Our Wellington Letter

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 44, 27 September 1890, Page 2

Our Wellington Letter

(from oub own cobbespondeht.') WieixiN&TOS, September 25 Strike matters seem absolutely sfcaguaut. With tu.« exception that hundreds of ablebodied men &r« to be seen at all hoars of the d;\y congregated in the vicinity of .the wharf,' everything aeema to be going on as of yore. The Union Company have the Takapuna still anchored in the stream as a boarding-house for their free laborers, who are carried to and from the wharf by the little Waihi so that they are free from molestation. The Harbor Board employe's, however, have a police escort to their homes, but even that is dying out. In place of some twenty mounted and foot constables, and about two hundred " specials," there are only to be seen some half a dozen ordinary constables on duty ail the wharf now, Among several cartoons that are placarded on the wharf is one which says, 'i Say, Bill, what are yer on strike for '?" Bill : " I don't know, but we ain't going tq turn to till we gets it." I think if a poll were taken on the subject with the men now on strike here, that would also be the* answer of the majority. They know that they have been " called out." but what for, is another question, and in the meantime their wives and families suffer. It speaks veil for the Unionists that they are in. receipt of "strike pay" and have a great deal of time on their hands, that there is scarcely any drunkenness, in fact there was only one case to be dealt with this morning. What is that?" Was the exclamation that came from the mouths of hundreds of terror-stricken citizens the other night when they were rudely aroused from their slumbers by two loud explosions. "Where is my baton and badge, Maria ?" was the next query as it came back to the memory of the " special constable " that in case of urgency there was to be a cannon fired, or the firebell -rung, or something else j and armed with ibis authority the "special" pulled on his coat, back foremost, and rushed out into the midnight air. A little way down the street he meets seyeral of his " corps," who are also ready for the fray, and with a determination to " do or die" they make with all speed to the Barracks, where are gathered some bun- ', dred* more of the wearers of the mystic ! badge. " Where are they ?" is asked in an anxious voice, but that is more than | anyone can tell, so they have no alteraaI tive but to shiver in the chilly night until Constable Cox, who is pressing up Yiotoria's Mount, returns from the seat of war, which he does in the bourse of the early morning, . with the wrathful intelligence that "Someone has Jbera having a lark," and then the " speoiala," who had turned out so nobly at their i country's call (or someone else's), trudged mournfully back to their anxious spouses, swearing vengeance against the Culprit if it ever came to their knowledge who it was ihat fired those two charges ol gunpowder on Mount Victoria last Friday night. Borne little time back Xirkcaldie and Stains, the well-known drapers, decided to introduce the cash system into their business, and I hear that it has proved more successful than the most sanguine could anticipate. The firm are so pleased at the result thai they have purchased a large adjacent building, which they have "attached to their present establishment and made it one of the finest establish- ■ ments of its kind in the colony. It has often struck me that if we could introduce the cash system Universally, what a vast amount of discomfort, fraiU, and misery would be averted. We should all then live within our means and not be tempted to purchase anything on the off chance of "something turning up." There is one man, I have no doubt, would object to this sort of thing, and he is known as the Official Assignee in Bankruptcy. The "first shot " from one of the " big gnns" in the electioneering, campaign, which has just been fired by Mr Ballance, at Wanganui, has not made a " Bulls-eye" in Wellington, The whole composition of the powder and shot is generally considered to be of a very inferior quality, and not the sort to take into actual warfare. Mr Ballanoe will have to improve on his recent speech if he hopes to retain the proud position of leader of his party. He must not forget that both Sidney Taiwhanga and John Eerr both look upon that position with a covetous eye.