WELLINGTON.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3172, 29 August 1881, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(FBOM OTJR OWN CORRESPONDENT.") August 27, 1881. The sole political event of the week has been the stonewalling of the Representation Bill,which commenced at 2.30 on Wednesday, and continued without intermission for 36 hours. It was a plucky protest on the part of the Nelson members, assisted by Bastings, Reeves, and Seddon, against the injustice which they believe is being done to Nelson in reducing the number of members. Of course they were outvoted in the end, but 1 &m not at all sure that the battle is over,

There are Ql schedules to the Bill, and if each one ia contested, an 3is threatened, months must elapse before tbey can be passed. Should these tactics be followed it may be that the Government will bd forced into a compromise;

During the "stonewalling" Captain Russell did hie beat to act the part of mediator, and throw oil on the troubled waters. As a matter of fact, however, there was nothing to mediate in, and there were no " troubled waters." The ■wearisome debate was throughout conducted in the most goodnatured manner. "Dick"Seddon wanted as a matter of course, to get up a shindy, but Dick would fight his own shadow if there was nothing else about. In view of the present state of affairs it is utterly impossible to predict when the session will end.. It may coHapse suddenly within a fortnight, or it may be protracted into November. There is any amount of business yet on the order pnper. That, however, goes for little When members get tired of the session, and agree to a slaughtering of the innocent?.

When Mr Driver entered the House the other day for the first time this cession a good many members shewed him by their manner that they did not approve of his shirking his business as a legislator. For all practical purposes Koslyn has been disfranchised for the past two years. In the official printed list giving the Wellington addresses of hon. members Mr Driver is distinguished by the words " address unknown." A public meeting was held in the Athenaeum, to which policy holders, intending insurers, and others interested in the Government insurance were invited. The subject under discussion was " the present administration of the Government insurance scheme." Those who attended the meeting did so under the belief that it was convened in the interests of the public, and not got up, ac it transpired, to enable a single individual to air his grievances and vent his spleen upon the Government on account of come imaginary wrongs done to him by those in power. The result was a miserable fiasco, and the engendering of much bitter feeling against the individual who attempted to make a cats-paw of the Wellington public. There may or may not be matters capable of improvement in connection with the Government Insurance Department—probably there are —but if anything is calculated to stand in the way of legitimate investigation it ia an impudent attempt of the kind just alluded to.

It will doubtless be fresh in the minds of your readers that in my letter a few weeks ago I referred to a case then sub judice, relating to the possession by a Mr Plimmer of a large quantity of unstamped tobacco alleged to have been smuggled. On Monday the police visited the premises of a Mr Bould, of the Foresters Arms Hotel, Little Taranaki-street, in the hope of obtaining some more tobacco; but after running through the premises, and not meeting with success, they decided to visit the dwelling-house of a cabman named Walter Lee, residing in Frederick-street, not very far from Mr Boald's premises. There they found as they anticipated seven boxes of " twist" without the necessary little yellow label upon them. Of course Mr Lee had to give an account of how he became possessed of so much tobacco, and his answers not being satisfactory he was compelled to accompany Detective Benjamin to the police station. Next morning he was brought before Mr Shaw, R.M., charged •with being concerned with others in concealing ftobacco, contrary to section 23 of the Tobacco Act, 1879. Mr William Barnard, a furniture dealer, was also charged with aiding and abetting. After a long sitting the case was adjourned until Tuesday I next. Some few veeks ago Mr Barnard succeeded in inducing a young man from the country, who appeared to have plenty of money, and desired to know where be could obtain some cheap tobacco—but who it afterwards transpired was a detective—to part with the sum of £50 under the belief that he (the detective) would be supplied with the tobacco. Accordingly an express being ready, was sent # off to Kaiwarra, at which place the Customs authorities met the express and searched it, to find what ? the tobacco that the young man from the country had paid for, no, but a quantity of fish. Tbe detectives have now turned the tables on Mr Barnard, and I think the French maxim justly applies, on se Irompe souvent ioi~m§me on cherchant a trompe les autres. It is an old saying that one may drive a coach and four through any act of Parliament, and one would feel inclined to agree with the saying when, in reading through the Public Health Amendment Act, 1876, it is found only to provide for the registration of the carrying on the trade of purveyors of milk, and for the cleanliness of the utensils by which the trade is carried on. But what about butter, cheese, cream, <xc ? Ought not these articles of daily consumption to be as carefully looked after as milk ? A great deal of correspondence of late haa been published in the various papers under the heading " Death in the Milk Pail." Constable Gordon sometime ago collected samples of spirits and milk from various hotel-keepers and dairymen in the city for the purpose of snbmitting them to Dr. Skey, the Government Analyst. Dr. Skey has made his report. It is not yet made public, but it is believed to be adverse to the vendors, and it is not at all improbable that prosecutions will take place under the Adulteration of Food Act, 1870. An information has already been laid against a man named Scaramelli for introducing too much of the cow with the iron tail into hie milk to the tune of some 10 per cent. It is high time something were done to prevent people being poisoned by the various poisons that, under the guise of food and drink are supplied to the public. Black swans are at home almost as rare as white elephants, but in the Wairarapa Lakes they appear to be altogether too plentiful. Settlers in the Lake district complain bitterly of the damage done to their crops by swans browsing thereon. During the past three weeks a fisherman at the Lakes gathered nearly 50 dozen swan's eggs from amongst tbe reeds upon the shores, which he badjturned to profitable account by bringing them to Masterton and selling them at 43 per dozen. Mr Cohen, the eteward of the barque Langstone, who was fined £100 for smuggling a roll of silk, and who was detained in custody, has been released on payment of the mitigated penalty of £20. The Lyons' Tourist and Pleasure Party have just completed a very successful engagement here, and are leaving today (Friday) for Napier. lam pleased to learn that Mrs Hall, the wife of the Premier, who has of late been much indisposed, is better, and it able to leave her room.