ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4574, 20 February 1893, Page 2

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

— • » ' — ; ■ He-bom ottb London cobbeepondbnt.'l 1 London; Jan. 6. ! FBOST AND FOG. '* The New Tear opened amidst frost and fog» and these seaeonabe visitors are still with us. Eighteen degrees of. frost were registered ■ in Hyde Park yesterday, and a north wind intensifies the bitter, bitter cold. Well-to-do folk, especially those who can skate, find the weather delightful, but the Bufferings of the poor East-enders, without food or fuel or blankets, pasß our understanding. The conclusion the late Montagu Williams came to in *• Bound London" was that cold ■ is the supreme misery , the poor can suffer. They would rather far be hungry than cold. Aa an example of this Mr Williamß instances the case of a starving woman with two children, who managed to borrow the i princely sum of threepence from a neighbour almost as wretched as herself. Instead of buying food the poor creature spent three halfpence in coals, laying out a half-penny in tea, a half-penny in bread, and a halfpenny in dripping. - : HONOTTBB. The New Year's honours liet is brief enough in all conscience, and contains even fewer items than usual of interest to Antipodeana. Lord Carzington's confidently predicted earldom remains unannounced despite knowing "pars" in Truth and the World, nor does Mr Gladstone seem in a great hurry to compensate Lord Brassey for his exclusion from the Cabinet. Sir George Clarke, E.E., one of the new K.C.M.G.'s, was Secretary of the Colonial Defence Committee, but is not known, I fancy, in Australia. THB LEGEND OF THE "ITINERANT j VENDOR." | Lord Onslow is, I understand, much vexed that Borne remarks of hie on the antecedents of the principal public men of . New Zealand, made half-jestingly in a poat'prandial .speech at Guildford, should have been misunderstood in certain quarters. They were intended, as Sir Walter Bull er, in his sensible letter to the Wellington Post; Burtnised, to be wholly complimentary. Sir Walter's explanation anent the beginnings of your Premier and the origin of the "itinerant vendor" legend has found its way into the Home Press, and will do no harm. Thanks to the joking references in the papers lately to the creation of the working men senators, many worthy people appear to be under the impression New Zealand is governed at present entirely by lamp- j lighters, boiler-menders, and compositors, j SIB HAROLD BAKING. ■ Amongst the passengers sailing for New Zealand by the P. and O. Himalaya to-day are Mr Harold J. Baring and his valet. Mr Baring is booked for Dunedin, which city is understood to contain special attractions for him. Mr Baring has no connection at present with the firm of Baring Bros. Since his appearance as the hero of a curious cards-cum-money-lending action, in which he was unsuccessfully sued to recover the value of a bill given by him to settle losses at cards, the young gentleman has not been seen about town much. The Morning Post states that the Countess of Elgin and Lady Margaret Bruce sail for New Zealand to-day by the Eimutaka. I conclude (as there is no Lady Margaret) the Post means Lady Marjorie Bruce, the • Countess' little daughter, and that mother and child are going ou a visit to Lady Glasgow. miss mabsden's book. Miss Kate Marsden'e "On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberian Lepers," made its appearance on Wednesday. It is a handsome volume sumptuously printed ; on hand-made paper and liberally illus- '! trated with photos and facsimile letters. The price, only 6s, or 4s 6d Icbs discount, is most moderate; in fact, unless a very ;< large number are sold the book won't pay. ■ From a reader's point of view, " On Sledge and Horseback " will be found interesting enough. Miss Marsden has a ready pen, and, if she were not so painfully anxious to obtrude her exceeding piety upon us, in season and out, her narrative would be ; really entertaining. The lepers she Bought • were most difficult to find. By dint, how- [ ever, of travelling thousands of miles and . hunting down everyone she could hear \ of, the fair missionary did at last) beat up between seventy and eighty. Now ! what I should like to know is this. Admit- ■ ting it iB England's duty, and not Russia's, ) to succour and care for these poor outcasts, i how much money does Miss Marsden want ; to collect for them P Is it not a fact that long ago enough money was subscribed to j lap the whole seventy-five in luxury for a lifetime ? Miss Marsden, in this book, is as superior aa ever to financial details. I confess it looks very much to me as though : the lepers had done more for Miss Marsden ■ than Misß Marsden had done for the lepers, j The lady was a very unimportant person | till seized with " lepro-steria." Now she : hob-nobs with Queens and Empresses, and , is an acknowledged celebrity. A good many women would. I fancy, go through the same journey if they could make sure of the Bame reward. • DISCONTENTED FELLOWES. The discontented Colonist has been to ! the fore this week in the person^of Mr Charles Fellowes, at present of Wolver- . hatnpton. but who boasts twenty years' experience of New Zealand. This gentle- . m-in wants to know how Lord Eosebery, or any other man of sense, can talk of the Bucce« of Home Eule in the Colonies with such a flagrant failure as New Zealaad before the world. -Mr FelJowes proceeds to point out at great feneth, and to his own perfect satisfaction (though whether even, ignorant persons will swallow his assumptions is, I should think, doubtful), that New Zealand has shown herself hopelessly incapable to govern herself. Had she been a Crown Colony, Mr Fellowen maintains, the country would not, at any rate, have been burdened with a monstrous debt for useless and extravagant public works. These are not, of course, his exact words in the Birmingham Post, but what they amount to. Another New Zealander, Mr H. Symons, of Auckland, cordially approves Mr Fellowes' sentiments, a few days later in the same paper. ( " A CHBISTMAB PRESENT. Amongst the Agent-General's Christmas presents was a small psrcelof New Zealand butter, sent him by Mr Henry Reynolds, lof Auckland. He compared it with the j condiment purchased at a smart dairy in I South Kensinsrton, and ordinarily served at his own table, and concluded that he could honestly cay he much preferred the antipodean article. In quality, taste and i appearance ib struck him as superior to the ; butter the household generally used, I ACCLIMATISATION BUCCSBBEB. " 1 Mr E. B. Maraton, the editor of the f <

fife Jamea' Oaeette the manner in which his friend, Mr W. H. Purvis, successfully transporfced alive nine out of twelve ]arg« lobsters from Plymouth to Wellington. A& the particulars of the experiment appeared in the New Zealand papers at the time I need not repeat them, but Mr Maraton's deductions therefrom are interesting. Though many attempts had been made previously to convey lobsters across the equator, this was, he aver?, the first Buccesfal one, and it is, he considers,, difficult to over-estimate its importance. " What is possible with lobsters may be - possible with crabs, crayfish and other crustaceans. Mr Purvis' success proves • triumphantly that the great lobster ground of Nova Scotia is open to our market." . Mr Purvis (who is, your readers will be aware, chief engineer of the lonic) hasmany times brought Home New Zealand frozen trout of from 81b to 121 b as presents to Mr Marston. These fish were such thick* handsome fellows, and so superior in flavour to their ancestors sent out years ago by Mr Youl and the late Francis Francis and Frank Bnckland, that. Mr Marston thinks their eggs might with advantage be imported to cross • with the old trout at home. If this is indeed a fact, and Mr Marston has not exaggerated ihe aize and flavour of New Zealand trout (he states they grow to between twenty and thirty pounds at times), your Acclimatisation Societies have scored a triumph which should nerve them to many experimental efforts. SIB A. GORDON AND THB KANAKA LABOUR QUESTION. The Time*, which, in publishing the experiences of its special lady globetrotter among the Queensland plantation?, dealt a i very severe blow to the fanatical section of the anti-Kanaka labour party all the world over, gave yesterday close npon a column to a letter upon the subject ' from the pen of your ex-Governor, Sir Arthur Gordon. He, as you know, is an opponent of what a section of our Press is pleased to term " blaokbirding," even under the strictest regulations the Queensland Government can devise, but his principal objections to the traffic are not, apparently, founded upon the possible recurrence of the gross evils which cursed the system in the past. Certainly he hints very strongly that, however carefully the .regulations for the traffic are carried out* abuses are bound tocreep in; but his main plank ib that •' the constant drain of fringe part of the male population from a South Sea island deranges and ultimately destroys the communal village life upon which its prosperity depends." Moreover the final result will be "the extinction of the island population." Sir Arthur consider* that the Queensland planters should look to India for their necessary coloured labour* ; and he points out that in the matter of expense the importation of coolies would probably cost little or no more than the provision of Polynesian labour under Teal restrictions and minute control. If it befound that the employment of Indian labour is impossible, then, Sir Arthur (recognising Queensland's necessity) ask a that the supervision of the recruitment of Polynesians should be placed in the hands of the Imperial Government, so that whatever the relation of supply tooemand, and whatever political shifts future Queensland Governments may wish to- . resort to in order to retain power, there | shall at all eventß be no relaxation in thej vigilance of those placed in positions tocarry out the lawß and regulations made for the proper coftuct of the system. <. ■ NEW ZEALAND "TOW." The Scotch firm to which Mr Perceval submitted samples of New Zealand flax for analysis and testing with * view to papermaking purposes, has just sent the Agent-' General - a preliminary, report thereon. ■ TTntil further tests have been applied it would be unwise to say much about the matter, but. so far experiments have proved, the " tow" to be a' capital base for the manufacture of very tough brown wrapping paper. Whether it can be used s in the making of high-class paper seems at present very doubtful, owing to the difficulty of bleaching it sufficiently. NEW ZEALAND AND EIVEB FLATS I MOBTQAGB. ; The New Zealand and River Plate Mort- '-. gage Company's report, which will be presented to shareholders on Jan. 17, shows for the year a net profit of £13,377, out of which the Directors propose to pay a dividend of 2 per cent and carry £11,843 to reserve. During the year property in New Zealand and investments in London have ► been sold at a loss of £6307 on purchasepriceß. In addition a further item of £3536 on account of the Company's mortgages is to be treated as a lobs. The financial measures necessary during the year in order to provide for the repayment of debentures, with as little pressure as "possible on shareholders, have diminished, profits for the year, but the Directors' are glad to say that so far they have been entirely successful. The Directors announce that after the alteration of the Articles of Association in July last (which was rendered necessary by the decrease in the number of members of! the Colonial Beard) they appointed Messrs T. Buddie, G. S. Kissling, and Frederick Battley to act as attorneys for the management cfthe affairs of the Company in New Zealand.