Our Wellington Letter

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 41, 20 September 1890, Page 3

Our Wellington Letter

" (FBOM OTJB OWN OOBBEBPONDENT.) Wbimngton, September 18 The closing hours of the present session of Parliament nave come at last. It has been a .very rough, voyage; even when the sky appeared blue and the sea calm, storms suddenly arose, and threatened destruction to the ship and all Shands, but by patience and. courtesy to an unruly crew, the officers have at last brought their craft safely into harbour. As was to be expected, Mr Ballance, in Ms farewell speech, look credit to the Opposition for making reductions in the public expenditure, and attempted to dress the Government down for not passing more measures. The Acting Premier, however, was ready for the. fray, and showed clearly that the obstruction of the Opposition had led to the session being prolonged, and that even the Labour *' Bills which tjje Government had took so much trouble to pass, were thrown out in the Council by the members whom Mr Ballance had put there. Mr Mitchelson taunted the leader of the Opposition with having no sincere desire for retrenchment, and that the Opposition had made no move i» that direction until several of the Government supporters took the lead, and then. Mr Ballance jumped like' a hen at a grasshopper at what he considered a good alliance, with the aid of which to . -overthrow the Government, but after all, the waste of time and cheese paring they had fallen short by £5000 the Government's offer to reduce by .£50,000. After & few more speeches and settling of accounts generally, -the Speaker left the chair, and members made a rush for the' steamers which were waiting to convey them to the various seats of the coming ■electioneering war. Notwithstanding the fact that the Aud-itor-General 'informed the .Government it would be impossible to efficiently work his department on a reduction of the " Economists " refused to hear of the item being reinstated on the Supplementary Estimates, and now a further somewhat gruesome letter has been received from that officer stating that it will be . necessary to disperse with the clerks, and ■as a consequence* certain departments jpannot be' audited. As showing that the l Skinflints " were hacking and slashing about wildly without any idea of the con sequences, the Auditor-General . states 'that these clerks will have to be compensated to the^tune, of There have ijeen most disgraceful attempts to " play to the gallery " during the past session, hut the " Skinflint craze " was the worst of the lot. As "is well-known all the " Skinflints," -with fcne exception of the " talking Fish," come from Auckland, and it is also wellinown that though they are all unanixuous in. votirig-that every drop of their brother's blood should be spilled, they howl loud enough when they are pricked themselves. The Southern members, knowing this, saw a good opportunity a jew days ago, to pay oft their scores on the " Skinflints" for their behaviour during the session, so they worked around quietly and counted noses for a trial of strength* to rob Auckland of her muchloved Frisco Mail. Nothing was known of this except by tho3d in the swim, until , a few moments before- the Vote came on, and then pur friends of the' Northern City got into a flurry and after, working tooth and nail they saved their "pet" by two votes ; but even now the game is not over, ibr the port of, call is left to the discretion of the contractor, and as a consequence the old spirit .of rivalry has been roused again between Auckland and the Eiupu-e City. .Several shots have already been iired, and a heavy cannonade will take place before long. Whether it is one of the effects of the strike, or that we are getting very unde sirable colonists amongst us, it is hard to say, but it is very evident that there are . too many of the light-fingered gentry amongst us just now to be pleasant. A few nights -ago a policeman saw a man named Preston in a duck yard trying to capture some of the birds, out on perceiving the limb of the law, he said "Bun good lege, run," but the constable being the quicker of the two, soon had his man tinder lock and key. Of course excuses -were plentiful next morning, that "it was only .a lark," &c, but the "lark" cost him. three months hard labor on the hill. The second case was a most daring one— An attempt was made to lift the safe,, containing from the bedroom of the -- proprietress of the Albert Hotel, at about 10 o'clock an evening or two ago, and it -was evidently intended to lower it into . the public street from the balcony above. The intending robbers evidently hoped that their barefaeedness would carry them through, but, fortunately, a servant heard the row in the bedroom and gave the alarm, the would-be burglar escaping down the verandah posts, where he joined his mates. No arrests have been made