OUR LONDON LETTER London, February 28.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 16, 19 April 1884, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER London, February 28.

Mk H a.mia, the new Gymnastic Instructor of the Dunedin High School, who sails for your part of the world in the Tongariro this afternoon, was last week the recipient of a congratulatory and valedictory address from his old pupils in Aberdeen, who seem to have been much attached to him. Mr J. F. Sheridan, the popular actor I mentioned last week, sailed for Melbourne by the Cuzco on the 22nd. Sir Hercules and Lady Robinson, who have been recruiting at Home for some months, return to the Cape on Gth March. The s.s. Austral, which has been splendidly refitted and is now in all respects as good as ever, will not take her place on tho Orient Line at present. Messrs Henderson and Co., of Glasgow, have chartered her to ; strengthen their trans- Atlantic line during the coming summer. Mr Edwin Brett, for many years associated with the London Chartered Bank of Australia, has been tendered the responsible post of manager of the Oriental Banking Corporation.

Warnings Against New Zealand. The warnings against emigrating to New Zealand, which appear so frequently in the English provincial dailies nowadays, emanate, I am inclined, from the Manitoban and Canadian "touts," \\ho=.e business it is to disparage all fields for emigration but their own. What, for instance, do you make of the following, clipped from the Middlesboro " Daily Exchange" of February 14 : — " No one should turn New Zealand farmer without well counting the cost. English farming may be bad enough just now ; but in forty years' experience of English rural districts, I never, says a recent correspondent, saw such unmitigated drudgery as I see in the average farm-house here. "With all the sunshine and the material plenty, I miss what used to be the charm of the English homestead— a general sense of ease and quiet enjoyment of life. For one thing, there is more intellectual development in the colonies, and culture disagrees with toil. The old Tory objection to educating the labouring classes had more than a mere show of reason in it. New Zealand spends half a million sterling every year on educating its children, and one result is that it must look elsewhere for its ploughboys and dairymaids. Government offices, clerkships, schoolmasterships, are in universal demand— anything but the farm.

The Health Exhibition. Preparations for the Great Health Exhibition progress apace. I paid a visit to the scene of action at South Kensington la&t week, and ascertained that what is really a very considerable space has been set aside for Australian and New Zealand exhibits. Of course, the display of colonial wines (which is to excel anything of the kind ever before attempted) will occupy a good deal of room, but ToT o« J iniynte ft veat fuccess for the "frt •- -at <Un.AJis" scheme, more especially u n is earned out thoroughly and well. There can be no reason why the colonial enterers should not supply frozen fish, fruit, and game, from the antipodes, as well as beef, mutton, butter, and cheese. Let them offer "sixpenny frozen meat dinners " on the same plan as the "sixpenny iish dinners" last season, and also a three - shilling and sixpenny table d'hote made up entirely of antipodean produce. Well cooked and

i served, I can imagine this causing a great sensation ; in fact, it would probably become i as much the " right thing >r to dine once at : the colonial table d'hote as at tho Bristol or i the Continental. Let us hope the idea may prove feasible. If by any mischance it does not, there should at least be a grand opening banquet (with H.R.H. the Prince of Wales in tho chair), composed entirely of antipodean produce,andaccompaniedonly by Australian wines. This would attract European attention to tho'subject of frozen meat, and be something gained. Please don't leave everything in connection with the colonial exhibits at the Health Exhibition to be done over here. If N.Z. is to be benefited by it, some of your notables must show a little public spirit and lend helping hands. Funds, I imagine, will be wanted to defray the expenses of the initial banquet, and of occasional free feeds to distinguished strangers, newspaper reporters, etc. Presents of specially choice fruit, fish, or game should from time to time be shipped Home, so as to return the public's curiosity in the venture. One or two smart men empowered more particularly to watch over and forward in all respects the interests of New Zealand at the exhibition should be sent Home at once, and instructions given them to see that the Australian and New Zealand frozen mutton, which differ materially, are not jumbled up togethor. If the affair is to be a success and a benefit to the colony, much will depend on apparent trifles. Sir F. T>. Bell, I understand, seems interesting himself in the matter, but he is too busy a man to be able to devote much time to it. Before next mail, however, I expect the promised meeting of gentlemen interested in the frozen meat trade will be held.

Lord Rosobery's Visit to Auckland. If the identity of the bigoted imbecile who occasionaly contributes a .New Zealand letter to the Oban " Telegraph " can't be discovered, he should for the credit of the colony be immediately suppressed. The worthy creature must reside in Auckland, for apropos of Lord and Lady Ilosebery's visit to that favoured city, he sent Home the following:— "They (i.e., the illustrious couple) both occupied themselves for six or eight hours in eight-seeing, or driving about the city.although it happened to be the Sabbath when they came ashore. Wo are not, therefore, much impressed with the man's conduct as a visitor to these colonies If he is to be the 'future Minister for Scotland, he must pay a greater regard to the Lord's day there than he has done since he reached this side of the equator or he will not bo thought very much of." This is heavy enough surely, and should it happen to meet " the man's" eye it is to be hoped he will duly perpend its purport.

Adventures of a Paisley Body. Under the heading of "Romantic Adventures of a Paisley Body," the following yarn has been going the rounds of the Scotch papers: — "Some seventeen years ago a young man, a native of Paisley, the son of a most rospectable tradesman, went to sea. The vessel foundered, and, with one solitary exception, all on board perished. The snd intelligence was soon brought to Paisley. The family went into mourning, and for seventeen long years, if they nad not forgotten the sailor, they had ceased to think of him as one about whose fate there could be the least shadow of doubt. A letter lately made its appearance there, addressed to the young man's father, who, several years ago, had retired to the west coast, to enjoy the otium cum dignltate of a green old age. As he had long been out of Paisey the post-oiHce folk had forgotten him, and could not find a party to whom the letter should be delivered. It was sent to Edinburgh, and, after being tossed about from one office to another, was opened at London, and thence re-directed to Paisley, with instructions that every effort should bo made to discover the owner. The contents soon led to the discovery, and it no^ appears the young man supposed to have been lost at sea was the one man saved. A person, at present in New Zealand, in the course of his peregrinations heard that a white man was living far up the country. He determined to search him out. On arriving at I the native village the white man's hut was ! pointed out. He entered it, and found a I comely-looking damsel— a Maori—with two or three healthy half-caste children nestling about her. She was able to speak a little broken English, told the visitor her Christian name, and said she expected him home shortly, inviting the stranger to await his return. By-and bye her husband arrived, tatooed and dressed as a Maori. Thu tvo men, of course, were not likely to have recognised each other, even though they had been previously acquainted ; but after comparing notes it came out that they were both natives of Paisley, and had been at school together some 25 years ago. The surprise and astonishment of the stranger may be well conceived. As for the host, he explained that he had been picked up from the wieck of a ship by a passing vessel, and after many curious escapes and adventures found himself in the interior of New Zealand, far from any settlement. There he married a native of the country, a chief's daughter, by whom he has had a family, and with whom he has been living very happily. He feels quite comfortable in his adopted land, likes 'the mode of living extremely, and has no desire to return to Paisley. He cannot tell how long he has been in New Zealand, not having adopted Crusoe':* expedient of notching the time. After a long talk about Paisley and auld lanpj syne, the stranger bade him adieu, and on his return to the British settlement wrote the letter above referred to.

Stock Breeding in New Zealand. The London "Sportsman" has been reprinting in extenso the interesting articles upon the breeding of thoroughbred stock in the colonies which recently appeared in the Canterbury "Times."

Rusden's History of Australia. The first genuine review which the London dailies have vouchsafed to Rubens "History of Australia" appeared in last Saturday's "Pall Mall Gazette." It can scarcely be called flattering. ( The writer says liiifcden has " every qualification that a historian of Australia could possibly need, save impartiality. He is qualified by long residence and intimate acquaintance with the southern continent to take a wide view of the entire field ; his diligence in the connection of facts and sifting of authorities is most exemplary; his general knowledge of politics, economics, natural science, and anthropology is fully up to the level of the times ; and the completeness of his treatment in every department leaves nothing to desire. At the same time it should ba distinctly understood that Mr Rusden's three bulky volumes have but little literary merit of style or composition; they belong rather to the class of memoirei pour scrvir than of histories pro* periy so-called. The book is positively gigantic in proportion to the importance of its subject, and human life is surely too short for anybody outside Australia itself to devote the necessary time for the perusal of some two thousand pages to the local annals of a single group of young colonies, i An enormous amount of beer is sent out I to the Australian colonies in a twelvemonth. I Last year New South Wales—a very thirsty place— imported no less than 38,000 barrels,

Victoria taking 24,000, Queensland 23,000, and New Zealand 10,000 barrels. Your colony bas, however, the credit of giving the biggest price for malt liquor. America and the Australias pay an average of £5 per barrel, whereas you usually give ten shillings more. Why is this, I wonder ?