terms offered are : Five per cent, consols — for every £100 in consols debentures, £104 of 3 per cent, consolidated stock will be given. "Owing to the terrible weather prevailing in the Atlantic a week or so ago, the San Francisco mail is considerably overdue here ; in fact, it is hardly expected that the letters wHI be delivered before late tomorrow — even if then. Only once before in the history of the service has it been so late. The New York liner's time table having been so much dislocated through the weather, the postal authorities sent the mail on from Boston by the e.s. Canada, thus is the delay accounted for.

It will be a week or ten days before the Lyttelton dredger, the City of Manchester, will be able to leave Waterford, to which port she put back by reason of the recent hurricane. The Board of Trade have promised to afford every facility to aid her speedy departure, however. Captain Hall, who has charge of her, was in town this week, and I learn he is much disgusted at having had to put in anywhere, this being the first time in his nautical experience that he has had to do such a thing. However, when great liners suffered so severely, he may thank his lucky stars that a mere dredger came off so well.

Land and Water has commenced a. series of -irticles on the acclimatisation of salnionidte in New Zealand. Up to the present the articles have, though interesting, been mainly, historic

Textile newspapers are evincing interests - in- New Zealand flax, " probably -the boldest industry in the colony." Figures are quoted to show that there is no reason why the output should not be largely increased. Belfast papers also refer to the subject.. The system of grading is looked upon as very important. »

Anglo-American camaraderie was, it 13 conceded here, put to a practical test in the recent trouble at Samoa, and in some quarters emphasis is laid on the suggestion, made by the United States Chief Justice in the group, that England should annex the islands. German journalists, •however, are throwing the blame of 'the affair on Mr Chambers. PERSONAL. Another ex-Governor of New Zealand has passed to his rest;. Sir George Ferguson Bowen, who was Governor of New Zealand from 1867 to 1873, died at Brighton last Tuesday evening. He had been attacked by bronchitis on Sunday/ and his illness quickly assumed a dangerous shape. On Tuesday his condition was deemed critical,and he grew rapidly worse, breathing his last at a late hour in the evening. Two columns are devoted by The Times to % sketch of Sir George Barren's career, but; it is unnecessary for me to offer a biography, inasmuch as the history of his life is very well known in New Zealand, and is to be found in the usual works of personal reference. It is little more than two years. ago that I announced Sir George Bowen's 'second marriage at the mature age of 75 ; but he was always wonderfully young for his. years. On the last few qc- ' casions when I met him personally it always struck me that, except for a slight unsteadiness of gliTt, one could very well have taken him for a hale middle-aged man in his fifties. Sir George retained to the lasst that special suavity of .manner and genial disposition to indulge 'in gushing eulogy on the smallest provocation, for which he was celebrated during his various gubernatorial careers. Mr H. Otterson, Clerk of the House of Representatives, has, I am aorry to say, fallen a victim to the epidemic of influenza, which has visited London annually for 10 years, and has now just started upon its agreeable course. Fortunately- the attack does not; seem, so far, to have been a severe pne, and he .appears to,;be making good progress towwpa recovery. He tells me he has paid a number of visits to the House of Commons, where he has been most kindly and courteously received, every "facility ' being afforded him ,f or seeing and hearing all that was worth his attention. Mv Otterson has also been hospitably entertained by the parliamentary authorities, and altogether has had a very good time. According to his present plans, he will most likely leave by the New Zealand Shipping Company's new steamer Wakanui in, Uie course' of next month, so as to be back in the colony in good time before the next session of the New Zealand Parliament. . •

. By the- outgoing San Francisco mail, Mr A. W. Marshall, of The Towers, Pinner, Middlesex, leaves for New Zealand. He is going out to the colony- with reference to some important business matters, as to which I am nof permitted at present to state anything more precisely. I may say, however, that Mr Marshall is a gentleman of large wealth,, and has great local influence in municipal and other matters in his part of Middlesex, while he 'has been a substantial benefactor to the pretty little town of Pinner. . He is reputed als,o to., be a man of -exceptional business cajDacities, having very few superiors in that *fespect, while he also possesses large and special scientific knowledge. I believe he t carries Some personal and social introductions .to New Zealand, and no doubt when he deems the fit time to have arrived he will make known the object of his visit to the colony. He goes first to Auckland.

Mrs JJapier Bell tells me that she was much impressed with the total change in the usual aspect of Paris caused by the

sudden death of the President. It -was not, she says, like the same place the following day. Mrs Napier Bell is using every effort to obtain admission to Notre Dame .on the occasion of the great function in connection with the late President's funeral, and if she is successful has promised to send me some notes of her personal experiences, which ought to prove interesling. v Mr F. Satchell Clarke writes to me from Glasgow that he is busily, engaged in that city purchasing machinery for gold dredging purposes on behalf of an English' syndicate, who are about to commence operations on the Fraser River, British Columbia, after the New Zealand method. Mr Clarke expects to be ba«k in' London shortly.

Mr C. R. Barton Browne, formerly of ■the Colonial Bank, who *is well known in New 'Zealand, has just been made a justice of the peace for- Devonshire. " High in the ranks of those who have helped to rule dominions beyond the seas" is the Globe's description of the late Sir George Bowen, to whose death all the, leading papers refer. Of his New Zealand work, the Westminster Gazette says : "He acted on the principle tliat 'the grass soon grows v over blood shed on the field of battle, but never over blood shed on the political scaffold,' and her only found it necessary to inflict the death penalty on one of theNative chiefs."

Mr C. Trevelyan, who recently visited the colony, and who has been writing and lecturing upon it since, is the Radical candidate' for the Elland Division of Yorkshire.

By the s.s. Wakanui, on her • maiden. voyage to New Zealand, will proceed the six veterinary surgeons for the Agricultural department, and the wives and families of those of them who are married. As the Wakanni's saloon accommodation is somewhat limited, the whole of it practically has been taken for this purpose by the New Zealand Government.

Sergeant White, of the Wellington detective force, who arrived at Liverpool on Sunday, by the Orepesa from Monte Video,' with the accused man Myers, s who was there arrested on a New Zealand warrant,, will also travel by the Wakanul Meanwhile he has come on to London with Myers, who has been placed in, charge of the Scotland Yard authorities until the date eljgfiftftire fo? the colgiHj,

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