OUR LONDON LETTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5652, 23 June 1886, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(From the " Star's" Special Correspondent.) [Pbr R.M.S. Tonqabiro.] PERSONAL AND GENERAL GOSSIP, i LATEST ITEMS. j Sir William Hart Djke is now talked of as a possible Bucoeßsor to your present '■! Ticeroy. I : The Doric took out tbe first' family i; ■under the new arrangement for assisting '; farmers. So far the bait has not " taken " particularly well. Indeed, it seems doubtful whether the change will have any real effect. Major William Ashmore (late 16th Foot), •who served with considerable distinction in New Zealand between 1863-6, succumbed to a long and painful illness at Steyning a [ few dayß ago. j The question of Imperial Federation will | , be brought before the House of Lords by ! Lords Stratheden and Campbell on May 17. j The. monthly issue of the Federation • ; League's -journal for May contains signed j' ' articles on "An Imperial Council," by : j Mr Stanley Little, and " The Nature and Need of Imperial Federation," by Mr John ! Matthews, of Toronto. I Sir Hercules Robinson, who has been | suffering from ill-health, arrived Home on • furlough last week,and having benefited con- ' Biderably by the voyage from the Cape, was ! able to show np at tbe opening of the Exhi-1 bition on Tuesday. Another erstwhile j Governor of your Colony, Sir George Bowen, j has aiso just arrived from China on a year's j. leave of absence. j A large number of Anglo-Colonists assembled at Bt Mary's, Paddington, on ; Easter Sunday to hear Dr Moorhouse, the new Bishop of Manchester, and late Bishop of Melbourne preach. Amongst others may ' be noted Sir William and Lady Martin, Judge Wilkinson, Mr JJBurstall, Hon. W. i Wilson, Mr Levy, Mr A. P. Martin, and ! Mr and Mrs Geo. Purvee. The Bishop left for Manchester on the following day. ■ The death is announced of Major- ' General John H. Thompson, late of the ! j 60th (Queen's Own) Regiment, who served , j with distinction in New Zealand between I 1863 and 1866. | ! The North British and Now Zealand i Investment Company (Limited), is the j nomenclature of another financial venture ; . on the lines of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile and half-a-dozen other similar associations. The Colonial promoters ■ appear to ha moßtly Hawke's Bay j ; magnates. j j Messrs Chatto and Windus are, it is j said, about to largely extend their system j of publishing a oheap "Colonial" edition; of notable new novels, simultaneously with, the three-volume issue here. Of course every care will be taken to prevent their re- • importation. j From the prospeotus of the Floyd Cab , and Carriage Company I gather that the new "Floyd" hansom (most comfortable andjeffeotive of all two-wheeled vehicles) ; has been patented in New Zealand. | Mr Henry Bracy has invited all old . Colonial friends and acquaintances who j may be over here to be present at his complimentary benefit, which will be held , at the Gaiety one morning next week. I t The Orient steamer Sorato, which sailed on the 80th, carries Beveral through passengers for New Zealand, viz.: —The Rev H. J. Davis, for Port Chalmers; Mr F. G. Patterson, Miss Watson, and Mr W. Smith, for Auckland; and Mr and Mrs H. Clarke and family, and Mr T. Slade and Son, for Napier. i i Mrs King and child and Rev J. Calvert 1 are booked through to Auckland, and Mr C. S. Jacob to Port Chalmers per P. and 0. Ballarat, sailing May 20. i : A large number of Australian tourists arrived by the Orient and P. and O. linerß last week. i Lord Dalhousie, speaking at Liverpool ! last week in favour of Gladstone's Home I Rule scheme, referred to his recent visit to j New Zealand, and said that the Colonies ■ bad Bhown that the moet oomplete self- . government was perfectly compatible with loyal devotion to the Empire. In New , Zealand he had found the Colonists he spoke to, without exception, enthusiastic . loyalists, warmly attached to the Old _ Country. ! Sir Lute Leake, K.C.M.G., an illustrious ' Australian, on a vißit over here, is lying dangerously ill at Bailey's Hotel. i One of the best portraits in the Academy this summer, is that of Lord, Carrington . by Mr Frank Hall. i j George Augustus Sala—richer and ; robuster than ever—has returned to his ÜBual haunts, and is putting the finishing touches to his " JLand of the Golden ■ Fleece," which will be published by : Vizetelly's shortly. Whatever Mr Sala ' ■ may write about the Colonies, he doesn't I gush verbally over them, indeed, from ; casual conversation, one might fancy hia ; tour had been a comparative failure. j j Mr William Hutchison, of Dunedin, sends ' that popular Sooteh weekly, The People's Journal, an attractive account of life in the : Province of Otago, which should induce ; many a braw laddie and lassie to emigrate j there forthwith. j The Eev H. J. JLewia, of JNelson, New i Zealand, write** to the Noneon/ormist, call- • ing the attention of emigrants of his j religious persuasion to the claims of that ; locality aa a suitable place to settle. The ! Nelson folk, it seems, turn up thoir noso at ■ | the " flotsam and jetsam of English society, i animated by mere mercenary motives." j They want " men of high principles, will- ; ing to devote their lives to Christianising the new nation rapidly growing up in the ; Colony." j