OUR LONDON LETTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5488, 13 February 1896, Page 2

OUR LONDON LETTER.

■» ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. i [from oub special correspondent.] London, Jan. 3. NEW YEAR DIFJ-ICCIjTIES. The " Happy New Tear " which we were all wishing one another so vigorously the other day has opened singularly infelicitously in the city. Seldom indeed has the outlook for business men seemed more ominous. At the present moment Great Britain is in trouble in all four quarters of the globe. "Abdul the Damned" (as the poet Watson gracefully styles the Sultan) defies us in Constantinople, and Russia — brimming with sullen menace — secretly helps him ; the American Eagle shrieks shrill defiance from Washington, we are at war with Ashantee, and Providence and President Kruger alone knows what is really happening in the Transvaal. Such is the situation after six months of the strongest Government on record, the Government which was, we are reminded, to " restore confidence " and set us right with those foreign statesmen who declined to deal with the "phantom Government" of Lord Rosebery. The Secretary of State for the Colonies and his family spent the holidays at their home near loyal Birmingham, which continues to reflect every fresh turn in its senior member's coat with touching fidelity. It was not Mr Chamberlain's intention to come to town till the end of next week, when the Pacific Cable Congress would, one heard, engage his attention. But the Transvaal crisis brought him up by the first train on Tuesday, and also spoilt Lord Salisbury's New Tear's Eve. At the time of writing the news of tho defeat of Dr Jameson's troopers, and his own capture has just been made public, and another bad panic seems brewing iiji Kaffir stocks. The only fact . certain is that for days past the wires from the Transvaal have been in the hands of the Boers, and that all the news that has reached us comes through them.' To this may be added that Router's agent at Pretoria is the editor of Kruger's paper. In the former capacity he recently intervie v/ed himself in the latter with great spirit. The article was a mcfet pacific production, but judging by recent events distinctly unreliable. What the truth is concerning the whole unfortunate Jameson episode you may not even have heard when these lines appear in print. All, however, who know the Doctor, either personally or by reputation, vouch for his character being cautious almost to a fault. The idea of his deliberately heading a reckless filibustering expedition without adequate provocation cannot, they say, be entertained for a moment. His reports, when they come to hand, will put a very different complexion on the situation. Meanwhile, it seems apparent that j the Boers were by no means in the unprepared state their innocent cables to us insinuated. Catching a weasel asleep must be child's play compared to capturing these good old Dutchmen off guard. The foreign papers, I notice, are sceptical as to the ignorance of Mr Rhodes, Sir Hercules Robinson and the Colonial Office anent Jameson's expedition. Such an undertaking must have taken, they forcibly point out, many weeks to prepare. How came it that all these responsible persons and their agents were blind, deaf and dumb to what was going on ? the bishop op Salisbury married. The marriage of the Bishop of Salisbury to Miss Mary Wil_iams,.daughter of Colonel Williams, M.P. for West Dorset, and sister-in-law to the Bishop of Wellington, was celebrated on New Tear's Day in the parish church at: Bridehead, close to thebride's home. The wedding was naturally of a quieter character than that of the younger Miss Williams to the New Zealand Bishopelect eighteen months ago, but the local rejoicings were quite as enthusiastic, both Dr Wordsworth, his wife, and the "member for Wessex" being deservedly most popular in the neighbourhood. THE NEW PROFESSOR.. Mr Edward Jermyn Mathew, M.A., LL.B., who, as I told you last week, found favour with the commission appointed to select a Professor of English. Literature and History for Canterbury College, has signed the necessary agreements and has booked his passage by the Rimutaka, which leaves next week. Mr Mathew is thirty-six years of age, and unmarried. He was educated at St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and since his degree has taken pupils at Trinity Hall, in addition to his work in conrec.ion with University extension. Mr Mathew matriculated at Oxford in 1887, and read for the Honours School of Modern History, but in his second year illness p*-r>-?onted | him from taking Moderation. , and it became necessary for him to migrate to i Cambridge, or otherwise it would not have been possible for him to proceed to an J honours degree. He entered Trinity Hall, and in the following year (1890) took the j Historical Tripos. The Governing Body of the College elected him to an exhibition aftor his degree, in recognition of the place he had secured in the T-ripos. In 1891 Mr Mathew took the ' Law Tripos and LL.B. degree, and was almost immediately appointed by the Senate to be a Lecturer in History and Literature to the Local Lecture Syndicate, an appointment which he has held ever since. In the same year the coveted distinction of members' prize for the best English essay fell to Mr Mathew, and while at Cambridge he secured.the College Cressingham prize for an English essay, and the Latham prize for English literature, and the Harness prize for an essay on a subject connected with Shaksperian literature. Some little time ago Mr Mathew was a candidate for a chair of literature in the University of Tokio, for which post he was finally selected. The Japanese House of Representatives, however, forbade the further employpaent of European professors, and his ' appointrftenit. .could not be confirmed.,. Mr Mathew has donea considerable amount* of . literary work, and a book concerning representative? government, compiled by him, was recently published by Messrs Macmiliap. His testimonials are exceptionally good, and point to him as a most excellent teacher. Mr C. A. Beck, M.A., the senior tutor of Trinity Hall, says he has " energy and tact, and is by nature and art a good teacher." The Bishop of Lichfield, Dr C. J. Abrahams, who is well known to many New Zealanders, testifies to Mr Mathew's ability as a lecturer, and Mr Philip Wood, M.A., head-master df Darlington Grammar School, says of Mr Mathew's course of lectures in that city: "The unanimous opinion here is that we have had only one course of equal excellence on a literary subject during the eighteen years university extension lectures have been given in Darlington." THE REV LEONARD ISITT. The Rev Leonard Isitt interrupted a highly successful lecturing tour in. the North in order to spend Christmas in London, but leaves town again to-morrow. Since last we mentioned him this energetic apostle of Rechab has visited Stockton, West Hartlepool, Newcastle and Manchester, spending some time in each, and judiciously blending the advertisement of New Zealand with the virtues of cool, clear, crystal, filtered water. At West Hartlepool Sir W. Fumess — erstwhile a partner wfth Mr Withy, of Auckland — presided at Mr Isitt's most important meeting. He also met another old acquaintance there in Mr Andrews — onco of Kaiapoi; — who is how the managing director of a huge factory for converting white pine logs into pulp and paper of a very high class. Mr Isitt resumes his tour at Doncaster (where the butter-scotch comes from), and proceeds thence to Burnley, To_-k, Stamford, Middlesborongh, London, Darlington and Portsmouth. When I saw him yesterday the New Zealander waxed eloquent regarding the Agent-General, the extent of whose labours are, he says, but faintly valued or understood in the colony. " I confess," he added, "it is only since J began to go from town to town in the provinces here that I have_realised it myself. Sir Westby has helped me, too, with my mission, just as he always appears to assist anybody who can do New Zealand a turn." Mr Isitt thinks his scheme for getting

Mr W. S. Came to New Zealand may come off, though not, perhaps, immediately. He goes first to India. A DABK MYSTERY. There is a dark mystery which constantly crops up in the newspapers, and which I have never been able to fathom. It is this. Why do purchasers of old hat 3 and worn-out raiment when "interviewed," invariably declare that large quantities thereof are shipped to Australia and New Zealand ? I have seen this statement frequently before, and it re-appears this week in the Evening News under the heUding "Where did you get that hat ?' The writer seriously avers that silk "toppers " no longer smart enough to be worn in Bond Street or Picadilly, are shipped to Australia and New Zealand and sold for 3s 6d a-piece (there's nothing like being accurate in detail), to the beaux of Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand. Is there any -truth in this soft impeachment? Where, in short, do you get your hats ? I can't myself remember many Antipodeans wearing silk hats. But bad times have supervened since my day, and who can say what horrors they may have driven you to ? PERSONAL. Mr J. A. Gilruth, the Government veterinary who came Home by the French liner the Armand Behic, arrived in London last night, having travelled straight from Marseilles. The steamer had a rough passage, and arrived at her destination two days later than was anticipated by" her passengers on the strength of "information " supplied in Sydney. Those on board, however, were inclined to believe that the weather experienced had less to do with the steamer's comparatively slowpassage than the disinclination of the captain to bring the voyage, to an end. What a. charming lot of passengers he must have had ! Mr Gilruth leaves town for Scotland tonight, and after spending a few days with his relatives, Crosses the Channel to Paris', where he intends tp.spend three months in, studying the methods of the late.M. Pasteur in connection with bacteria, &c. I see in the Times obituary a note to the effect that Mr Grosvenor Chater Miles, son of the late Grosvenor Miles, of Christ-' church, died at sea, on his way to England, from Buenos Ayres on Dec. 20. It is but a few weeks ago, it seems to me, that the deceased was chatting gaily in this office upon the subject of New Zealand and Argentina in relation to the dairy produce and the live stock trade. He was then in the best of health and spirits, and _poke of taking a trip to the colony very shortly. R.I.P. On Dec. 30 Mr Edward W. T. Ward, son of the late. Crosbie Ward, first AgentGeneral for New Zealand, was married to Florence, widow of the late Oghle R. Peck, of Toronto, and daughter of Mr Alexander Morton, of South Kensington. The ceremony took place at St Matthias', Earl's Court, the Rev Moore Saunders, assisted by the Rev H. Williams, officiating. -* 1 i t^— — .-^^