ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue II, 12 January 1901, Page 57

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, November 30. COLONIAL STOCK ACT. The Colonial Stock Act of last session, authorising trustees to invest in colonial stocks complying with regulations framed by the Treasury, has so far proved a dead letter. No regulations have yet been issued, and I understand that the Freasury officials are finding it an extremely difficult task to draft regulations that will afford proper protection to trust funds and yet not irritate the colonies. SIR WALTER BULLER ON COLONIAL TOPICS. Sir Walter Buller made a decided “hit” in his speech at the civic banquet in the Ironmongers’ Hall on Thursday evening last. His name was coupled with the toast of the “Visi-

tors,” of whom there were many. After suitably responding, he launched off into congenial subjects. that bad been just touched upon by previous speakers.lmperial Federation,the ( o«r nrjnwealth of Australia, und the future of the South Pacific. He defended his colony from the suggestion of disloyalty in not joining the Commonwealth. He explained that New Zealand, although only' 1200 miles from Australia, had really more in common with this country than with the sister continent, and that the objections to federation were of a purely local character. He declared that New Zealand, although the remotest of our colonies, was second to no part of the Queen’s dominions in its devotion to the throne and nation. He reminded his aitdieuee of how, when the great wave of patriotism swept over the Empire in connection with the war in South Africa. New Zealand was the very first, of the colonies to come to the aid of the Mother Country with offers of men and money. The Colonial Government, without even waiting for the approval of Parliament, raised and equipped several contingents of strapping colonials, and sent them, well mounted, to the scene of action. The movement w as so popular with the colonists themselves ljuit, when the Government had done all it could, the people put their hands in their pockets and paid the entire cost of raising two more contingents; and everyone knew how well these men had acquitted themselves in the field! When Parliament met, with one single dissentient voice, Mr. Seddon's action was approved, and the necessary money voted; and that one dissentient voice, was effectually silenced at the general elections that followed by the ilefeat of that member! Instead of federating with Australia, the Premier, with the assistance of his able colleague, the Hon. Mr. Ward, had formulated a statesmanlike scheme for the building up of another great Commonwealth—the Commonwealth of the South Pacific—with the seat of the Federal Government in New Zealand. Now, this was the sort of thing that made for Empire and the progress of made for Empire and the propress of our race. The proposed Fijian federation had been passed by a large majority of the House of Representatives, and had been hailed with satisfaction by the Fipan colonists themselves; but

Downing-street had step]*,! in, and, for the moment at any rate, had strangled the project, although it wns made clear tint Mr. Seddon had takeu every precant ion for the conservation of native interests in the Pacific. But this was only history repeating itself. If the advice of that great pro-Con-sul. Sir George Grey, had been followed forty years ago, or more, the whole of the South Pacific would now have belonged to this country and its thousand lovely, tropical isles would have formed, as it were, so many glittering gems in the British Crown. But the Colonial Office would not listen to Sir George Grey then. Many years Inter a progressive colonial Premier. Sir Julius Vogel, propounded a federation scheme for the South Pacific. anti this met with just as little favour at headquarters. Now, what is the position? We have lost New Caledonia to the French, a great part of .New Guinea to the Germans, and, last of all. that sunny group of islands on the great pathway of the Pacific—the beautiful islands of Samoa, where it is jM-rpctual summer—a land hallowed in the mind of every Englishman because it holds the bones of our beloved "Louis Stevenson. Ami the only voice that was raised in protest against this act of surrender came from the distant colony of New Zealand. He firmly believed, however, that events were hastening in the direction indicated by the New Zealand Premier, and that even the little independent Kingdom of Tonga would in the end !«■ drawn into the proposed confederation under the British flag. The speech was impromptu, but had an excellent effect, and was loudly applauded, for it shed a new light on a subject that has been exercising the public mind. Indeed the “Worshipful Master"’ afterwards thanked Sir Walter for what he termed “the speech of the evening.” THE STATUS OF TIIADE UNIONS. An important judgment was delivered by the Court of Appeal last week in the case of the Taff Vale Kailway Company and The Amalgamated Society

of Railway Servants and others, which arose out of the strike on th*' Tatf Vale Railway. The company brought an action against the Society. Its general secretary anti local secretary, anrl sought an injunction to prevent unlawful picketing by the Society and Its semuits, Mr Justice Farwell refused to strike the Society out of the action on Ihe ground put forward by it that a trade union couid not be sued. The Court of Appeal upheld the Society’s appeal. In delivering the judgment of the Court the Master of the Rolls said that at common law the only entities capable of being sued were a corporation, an individual or a partnership of individuals. The Society was not one of these entities, ami therefore it was necessary to see whether the Trade f’nion Acts enabled any action to lie brought against a trade union. Thvse Acts contained no section empowering a trade union to sue or Lie sued in its registered name nor constituting a trade union a corporation capable of being sued as such- Tire omission was noteworthy, as in fhe Companies Act. the Building Society Act. the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, the Legislature had shown that it well knew how to express its desire that a society should sue or lie sued in its registered name. The Trade I nion Acts had legalised trades unions and given them registered names—only that and nothing more. A trade union could not be sued in its registered name, and therefore the Society must be struck out of the action. THE KMP.LETON COLLISION. Mr Justice Barnes has delivered his decision in the action brought against the Cunard Company by the owners of the Liverpool . barque Embleton, which, on her way out to New Zealand, was. on 21st July, cut in two in a dense fog in St. George's Channel by the Campania. .Mr Justice Barnes found that the barque was duly sounding her foghorn, and was

url to blame for th.- collision. On the other haud, although do precautions were neglected on board Campania to ensure the safety of the jtassengers and the value of the property she carried, the Caiupnnia. in traveHing at a S]>eed of Itetweeu 9 and W knots in the fog, was guilty of a breach of Article 16, providing thnt every vessel should in a fog go at a moderate speed. Mr Justfre Barnes held that the Campania could have worked her engines -at slow, and stopped from time to time, sum to keep her speed down to a very low rate. He referred to the cases of the Irrawaddy, the Sesostris, which .going at a speed of •> knots against a 31 knot current in the Straits of Gibraltar, was held to blame for excessive speed; the Pennsylvania. and the Germanic, ami the City of Brooklyn, in which the judges held “that if a vessel is so constructed that she cannot go at a moderate pace she must take the consequences.'’ Mr Justice Barnes held, and the Elder Brethren agreed with him. that 9 knots in a thick fog was a greatly excessive speed for any steamer to travel at. and he therefore found for the plaintiffs. IS IT BLATCH? Nearly three weeks ago the arrest (in Wellington) was reported from Auckland of a man who went by the name of Charles Lilleywhite, on suspicion of Iteing Arthur Blateh, who has Jong been wanted by the Colchester police for the murder of Mr Alfred Welch, at Colchester, on December Bth, 1893. No official confirmation of the matter was received by the Colchester police until Wednesday last, when a cablegram was received stating that a man had been arrested who is “very strongly suspected as being Arthur Blateh,” and asking for Colchester police officers to be sent out to complete the identity, and. if that be established, to bring the prisoner home to Colchester. On Thursday a meeting of the

Watch Committee of the Colchester Corporation was held, and it was unanimously resolved to instruct the Head Constable Io send one or two officers, as may be deemed expedient, to New Zealand forthwith. ft is probable that Police-Sergeant Robert Frost, who has been to New Zealand liefore. and who knows Watch |>erfectly well, will be sent upon this '-rrand. accompanied by another fiolice officer, or by a civilian witness, to whom Watch’s identity is equally familiar. THE P. AND O. ANT) THE WAR, T’is an ill wind indeed that blows good to no one. and thanks to the South African war and the trouble in China the I’. and O. directors are able- to report a bumper year, many of their vessels having been withdrawn from their ordinary employment and utilised for transport work. This, apparently, is much more profitable than the regular trade business of the Company, for out of the profit earned the directors, besides being in a position to distribute dividends and bonus equal to 9 per cent, on the paid-up capital of £2,230,000 (the deferred getting 13 per cent.), have been able to set aside £ 182,003 as extra depreciation, to add £163,000 to the suspense account, and to carry £10.400 forward. The war has, therefore. been a blessing in disguise so far as the P. and O. Company is concerned. for although the actual freight carried was less by £73,000, and passenger receipts fell off £6BOO. yet the tonnage chartered by Government has much more than made up for these losses. Two interesting points are mentioned in the report, namely. The resignation by Eord Selliorne of the seat on the Board he has occupied for ten years, in order to assume the duties of First Lord of the Admiralty; and the admission by the Tneome-tax Commissioners that they have been levying too much on shipping profits, irrespective of adequate allowance for the waste and wear and tear of ships.