ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 5213, 1 March 1904, Page 5

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

(From Our Special Conoipoudtnt).

LOMBOK, January 1". Tho fgnd for tuo momorial to tiio late Sir Rector Macdonald tai reached JMSdO. and, with submripuon, yet lo bo received from abroad, is expected to amount to -i-'UUU. it has been decided to wet a nioiuoiial on Mitchell Riti, iu Rmgwaß, and a Loudon sculptor lias oncred to execute the work gratuitously.

dl’ropos of the unwashed alien immigrant, Hero is a London story which tho colon ills would find it difficult io match. A a it is told by u Roan, wo may consider it ivell-auiheiiticaicd. On ono oc-ra-;un tho lata Rind Lulu ie-bury was visiting an Last End house wlien .u> auked tho meaning of Iho heaps of rlolhrs which ho could coo in tho centre unit tour corners of iho room. "That’s easily explained," said one of the unants;

"there's a family iu each corner, and wo all got on very .well together until tho gcut lonian in tho mid tiio began to tako m lodgers.” A most discouraging account of the condition of tho boot trade in New Zealand is given by Mr Charles J. AA’ard, of Christchurch, in a letter to tho "Rout end shoc Trades Journal.” “Imports,” ho writes, "have doubled in the last few years, and are still increasing, whilst coinxiulition in tho goods produced iu (ho colony gets keener and keener. Every factory it, .straining every nerve in the endeavour to manufacture every kind of footwear that is produced in all the countries of tho world, and thousands of pounds have been, and are being, spent in plant and machinery that will never earn a fraction per cent, on its cost. Machines callable of turning out hundreds of dozens are found in factories making a lewpairs. Sots of machines capable of supplying tho whole trade of the colony, are found iu half a dozen or move factories. Tho largo factories attempt everything from a each to n navvy, including all grades of. Goodycr pumps and welts. Tho bulk of tho orders are a pair of a size,' and the difficulty or running tho business on profitable linos is to more easily imagined than described. The duty on boots and shoos is per cent., and utterly fails to keep out foreign goods, America, during'the past three years, having secured a very lnreo_ slice of tho trade. A curious feature/ or the trade is the freedom with -which the retailor will order quantities of foreign stuff for delivery months ahead, whilst ho doles out miserably small orders for immediate and urgent delivery to tho colonial manufacturer. AVorkmcn, other than carpenters and masons,; are advised to stay away from New Zealand. Operatives in the iihoo trade should not venture here on any account; the trade is absolutely the worst paid in the colony—lo to 50 per cent, less than carpenters or masons —and only moclorate time is worked.” Mr Ward adds that the shoo trade in the colony has a hard fight before it.

A well-deserved). tribute paid to noma' Anglo-Colonial shipping companies by the "Syren and Shipping” in its review of the past year will ha mdtmatnitewst.' Says the journal referred to:— The New Zealand Shipping Company and the Show-SaviU pursue the oven tenor of, their way. In thoir history, whether past or present, liter© is nothing exciting, and nothing blameworthy. They return their shareholders regular dividend?, their fleets are kept well written . down, and their shares, quoted 1 as they are at a discount, represent perhaps two of the best because the cheapest, investments In the shipping world. The Ke.r Zealand Company hat? now completely divested itself of all its sailing encumbrances—for encumbrances they certainly were —: ■ and tho Sbaw-Savill Company is on tho road to do so.' Tile respective boards are fully alive to the chaugiug conditions oi Australian, New Zealand and other trade, and ns that trade improves, as improve it will in a year or so, tho companies are sure to reap tho fullest advantage. Much the same may be naid of the Union Steam. Ship Company of New Zealand ono of the beat managed intercolonial' and coastal companies wo know of Year by year it adds to- its fleet, and improves its position financially.. AS : may be seen from our statement, the company holds a position of groat strength and its shares can maim ‘he unique distinction of being' the only ones which show an advanoa in price during the year. Rroot this, at least, it will he understood in what esteem the company and its management are held, and we wish wo could show in our statement more companies like the Union oh New Zealand.”/ i ■The report of Robert Campbell and, Sons, Ltd. for the year ended December; 31, 1903, in. London, and June 30, 1303, in New Zealand, to be submitted ho the meeting on January 31, states that-pro-fits, after providing for interest on; ilia debentures, amounted to .£15,903, which,' added to the balance of .£5310 brought forward, makes a total sum of £21,255 to bo dealt with. An interim 1 dividend of Is 6d per share, or 2i per cent., was paid in September last, and the directors recommend a final dividend at the same rata,, making 5 per cent for the year, that £50091 be added to reserve, increasing it to £15,-. 000, and that tho balance of £7255 h®; carried foi-ward. These figures exhibit a considerable improvement upon those oti last year. . ' ,

Among tho articles in tho cricket fcriboa vwdra mecuinj "Wisden’s Almanac” is one by tlie erstwhile "demon bowler,” Mr h'. R. Spofforth, who contributes a brief essay on schoolboys’ bowling. 'Wthy are professionals better bowlerti than gentlemen t Mr Spoiforth says tho reason is bscauso tho professionals work larder and longer. “No ono can ever think of being a. first-, closs bowler without ho really works hard; and often, and starts early._ 'This in' tho great secret. It gives " elasticity to tho muscles, without which it is almost impossible to excel. This elasticity cannot bo got unless ono starts quite young, and ooxtainly not after twonty-oho years of age.” As a boy, the.:amateur who has a weakness or a gift for bonding io not allowed to have his fling as the villager has. Ho has; to take his turn with others, arid ho is taught to spin tho ball, a proceeding ; which Mr Spofforth thinks is akin to teaching a child to run before it can walk. “Directly you start spinning a hill you : check pace, and, therefore, development of elasticity, which cannot bo gained afterwards.” Mr Spofforth adds chat “most of tho great Australian bowlors have como from country district.?, whore I tho grounds are, comparatively bad. On reaching tho metropolitan grounds they suffered checks iii. wicket-taking, which caused thorn to u&o their ‘heads.’”

Tho journalistic propensities' of the M.C.G. team have attracted the attention of "Punch''’ and 1 in the current issue is y genial dig at the "M.C.C. Journalists in Australia."— Says Punch:—“Mr Warner’s merry: men occasionally refresh themselves with a game of cricket—indeed , on two separate occasions they met and defeated a representative Australian eleven —but such frivolities are not allowed to interfere with their proper jonrnatpistic labours. Probably no stronger leatm of ready'writers-has ever visited antipodean -shores, and there is not a man among ,them.who is not in form. Earner’s skill with iho pen. has always: been extraordinary. His up and down strokes are alike .brilliant, and li® dips into the ink with amazing rapidity. Bosanquet writes with his head, keeping a good : length. -Rhodes baa. a’way of dropping! shot t.sentences now and then which, is - very puzzling to the reader. Some Of his ; curly ones are irresistible. - Hirst hold* ids pen loosely, and stepa out to the Jong words with terrible effect. Lille;.-*na-a marked tendency to •euphuism—perhaps hereditary." "Punch"’proceeds to g.ve a lew specimens . of the. team’s recent pen work, describing one of .the digressions into the cricket field: purporting,to be culled from i,sus( of the journals’to which Maraor. and company contribute.