Colonial Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 13, 20 July 1888, Page 2

Colonial Notes.

Warlike preparations are the oidei- of the day. The Cerberus, the Victoria, and the Albert, with the torpedo boats, have been for some time engaged in exercising at Port Philip Heads. The ships are fully manned, 263 members of the Naval Brigade being on board. The garrison artillery and Harbour Trust Battery are also under instruction at the forts. The Minister of Defence promises that although he sees no nece-sity for making provision for the representation of the Press at such exercises as those being carried out, he will allow every facility to correspondents at the front in case of war. It is to be hoped, nevertheless, that our men of letters may be for some time longer permitted to follow their own devices for the obtaining of warlike new*, with nothing more formidable than exercises for the object of their reports. The war correspondent is a literary charater that no country need have much desire to aid in forming.

The picture gallery in the Melbourne Exhibition promises to be an exceedingly attractive feature of the great show. Preparations are being made to display the pictures to the best advantage, The gallery for the works in oils is being painte.l in dark red and maroon with a ceiling of French grey aad white, and that for tha watercolours in olive and brocze greeu. The tiat* have been taken from the Royal Academy.

The report of Mr. Seville K.3nt to the Commissioner of Customs nn the Victorian Fisheries, deals in an exhaustive way with this important branch of i a das try It makes ma»y recommendations, i which, if oaly carried out, should result ia a very desirable emenda- I tiona and advancements. la almost every branch of the fisheries, whether fresh water or marine, it claims that Government aid is necessary, either to prevent wanton destruction or to promote resuscitntiou and development. Among the proposals is one for the construction of refrigerating railway cars to convey fbh from the remote districts. The monopoly by which prices are now maintained at a

high figure, is considered sure to fail in presence of a more open market and a healthy trade.

It is strange to find authorities in Australia turning to Europe for arguments derived first of all from Ausiralian experiences. In proposing the other day, to improve panitary conditions by planting the West Melbourne swamp with gum-trees, one of the members of the Central Board ot Health pointed to the Roman Campa.-na as an illustration of what his proposal was capable of effecting. It thould not be forgotten, at the satne time, that without the enterprise and devotiou of the Trappist monks the experiment in the Uampatma would never have been tried. If the Mii.i^er of Lands acts upon the recommendation of the Board, wro adopted the proposal referred to, Melbourne will owe a debt of grati ude to a cl <<ss of rn.n whom too many of her citizans are inclined to despise and mi.-represent.

The Victorian Bee-keeper's Ass< ciation ba3 been much exerciser by contemplating the quantities of spuii«,u-< honey flooding the market. At a lti'e meeting of the Society one of the members gave as a test of the adulteration, the mixture of a little pure alcohol with a portion of the compound dissolved in water. The result would be a change of colour to that of dirty milk, whila, if genuine honey were so treated the mixture would remain almost clear. An explanation of the manufacture of the spurious article was also given, among the primary ingredients mentioned being, for example, rags and sulphuric acid. The production of the busy bee is evidently, without much difficulty, the superior article.

Great things are still spoken concerning mining undertakings in several parts of the colonies :— ln Western Australia a marvellous discovery is reported from the Golden Valley, which it is said will throw Kimberley into the shade, and prove the richest thing the colony has yet produced. The Bara silver mines in New South, Wales are also declared about to bring forth marvels. At Boken Hill, meantime, a new discovery bas been made; not, however, of gold or silver, but of what is of more value in the locality than either would be, that is an excellent supply of water, for want of which the place was pestilential and fever abounded. All that is required now is the pumping apparatus to m«ke the supplies immediately available. Reports of mining wonders, nevertheless, should always be accepted with some degree of hesitation, and if they were, many people would keep out of harm's way. But the contrary is unfortunately the case— as has been pretty convincingly proved of late. In the case of tbe Beltana Broken Hill Company, for instance, Bhares were eagerly bought up, though hardly any pretence was made of giving information, much less a guarantee of any sort. The particulars furnished in the prospectus were of a ludicrously flimsy kind. But many people now who hardly see the fun of the thing are completely certain as to its folly. And yet people who have made their money in the colonies, and generally made it hard, should know better how to take care of it. Though mining reports, therefore, are nourishing it is to be hoped that caution will guide their reception.

The blacks of the Northern Territory continue to give trouble. la some instances they frankly declare that they mean to dispute the possession of the country, which they regard as their own, with the white man, and that their intention is to drive him out of it. w hether or not it may be taken as a proof of a superiority of race, they are evidently much more warlike and more alive to their own interests than were their brethren of more southerly districts. There is great danger in their neighbourhood, and murders by them are frequent. The captain, for example, of a vessel named the Spey was killed the other day by them on an expedition to cut mangroves, which he had undertaken contrary to advice, at Borroloolo, and, about the game time, tbe body of a German who had met wilh a similar fate was found between the place named and Lagoon Creek. Tbe unfortunate wretches are rapidly bringing on their own extermination.

The Ne'o- Caledonian in referring to the hoisting of the French flag ai Futuna and the establishment over that island of the French protectorate, solicited once more by the natives as an. immediate consequence of the establishment of the protectorate at Wallis, and hastened by the recent English and German annexations in these seas, gives us some interesting details. The island, says our contemporary, was discovered in 1616 by the Dutch Captain Schouten. is well watered, abounds in wooded hills and mountains of a considerable height anl possesses a soil of great fertility. An unpleasant feature, however, in the surroundings is that an island from iifteen to eighteen miles in length, and six miles broad, of volcanic origin, is Bubject to frequent earthquakes seeming to threaten renewed eruptions. The island is the home of innumerable birds which cheer the forests by their warbling ; but native beasts on the arrival of the missionaries were two only, a pig, and a kind of degenerate dog. The natives were industrious, but, what would ssem to contradict a common notion that industry includes all other virtues, in every other respect they were abominably viciou6. Cannibalism and infanticide were among their established customs. It was here that the martydom of Father Chanel, the process for whose canonisation is Dow proceeding at Rome, was followed by the complete conversion of the population, which ha 3 long been wholly Catholic.

The Journal Officiel of Tahiti gives an account of the annexation of the Wmdv aid Islands, last March, by M. Lacascade, Governor of the French establishments in Oceania. The flag wqs fiist hoisted at Huakine, where the Governor addressed the people, assembled before the palace of the Queen, explaining to them that the convention concluded between France and Kngland in 1847 had been abrogated and that France was now mistress of the situation. He. at the same time, offered a pardon to those who had taken any part against France, and especially in deposing the Queen who bad been friendly to that country in favour of her differently -minded daughtor, on

condition of their attempting no renewal of their offence. He also proclaimed full religious liberty; When the French flag had been hoisted the lawful Queen was restored to her rights aud the usurper withdrew quietly into private life. At Raiatea matters were more difficult, as there a hostile chief had betaken himself with a band of armed followers into an interior fortress. The Governor, however, acted with firmness, and while he declared that no authority but that of the Vice- Hoy could be acknowledged in the island, he offered panlon to the rebel leader and his followers on condition of th«ir speedy surrender. — At Borabora the people acknowledged the annexation by religious ceremonies and praverß— more especially for the welfare of Prance. On returning to Huahine, nevertheless, an unfortunate conflict took place with a body of ill-disposed natives in whict a French «ailor was wounded and a naval officer killed. Several of the natives also lost ttieir livesi. Submission wis afterwards made by the surviving offenders and promises of amendment given. Perhaps, on the whol>->, the rejoicing of these islanders at the protectorate established over them waa that of a people -who could not help themselves.

The reverend Jones, expelled from the Loyalty Islands, has been holding forth at the Mny meetings in London. The reverend Jones represents himself as the most ill-used of men, and makes a skilful point by declaring that he is the victim of " Popish " rather than of French intolerance. If it be answered that other Evangelical missionariea have not been interfered with, Exeter Hall will hear no such excuse. Tbe reverend Jones declares himself worse treated than the Reverend Shaw of Madagascar, and no doubt values his suffering at a higher price. The Reverend Shaw got £1000, shall not the r«yerend Jones have more that that ? Let '• Popish "' enmity be paid for by the ounce. Verily a life among the untutored children of nature has still left the reverend Jones rather wide-awake.