OUR LONDON LETTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5493, 15 December 1885, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER.

+ (Prom the " Star's " London Correspondent.) PERSONAL AND GENERAL GOSSIP. TRADE AND SHIPPING. ITEMS OP SPECIAL COLONIAL INTEREST. {Per San Francisco Mail. — Telegraphed from Auckland.] London, Nov. ■*. THE) AQENT- GENERAL. Though loth to embarrass the Government in any way, it is, I suspect, a fact that Sir Dillon Bell would gladly be relieved of his post before next year'-e Exhibition, which will of necessity entail agreat deal of extra entertaining and being entertained. _ HOW OUR FBOZEN MUTTON 18 SPOILED. The following observations, from the current issue of the British Australian, confirm what I have frequently hinted at lately, and deserve the serious attention of exporters. "Complaints are made," says that journal, "as to the injurious manner in which some of the consignments of New Zealand mutton have been handled. At the present time there are carcases -waiting to be sold which have been here for three months. Whether it is want of judgment on the part of consignees, or through instructions sent from the Colonies, there can be no doubt that after making due allowance for the depression of trade, a more judicious method of disposing of the meat is needed. It has been remarked to us that the way Australian cargoes are handled is in marked contrast to the New Zealand method. Those cargoes are sold without undue delay, and the prices obtained compare favourably with those got for . New Zealand meat." I am quite convinced this is. true, and that before any material improvement takes place in the frozen mutton trade, certain reforms will have to be inaugurated, The most important is probably the classification. So long ac butchers Bell every kind of mutton from the Antipodes and the River Plate, as New Zealand, it will be practically impossible to «jctend the retail Bale. At the annual meeting of Nelson Bros (Limited), on Oct. 27, a dividend of 6 per oent (free of Income tax) was declared, '.the profit for the year amounting' to £H.ofi7J&, jgllOO of which was written off for preliminjuy expenses, and JB2B7ocarriedforward. The Company during the year have realised upon six per cent debentures,' xbe sum of j851,900, making, with the amount preTiously borrowed, J6G4;000. Jk, new Frozen. Mutton Company called the Falkland Islands Meat -Company (Limited), is announced. The promoters have contracted to take all the frozen meat the Falkland Isles con supply tor five years. The QaXvcttou New* states that a ilve years* contract has been concluded with an English syndicate for the delivery of :3800 carcases of frozen meat; onoe- a fortnight. They are to be delivered on >the wharf at fialvestoc, whence they will be transhipped by steamer to Liverpool. Apparently, therefore, New Zealand has yet another competing rival in the frozen -meat trade. New Zealand hops are being sold in London at 60s to 52a per cwt, the coat of carriage, according to the Gldbe, ia about 2s per cwt, while the change for conveying hops from Kent to the City ia :2s '(id. per ■<fwt. MB BIITCE IN LONDON. Mr Bryce, your ex- Native Minister, id, tl 'hear, expected to arrive by the Saikoura, «due to-day. PERBONAIi AND GENBBAi. The P. and O. Company's steamer Parraimatta, which sailed for Sydney on <Qct. 28, took quite a number of through passengers f»r New Zealand. For Lyttelton — Mrs Burke, Misa Burke, Misß Nutting, and Captain Fox ; for Dunedin — Mr and Mrs A. S. Young; for Nelson— Mr A. C. KUuaain. Mr Frederick Nelson, one of the Directors of Nelson Bros., Limited, sailed for i the Colonies on Friday last in the interests of the Company. Mr T. W. Glover, a well-known temperance/lecturer and advocate, having received a generous offer from the New Zealand Alliance, has resolved to accept it, and will sail with hiß family for the Colony early in next month. Mr John Bradahaw, the Otago J.P. whose book, "New Zealand As It Is," attracted favourablocriticimiisabouttwoyearsago.haa just completed a novel, entitled " Dedham Park," which ia published by Sampson, Low, Marsderi, Searlc, and Rivington. The same firm informs mo that Mr Gisborne's forthcoming*work on " New Zealand Rulers ,_»nd Stateamon" will be ready next week. John Malcolm, thesalesman at the Central Meat market, who committed bigamy in *he character of Captain of the R.M.S. Xaikoura, was convicted on Saturday last, .after two long ttialu, and sentenced to the .extreme penalty allowed by the law, viz., .seven years' penal servitude. THB INTERCOLONIAL EXHIBITION. fljhe Intercolonial and Indian Earhiibition will, bo Sir Philip Cunliff Owen Announces, be opened >l»y the Prince of Wales, on May 1. Gentlemen from your part of the world to make hay whilst the sun shines, or in plainer language, to turn an h»neat penny out of the Exhibition " boom " I nave already begun to" arrive on the aoene. The best known is probably George Collins Levy (?), C.M.G., who means, on Jan. 1 next, to open an Australian Agency and neworoom in the Strand (nearly opposite Charing Cross), where tourists can meet and enjoy all the advantages of a Club and of the Colonial Institute " free, gratia, for nothing." Mr f**y is mending out circulars to the leading Colonial journal* requesting them to oblige with files, and intimates that he Will be glad (presumably for a ooneidera. '

tion) to look alter exhibita of firms who are not sending home special agents. I may as ' well take tfeia opportunity of saying that I shall beg-lad to assist in any and every way, whether bs regards exhibits or in other matters, any gentleman who may bring (or send) me a letter of introduction from the , proprietors or editor of this journal. Having seen all the Exhibitions of the j present serieß, and knowing not merely the I ' principal officials, but their methods of working, I fancy I ought to be able to render reasonable assistance such aa : strangers are likely to require. j A number of methods of cooking New Zealand mutton will bo Bhown daily at the Intercolonial and Indian Exhibition by i , pupils of the National School of Cookery, who are at present busy experimenting with a view to investigating the subject \ thoroughly. They will, it is hoped, also issuean explanatory pamphlet on the sub- > ject. At the suggestion of the Prince of - Wales, a portion of the Colonial section L at South Kensington next summer, will ( I be suitably fitted as a reception, meeting, | and conversazione room for Australian visitors, and Anglo-Colonists. In, times past I was able to send you the namea of those who had booked their passages by the New Zealand Shipping Company's |and Shaw SavilPs steamers. . Latterly, however, both Companies have ' declined to give the names till the day of ' sailing. The reason, I learn, is that the pas--1 Bengers<3omplained. It seemß that returning , ' colonists are occasionally averse to having 1 their advent heralded beforehand— why, I wonder? Fifty-nine applications have been received by the Agent-General for the classical professorship at Otago University, and the claims of the rival applicants are now under investigation in London. POSTSCRIPT. Mr and Mrs H. Dillon Bell are passengers by the steamer Tainui, sailing from Plymouth to-morrow. No signs of any improvement are obi aervable in the frozen meat trade. Toi day's British Australian, points out that, on comparing the rates ruling now with those obtainable this time last year, there is a difference of quite" a shilling in the stone of 81b. Some of the rates now accepted are absolutely startling. It is not unusual to hear of inferior qualities of New Zealand mutton selling 8t Is 9d to 2a per stone. River Plate carcases, on the contrary, are steadily improving. This week Plate mutton is quoted at exactly the same price as the best New Zealand. Sad management is at the bottom of the bad prices obtained for New Zealand meat. <River Plate mutton is much the same as it wae a year ago in quality-, yet it haß risen •in the market, whilst New Zealand mutton baa fallen. Current rates:: — New Zealand mutton, 2s 7d to 3s ; Melbourne, 2s 6d to 2s 8d •, Sydney, 2s Gd; English, 2s 8d to 4a i. 4d; Scotch, 4a 2d to 4s <6d; River Plate, 2a 8d to 3s ; Dutch, 3s to 3s lOd.