Our Wellington Letter

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 82, 4 January 1890, Page 2

Our Wellington Letter

[FROM OUR OWN OORRKSPONDKNT.] VVkllinotow. Jauirirr 2. ' Another year has passed away and the rejoicings combined with bustle and noise which generally proclaim the arrival of the new year are now quietening down, and bu-unes is resuming its normal condition once more. Tins christniastide, Wellington has been unusually lively, and money see. na'to' have been very free'which, no doubt, is mainly attributable .to the promot ou' of tlie flax industry, which has served to employ much labour and to fill many a_ hungry month with breud and other things.' The working men are commencing, at last, to open their eyes to the fact that earning in mey in the country :s preferable to lounging around tlie wharves of the cities in the hope of something turning up, and that we must turn our attention to developing our uatural resources if we wonld raise ourselves and the colony from the mire. A dispute over the ownership of a boat caused a little excitement, a few days ago, to a large number- of spsctators in the vicinity of the breastwork, -and whose attention was drawn to the matter by one of the disputants applying "the end of the painter yery vigorously to tho head, of tho other, but this did not prevent tlie man in the craft from cutting tlie boot clear and' making for* the sea amidst the threats and wild gesticulations of the defeated one. A policeman appearing on the scene explanations ensued and ordor was once more restored. It is rumoured that Major Tuke is to ! receive the appointment of Resident Magistrate for the Manawatu District. It is also said tliat thi*. gentleman recently received j£7oo as compensation on retiring from the Defence Force. Is this retrenchment ? The result of the enquiry into the collision between 1 * the Botorua and the Orawaiti shows though there was a very dense fog at the time, the Rotorua was being driven along at the rate of eleven knots an hour ; but the other vessel was continually stopped in order to avoid any collision. Had both vessels been running at their top speeds the result would have been most disastrous. Captains of vessels steaming from Wellington to" Lyttelton always try to catch the early express, hence, no doubt Captain Neville's' want of caution. - A heavy " southerly buster" sprang up yesterday "evening about six o'clock and many boating parties came to grief ; but fortunately without loss of life. Captain Jones, of the harbour steamer Mana, rescued several who had had an involuntary bath, which makes fully a dozen people whom Captain Jones has rescued in this -way lately. On the last holiday he bore up to two boys whose boat had . capsized, when he found to his amazement that one of the lads was his own son. As an instance of the advancement of our times, yesterday, a horse belonging to the Rev. Father Kerrigan staked itself, and the police station was telephoned to for a "revolver io shoot the poor animal, when tlie stereotyped reply was scut back "A permit must first be obtained." The horse was then left to die an agonising death. Through the bolting of a horse attached to a spring cart, a little girl, named Whitten was run over and had her che'ek.aud head very much cut and bruised. The little one is now lying in the hospital in a precarious condition. Parents should be very careful about letting their children play about the streets.