OUR LONDON LETTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8185, 17 July 1906, Page 6

OUR LONDON LETTER.

PERSONAL NOTES. (From Our Own Correspondent). LONDON, June 7. Mr J. B. Clarkson, of Palmerston North, has come on a business visit to Londou, of about two months' duration. He travelled via Vancouver and New York, and on his journey across America met many of tha refugees from tho Snn Francisco disaster. Mr A. i\. Brown, editor of the "Red Funnel," Dunedin, is on business in connection with his magazine. He will return about July Ist, via Livorpool, Montreal, Vancouver and the South Sea Islands. He says the industrial conditions prevailing in England seem appalling, The rate of wages paid to unskilled labour, women -and ohidreu, ho declares to be not nnly uruel but criminal. Compared with wages in Australia ami New Zealand the workmen in that far off laud are supremely blessed in their industrial life. Mr Brown says he will return to New Zealand with a greater appreciation of i's laws, its industrial conditions and its possibilities. Mrs Brohan, of New Plymouth, arrived by the Gorinthic on May 14th. She will remain a few weeks with relatives in the oountry, after which she will be in town until the end of June.' Mr J. R. Watt, of Auckland, of the Bank of Australasia, is revisiting this country for a holiday after an absence of 22 years. He goes from Liverppooi to the Highlands next ween, returning to London about the middle of June. He will sail for New Zealand by the Moolton about the middle of September. Mr James Mills, managing director of the Union Steamship Company of Now Zealand, is here and will remain some months dheoting the Londou interests of bis company. Ha willalsn overlook the building of four new vessels, one a 3,000-ton turbine intended for the WellingtonLyttelton trade, with a speeding capacity of 17 knots. The building of this steamer whs delayed pending th« demonstration of the effioienoy of the turbine. The company have had experience with the Loongaoa, and the Mabeno. and the results obtained are so highly satisfactory that they now have no hesitation in adopting the turbine for the new steamer. Miss Amy Kane, of Wellington, daughter of Mr W. Kane, manager of the Bank of New Zealand, has arrived in London. She is at present staying with Lady Douglas at South Kensington. Mrs Agues M. Dunn, the'wife of Lieutenant A. E. Dunn, R.N.R., lias come to reside in England. Mrs and Miss Wright, of Wellington, who have recently arrived, intend visiting Brussels very shortly, Mr, Mrs and the Misses Stone, of Ashburton, have arrived and will be liere for a few months holiday making. Mr Stone will visit the wool and meat markets in London, and the principal agricultural shows in the country. Mr Robert MoNab, M.H.R., of Mataura, arrived by the Baltic, and is returning by the Oceanic from Liverpool, via Canada and Vanoquver. He has been to Kilmarnock to attend the 100 th birthday celebration of Mr Matthew Fowlds, the father of Mr Fowlds, M.H.R., of New Zealand. From Kilmarnock he visited Edinburgh and Aberdeen, where some of his relatives reside, then putting in a week in London in the Record Office, following up his investigations into early New Zealand history. His short stay is due to the fact that be came from America to attend the Kilmarnock celebratioa only. His last and only former visit was in 1897 at the Queen's Jubilee, and he finds a big ohange in the oity, brought about by ttfe street; improving and other works being carried on. During his stay in London he has been residing with his brother, Dr Angus MoNab. .Mrs Thomas and the Misses (2) Cotter, of Auckland, are on a pleasure trip and will remain here through the summer. They leave for Nevf Zealand in the middle of September, reaching Melbourne in time for the Cup meeting. Mr J. Gordon, of Dunedin, came by way of Melbourne, arriving on the 15th of May His aoaount of the journey being of general interest, 1 give it. in some detail:— *'We had over 1,200 passengers of all olasses on board the s.s. Bremen; a real cosmopolitan crowd, there being no lees than 15 natiou alities. The passage was a tine one; throughout. Most of us embraced the opportunites presented for going ashore and sightseeing at such ports as Colombo, Aden, Port Said, Naples, and Genoa. I had previously called au Colombo nearly 18 years ago. There are, however, great changes and improvements to be seen in Colombo—'The Eden of the East,' as it is somewhat felicitously called—since then. A large and magnificent breakwater is the first and most striking and probably the most useful thine that meets one's eye. We had a really pleasant drive through the cinnamon and tea

gardens of C lombo, which we appreciated to the full; we visited the local museum, a fine handsome atoue building, with a remarkable collection within its walls, a great deal of which is Oriental in character, but certainly a credit to the oapital of Ceylon. Some of our number went on lo Kandy by train, where they visited the Buddhist Templo of The Sacred Tooth, the tea gardens, and other places of interest. There was very little in Aden to entice one ashore, and but few went, but , those who did went as far as the Tanks, where the fresh water is kept. In Aden the people have to depend upon condensed sea water for the most part for domestic purposes. On lenving Aden we witnessed a most beautiful sunset. As we were sailing along the Arabian coast towards the Straits of Babel aMandeb, and some few hours before reaching Perim Island, the aan went down between two mountain peaks, which reared their tall summits to the sky, like the teeth of a cross-cut Haw. It was a splendid spectacle of a distorted sunset, for, as Phoebus dropped out of sight he just resembled the shape of a pear, gradually getting squeezed smaller and smaller as be sunk out of sight in ithe glowing west. There was little

elso rl note on the way. Tho most superb scenery during the whole passage wag probably that witnessed b% the Straits of Messina, between t*h"e mainlaud of Italy with tne city oi 'Eizzio on the one hand, and the island of Sicily with the city of Messina on the other. Tho volcanic cones of Mt. Etna and Stromlioli were em.itr.iup! a slight column of smoke as we passed, hut were otherwise quito quiescent. Coming on nearer to Naples we passed the Island of Capri with its famous grotto, and then entering tho famous liay of Naples, we saw in the baokgrouud to the right Mt. Vesuvius, emitting volumes of smoke from large fissures afi round the cone. A night's steam brought us to Genoa, where we had a day and ahalf ashore. During that time we visited a great many cathedrals, most of which were of a veryancient order, and possessing most beautiful paintings executed by the master painters of Italy. I also found myself accidentally within tne precincts of the fortifloations surrounding the city, and on going near a solider to ask a question, was hailed up at tho point of the bayonet, and beckoned to 'clear,' which, needless to say, I did as quickly as possible. The last point to visit was Campo Santo, the greatest cemetery in the world. Time forbids me just here to give anything of a descriptive account of this veritable colossus of the sculptor's art. I might say, in passing, that the .sanitary arrangements of both Naples and Genoa are deplorable in the extreme; another Garibaldi is sorely needed to come forth Phoenix like from the ashes of a heroio past, and stalk abroad sword in hand over the land In a mission of Sanitary Reform. I note here in Scotland oertain items of interest. Danish butter seems to have fairly established itself. This is attributed to various causes; the butrer is perfectly colourless and almost tasteless, and speaking personaly, 1 fail to see how it can hold its own for long against the real manufactured article in the colonies and Great .Britain; however, the farmers here seam to have giveu up butter making to a greatj extent, and also cheese, much of which now oomes from America." Mr Gordon tells me he will be visiting Canada in pbout a month's time. Mr Justice Williams and Mrs Williams* u arrived in Lourton about May 18th. . They will pass some time in Italy, en route for New Zealand. Miss Marion Fraser, who, I mentioned in my last letter, arrived by the Orontes is now staying with Mrs Ross, of Auokland. She wi'.l probably be in England several months. ' Mr ■K. W. Nixon, of New Plymouth, arrived on 12th instant, by the Marmora, after a very pleasant voyage. He is very pleased with what he has seen of London, and its Art Galleries and Museums, but up to now he has been too frequent a visitor at Westminster, where be has been an interested listener to the debate on the Bduoatibn Bill, to give much time to the sights.