ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7340, 21 July 1892, Page 2

A NGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

j [FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.] i London, June 11. j The late Agent-General has not been able to get down as yet to call on hia successor and adiniro the reformed office. He : wrote, however, stating that ha wished to be left quite quiet, and begging that h»8 . address might not be given to anyone, and i that acquaintances, pressmen, colonists, &c, would understand he was unable to , receive them just at present. 1 Mr Heinrich von Haast broueht a ' pleasant and no doubt highly profitable English trip to a conclusion on Thursday last, when ho sailed for the Colony by one of the vepsela of theTyßer line. I imagine you will find Mr von Haast specially well up to date in theatrical matters. He will "enthuse" for you on Beerbohm Tree's Hamlet, dilate on the subtleties of Fred . Leslie's buffooneries in Cinder Ellen ; and, with a little pressing, might even bn per- .' suaded to imitate the artistic leg-shake ! with which Lottie Collins nightly ravishes j thousands in " Ta-ra-ra." j The list of New Zealand visitors calling '■ upon the Agent-General begins to assume • generous proportions. On Wednpsday, for f example, ib included Mr F. Pratt, the j Christchurch solicitor ; Mr Charles Phar- ; nzyn, of Featherston, who ia at Beuley's I Hotel, South Kensington, and Mr J. A. | iDgles. j THE AGENT GENERAL. ! Mr Perceval will read a paper on the J productive capaoity of New Zealand at the I Empire Trade Convention on June 20. l This is a protection gathering promoted by Sir Howard Vincent, but the AgentGeneral will not associate himself in any way with its objects. He accepted the invitation to provide the information asked for, chiefly because he reflected that the paper, which is limited to one thousand words, would make a first-claus leaflet for general circulation. The Agent-General has wisely declined to address the city branch of the Imperial Federation League, though importuned to do bo by tint fu«3y "faddist" Faithful Begg. Mr Perceval excused himself on the ground that the subject of " Commercial Unity," which the League are at present exercieing themselves over, was a very large one, in fact rather more than he felt able to tackle. KIR W. JERVOIS AND SIR BALLANCB. The files of the New Zealand papers to band contain the report of Mr Ballance's strictures on Sir W. Jervois. These appear to have been far severer than the CRble led us to suppose. The statement that Sir W. Jervoia applied for the Governorship of the Colony, through the Agent-General, is, I have reason to believe, incorrect. Sir William himself is en route to Australia at the present moment, but will no doubt deny the allegation when he hears of it. His friends say he may possibly have mentioned to Mr Perceval, as he mentioned to others, thathe would be glad to get the appointment, and Mr Perceval may have told Mr Ballance co, but that ia the most that is likely to have happened. In any case Mr Ballance'3 action, in revealing confidential communications, is as amazing as his supposition that chagrin inspired the few innocent observations which Sir William dropped at the Colonial Institute. The cable must have led Mr Ballance far astray with regard to facts, or he would never surely have launched out into auch a bitter attack on such trivial grounds. THE LOSS «F THR PORT DOUGLAS* The closing week of the. "merry month of May " was a disastrous period for the marine insurance world. Beyond the big lossgb of the terrible Mauritius cyclone there wore wrecks and casualties without number in all quartere of the globe, and one of the most seriouß was the running ashore of the Port Douglas, which took wound on a rcof near Cape Verde on May 21, and is now a total wreck full of water at a place where no pumping or salvage appliauces exist. The Port Douglas is one of Messrs Milburn and Co.'b regular Australian liners. She left London on the 14th of May, and Plymouth four days later with a full complement of passengers and a large and valuable cargo. The pasßengers and crew were saved and landed at Dakar, but the rescuing schooner which waßbringing in the passengers' baggage was lost, and they were left destitute. The steamer Kaikoura wad chartered to call at Dakar and convey passengers forward, and she took thorn off on Monday last. The cargo of the Port Douclas is considered lost, and is valued at £100,000. The hull and engines were insured for £59,000 ; the refrigerating " machinery, worth about £10,000, was only partly covered. The steamer was nearly new, having only made one round voyage to Australia since etm was launched at Sunderland last year. A letter just received in London from one of the unfortunate passengers states that the voyagers "had a narrow squeak, and were as near the end as they ever will be again until the end." The writer, whose goods and chattels were partly insured, also states that the passengers were all houFed in a French Hotel "on sufferance," and wore being treated "like paupers." Mr and Mrs Davis, whom I mentioned as passengers for New Zealand on pleasure . bpnt, were on board the Port Douglas. f They have not decided to abandon their j trip in spite of the disaster, and have been taken forward by the Kaikoura. There ; were no other passengers for New Zealand ', by the Port Douglas, several intending travellers putting off their departure from England till later in the season. : A smaller maritime disaster occurred this week. The Duco, a powerful steam tug recently built on the Clyde for a Wei- . lington firm, was on her way out under sail when she ran ashore at Ballyferris Point, on the coast of County Down. There is small probability of the tug being floated. She is submerged at high tide, and is very much damaged already. ; TRI6CHLEB AND CO. I I learn with sincere regret that the energetic New Zealand publisher, Mr , Trischler, has falllen into financial difficulties, and boen compelled to call a meeting of his creditors. The liabilities are taid to bo £13,000, and the book assets £18,000. Mr Trischler's judgment as a . reader is not equal to his business capabilities, and for some time past he has beeu publishing shocking rubbish. Even when the New Zealander got hold of a good story he brought it out in such a , style that no ono would buy it. His books were printed in the cheapest manner, on the commonest paper and covered and interleaved with ad* ertieements. The " Hansom Cab " (which Trischler literally drove into notoriety) and one or two of its successors, no doubt, paid well, but the " shilling shocker " craze came to an end some time ago, and the firm's three volume ventures must have been mostly unlucky. Mr Triscbler is not, however, the man to be daunted by a reverse, and his Christchurch friends may rely that— like the man in Olivette— he will presently " bob up eorenely from below." HOW £12,000 WAB LOST. Mr Hermann Cohn, a well-known Australian commiseion agent, trading under the style of H. Cohn and Co., applied last week to pass his examination at the Bankruptcy Court. His statement of affairs showed gross liabilities £56,356, of which £34,471 are expected to rank, and assets i of £30,000 odd. Cohn formerly traded as a jeweller in New Zealand, and came to England in 1873, commencing business as a commission agent with £GOOO capital. : He seems to have done fairly well at the ■ business, but since 1886 has been financing : other people, and to one of these good folk, 1 a pianoforte agent, carrying on business ] in Oxford street, he attributes his ineol- , renty. Cohn incurred liabilities in J

respect of the pianoforte agent' 3 business to the extent nf £12,000. Th« Court allowed him to pass his examination. PERSONAL AND GENERAL. The ftateuionts of Mr Robert; Louis Stevenson and Mr J. E. Usher, F.R.G.S., with reference to the gross mis^overnment of Samoa bare, it is said, attracted the attenti n and aroused the ire of the Kaiser. A seerot Commission of Enquiry has, it is beliovnd, already started for Apia, and, should Mr S^venson's facts concerning that Offenbacbian ofli n'al, Baion von Pilsacb, and the almost equally comi* Chief Justice prove accurate, those functionaries will grot short shrift. The naino of Melbourne which Lord Hopetoun has conferred on the newest scion of the ITopetoun family in no doubt intended to b» a comoliment (a British, commentator reserves), but it is not £■> racy of the *oil an the? names givpn to tho children of Loul* Cairingfron and Onslow. At the mrcHng of -hfi Federate Institution of Mining Engineer.? on Friday last, Mr Qeorsre J. Bi"n*, F.G.S., read a paper on "Gold Mining in New Zealand." It was, he said, the opinion of scientific men, well acquaintfd with the fi«ld, that ns operations were con'inupd to a greater depth the supply o f gild would not only be kept up, but would probably be inrrfasfid. The Doric, which sails for Now Zealand to-day, will not be full, though ohe carries several largof'imilvpartiflR — Coatu=, («i»ht), Johnstons (=>x), and Browning* (three). I need scarcely add that Dr F. \V. Coahis, Mrs Ooates, Hio t<vo Mips Cosito^, and the four Master Coate* are like tho Rev A. C. "W". Browning, Mrs Browning and Master Browning for Auckland ; whilst Mr W, Johnston, Mrs Johnston, and the four Miss Johnstons uo to Wellington. Mrg Jeffs and Mr Jenkineon eeetn the sole Lyttelton, and Mesrs E. Andrew Murray;. T. Rogers nnd Sommerville the only Port Chalmers p<i=sonor«?s. Mr and Mrs H. C. Trollope, Mr A. J. Suckling Baron imd Mr and Mrs V. R. Taylor and family sail for New Zoaland by thn Orrouz next Friday. Amonir«r, the distinguished visitors entertained by Hip tx»lect little society " Ye Satte of did Volumes" last I'u»pday evening whs a eflnt'eman described a* " Mr Harbord, tb ■• w - w Zealand traveller," whom none of ».•• -m plvp. . Lord Onslow'j first public appparnnre in England pincn Ijis return from the Colnnv will probably be ah the M»voral banquet, t.i be held at the Mansion. Houao on June 15. The Loughborongh Leader .publinbes a column of very intorestiner traveller's chit-chat anent New Zealand, from the pen of Mr E. S. Baldwin, who left England some eighteen %nr>nths ago to eettlo in the Colony. Thn Relford Times also has published a mass of general information concerning tho Colony, contributed from time to titnn by Mr K. Silling, late of y Worksop, now of Christi'hurcih.