A London Letter.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6061, 7 May 1891, Page 4

A London Letter.

London, March 21,

The- latest triumph of soience is the completion of telephonic communication with Paris, , On Monday, March 16, London and Pariß could talk to each other, and Br, Potteir's dream of a whisper transmitted by scientific means beneath the hoarse waves of the Atlantic Ocean was realised. It is a splendid triumph, and. apt ,the least pleasing feature of the enterprise is the fact of its being a joint affair between England and France. The £rsfe; f word «ent through the two hundred and ninety-seven aailes of wire Bhould h«fe been "Peace," for this is the real Bigßificatnco of such an inter - national work. * Between peoples thus brought together by ecience there can be no more war.

The lftti Baring crisi3 was a more Kftxious affair, than was at first imagined. At a recent Nesting of the Bank of England, Mr Lidderdale, the Chairman of the Directors, to whose business acumen and enterprise the averting of a crash was due, made a lengthy reference to the event. " When I tell you," said Mr Lidderdale,, "that the liabilities of Messrs Baring Bros, were over twenty-one millions sterling, you will recognise that the burden of carrying them over their difficulty w>w „not. to be lightly undertaken, •ven'by the Bank of England. He then gave a very interesting account of the tranaaeifon~how the co-operation of other banks was secured, how available coin was borrowed of other countries— three millions sterling from France and a million and a half from Russia, and so on. The most importaut part of the story, however, was that which related to the liquidation of Messrs Baring Bros.' estate. The nominal assets of the firm amounted to L 24,00,000, bub as this large sum consisted principally of South American securities it was a moot question how the thing would turn out. The partners' lands, houses, and private property, represented over a million sterling. On the whole, Mr Lidderdale seemed well •atisfied that the plucky action of the Bank of England would not cost ifc a shilling, so the shareholders went home to dinner in a tolerably comfortable frame of mind.

The reports of the English farmer delegates who were invited over by the Government to s«e for themselves how Canadian farmers got on, are now published, and there seems to be a concensus of opinion among them as to the value of the colony for agricultural pursuits. Many Scotch and English farmers will doubtless be tempted by their somewhat roseate description of the life to betake themselves thither. From the following figures New Zealand farmers will be able to test tkeir position pretty fairly by that of the Canadians. The total indebtedness of the Ontario farmers amounts to aboufe 80,000,C09 dollars (L16,C0O,OoO), or rather under one-tenth ef their values of their farms, which is placed at 824,793,000d01s L 166,000,000. The recent retura of frost and snow has proved nearly as bad as an invasion on the West of England coast. Among other appalling calamities Plymouth has been cut off from its water supply. Snow, many feeb deep has literally chocked up the open channel by which the water reaches the town. Hundreds of men hare been employed in digging it out, but th« latest report stated that the re ■were only two days' steam supply in the reservoir, and a water famine seemed imminent.

Among the latest items of political mows is one announcing that Sir Arthur Hodgson, the Victorian squatter, intends contesting the Stratford Borough in the Tory interest, thus following the example of the N«w South Wales nabob Sir Saul Samuel. When will some young Antipodeans of brain come, and turn the laugh against colonial aspirants to Parliamentary honors ? The pompous ex-squatters .are doing their uttermost to bring the colenics into contempt, by presuming on their full pockets. A derisive smile always goes round the room at any public meeting when they appear on the platform in all the glory of their " K.C.M.G." decorations. .If two or three of the brilliant speakers of the "Young New Zealand Party" would put in an appearance here, and go in fqr Parliamentary work, they would infuse into British Liberalism something of colonial go and fire. I question also whether they might not serve the colonies here, almost better than at home, as they might correct the crass ignorance of the Colonial Office. Verb sapt ■ j The " baccarat scandal " business must hare given the Prince of Wales a good many bad quarters of an hour. The latest I development of that rather shady piece of business ie a notification by the Press Association that "there is every reason ! to believe that the trial of the action instituted by Sir W. Gordon Cumming, in connection with the baccarat scandal, will be a y«:y short aftair. The plaintiff is determined to go into Court, and will not hear of any retraction until his case has been, laid before the jury, and he has on oath given an emphatic denial to the charges preferred against him. But, acting.in consonance with the opinion of the Royal personage who has been mentioned in connection with the matter, it is stated in well-informed quarters that there will be no cross-examination and no attempt to prove the allegations ; but an apology will be tendered, and the business of the jury will be to fix such damages as, under the circumstances, Sir W. Gordon Cumming may think fit to accept as compensation for the injury done to his character and reputation." Moral heroism is not an extinct virtue ; witness the following incident which occurred a few days ago on the Devonshire coast. Two Brixham trawlers, the D&zzler and the Susan Patey, came into collision off Star Poinb, resulting in the loss. of five lives. As the Dazzler wag going down head first, Mugford, the third Band, immediately seized the life-buoy, and while the men were all struggling in tha lea, Harris, the skipper, said loud enough to reach Mugford, ♦* Whatever will my poor wife and children do if I am drowned ?" Mugford immediately exclaimed, "Here, skipper, take this lifebuoy," (releasing himself from it and pushing its towards Harris); "I have no oao,.but myself to support, and if I Hrn losfc nobody else will suffer." Harris, however, was as anxious to save his companion's life as his own, and, putting one of his arms round the buoy, he said, " Jack, put your arms round like this, and it will keep us both up ; anyhow, we will both share the same fate." Happily, they were both eventually picked up and taken ' to Brixham. A "good story appeared in *- weeklies the other day. > ' - Jie of oUr on woman's rights w*" **• lad y lecturer her subject, -.v" ..a growing warm over would TO.V* "■ >* a exclaimed, " Where wome^ ' •*• fr° n°t- been for v ,. uft After a pause, and looking uund the hall, she exclaimed, " I repeat where would man be if it had nob been for woman?" when a voice from the gallery was heard, "Ee'd be in Paradise, ma'am." —Canterbury Times' correspondent.