ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue XIII, 26 March 1904, Page 56

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

(From Our Special Correspondent ) LONDON. February 5. THE COLONIES AND THE WAR OFFICE. The colonial aspects of the new War Office reforms have only been very briefly touched upon in the criticisms of the Home press upon the scheme. The British Empire League, however, has placed on record its satisfaction at the recent admission of Sir Frederick Borden, the Canadian Minister of Defence, as a member of the Committee of Imperial Drfen e. Mr \squith struck the Tight note at a meeting of the League on Monday, when dealing with the proposed iiirlusbm of colonial representatives on the i: »w ( ommittee of Defence. He thought all would agrc«* licit the committee could not but be strengthened, for th? proper work it had to do. by the admission from time to time of trust wort h\ and authentic exponents of colonial opinion. From both lhe Imperial and the local point of view, i appeared to him of the highest importance that the precedent wbi'.h •had been set H the case of Can: : a should be followed ns regards Australia and New Zealand, i-nd rrobably other col 3 from 1 < it ime: an I, n f course, one must not forget, although in its way thet was a separate nr Mr lem whii h requin 1 separate 1 mdling. the paramount i-spartan’e of C'mst.wtly keeping in view the requirom nts and re-eds of Indic. The Canadian precedent was a Hi -t in a policy the ; it he fruitful of the best res.ills o tin- Empire as a whole, and to its different parts. The Il.m. W- R. Re -vcs. the N v Z id Ag same meeting and er. Im s? 1 Mr Asquith’s

vi'-vvs regard!.ig the .vliuis<i<ni eol- <•!>: il repre*’-: iv. s to ill'* Defem.-c ( ■ ttee. R rring : . the ( utadi n Dt fenc • Mims-; r. Mr Reeves s.ii 1 the import a nee of the step iay ii; the possibility of its being m earnest f sourthin (a it Meal bet ter. Wh it i he y wanted was lb w th.» taking counsel together should be sj remained, aiulmaehinerv provided, w> tha’ - it w >uld be r matter of pra- lie ' an I nt right for statesmen in Ji'Tereni pa ids of the Umpire to offer advice they regarded as of imperial moment. With the treatment a??w 10. l 1a Mr Seddon over the ( hinese hh >question evidently in his mini. Mr Rc?\ » added: - "ir is not desirable Hat a statesman re-pon.-d»le for one part of the Empire sho I I. when i » expran opinion on what . *-ms •• inniter vf Imperial con-eq’ier. u, I? 7. nd- to b? told by half the r. . pij>.;s in this country that he is gv. I:-.- of an act of impertinence. It is :i >t I.*-ire’m? that there shall be no regular or pr -pei channel through which th' Mat--man can, as a matter of f-o ir give his advice.” FAILURE OF WELLINGTON MUNICIPAL LOAN. The good people of the city of Wellington must not take too much to heart the failure of their municipal loan, issued, through the Union Bank of Australia, this week. The time chosen for appealing to the London money market was, to say the least of it. inopportune, in more prosperous times a small loan of £320 000 offering interest at 4 per cent, on debent ores issued at 06 would have gone off "like hot cakes.” but to day. with the prospects of the big trouble in the Far East coming to a war head at any moment, and the general feeling that England may somehow bo drawn into the fight, money i- extremely difficult to Ci.nie at for loan - big or little. Soing • I the Australian states would have liked tn make an appeal this month. b--‘ on the ad•.'!<•«• of their financial guides ’mre have held their hands. and the first instalment of the big South Afi ica i loan has been postponed sine die. Under the circumstances I am not to bear that the underwriters of the city of Wellington loan will have to take up neirh 54) per cent, of the issue themselves, and that the quotation f the scrip fell yesterday to three quarter discount. In the face of this fart some people still argue that underwriting a colonial loan is quite •n unnecessary expense! It is, 1 think, a pity the loan could not l>e placed in Nev Zealand. The amount w.u small, and the terms offore I favourable, ami Ibe fact that £3:u),ooi) was not available .within the colony will surely nioviuc

caustic critics of the Wilson stamp with a text wherron to build southing attacks on the financial co diton of New Zear land. THE DUKE OF ARGYLL ON PRE FERENTI AL TRADE. The Duke of Argyll is a staunch supporter of the colonial trade preference idea as a factor in maintaining Imperial unity, and in a letter to the “Tinies ’ thia week he warmly defends the attitude of the colonies. Lord Spencer, in the House of Lords, had spoken as though nothing had been done. “Let us not.” says the Duke in reply, “seek to minimise the colonies’ efforts, but readily acknowledge the hearty brotherhood, which in peace as in war desires to work with us. They have made exertions for us during the war, which are new in the history of the world. Let their priceless goodwi’l be cultivated not only in what we hope may be the tardy recurring times of warfare, but during the long intervals of peace. Let us be seen by them to be ever ready to give preference to their wishes, where time may prove we do not hurt our people. In fiscal matters a very small amount of preference will go far. Mr. Booth’s 5 per cent, on foreign manufactures is quite enough to show our goodwill and the preference desired. Nor would withdrawal of such preference be resented if it were proved to harm Home NEW ZEALAND WOOD FOR PIANOS. A great piano-works like Broad wood’s a- ■ a huge quantity of most c-jstly <ri:rmtai e.coda, yet when visiting that I'm 's new fa•• ry at Old For.l this week I saw none there more beautiful thin t<; .. -knot cr s verst! other colonial w.-.'d >, S .me of the men, I found, had speeij i< is of all the c<donia Iw< ods in the museum at Kew Gardens, but none had ever been tri d in the factory so far as they knew, and no one had ever heard of kauri or of kauri-gum. although as likely as not kauri-gum is one of the ingredients in the very finest varnish used for piano-cases. The Swiss pine Abie? exeelsa is common enough in colonial nursery gardens, and it may interest many an amateur gardener t 1 know that it is out of that tree that the vital s.-in ding-boa rd or belly of the very finest pianos is mode. Musicians, again, may be interested to know that Broadwood’s London “show-rooms’' are still in the quite old'street in Great Pultcney Street. Soho, where Tschudi came, and where in after years the Scots journeyman carpenter. John Broadwood,, was taken into partnership when he married hrs master’s daughter. It was to tha <me old house, still .landing, that Mozart. as a little prodigy, was brought by his father to give ail exhibition of his wonderful powers upon the -arpsiohord made by Tschudi for Frederick the Great. Haydn also wrote some of his works there, and it was from the old workshop at the back that the grand piano was s -nt to Beethoven, and received such grandiloquent praise. THE AMERICAN YACHT RACE.. From American exchanges, on which one has learned not to rely too implicitly.. I gather that a gentleman named Edward Wallace, “a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who Ins made millions out of mines in New South Waler.” (lucky man!), has determined to step in and save our one and only Sir Thomas Lipton from bankruptcy by taking upon himself the task of “lifting the cup,” which is at present emblematic of America’s yachting supremacy. Mr Wallace, who. we are told, has announced his intention t.> challenge for the cup, was, it slims on a visit to Halifax some eight or nine months ago, and obtained some designs for a pleasure yaeht. Then he became bitten with the America Cup craze, and decided io have a racer built, to compete for the coverted trophy on Canada’s behalf. His craft, ’tis said, will la- 130 feet long, 95 feet on the wal'r line, a beam of 25 feet, and 10 feet draught, end will cost “not less than 500.000 dollars.” All of which may be. perfectly true, though I cannot myself call to mind any New South Wales millionaire of the name of Edward Wallace, who Jias made millions out of local propositions.