Wellington City

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 October 1915, Page 2

Wellington City

19*2 and 1915

A COMPARISON AM) AIS APPRECIATION.

(Written lor iliu Chrumcle.)

A •Chronicle representative who revisited Wellington alter an absence oi some three years, was struck by ooino altered aspects oi the city. its business bustle survives, and the citizens swing along in the hurried, eager manner that no other Australasiaif populace possesses, but over all the metropolis hangs the pall of care. To descant upon its causes would be superfluous : the war is with us all, and grief lor the fallen, with apprehension lor tin living combatants, permeates the urban communities as it does the rural. Pleasures are not neglected in Wellington. but there is a serious aspect ■with lb- ■M-rymaliing. Tin races at Trent-ham . were belli on Saturday and yesterday, but even t.lie stirring, exceptionally ha'-'d-ioiiglit finishes in certain races failed in aroitfio a cheer. The sol* diers from Tennnvn were present Tn force. Many wore overcoats though Saturday was broiling hot. The explanation of this was the non-receipt ceitain hoped-for uniforms that were hoped-for at the week end. Other soldiers, more fortunate, were present in full fig. ft was a "khaki gathering,' 1 and the soldiers 1 were the invited guests < I the Wellington Racing Club. .More than half of the spectators on the krwu wore soldiers, but there was a sufficiency of mufti patrons to make the meeting a profitable one for the club. Several of the Levin lads were among the guests of the club. They had coma fresh from their labours at "Maymoi'ii Estate," (the gathering and packing of stones) and those of the lads who were not inured to hard work boro expansive blisters on their palms. Tlio Trontliam encampments are being improved rapidly, and it is anticipated that there will be no recrudescence ol tin; fevers that laid so many low last year. Moving picture theatres still are plentiful in the metropolis. They cater lo- thousands of casual patrons, ninny of whom call in at two or three "shows'" on the one afternoon and evening. The pictures bear a decidedly American tang in setting and description; the hero complaint? that the villian has "put the double rule around him" or that ho ha* "been landed with a low grade cinch." One of the films that the Chronicle man -saw gave a display ol a man making his tortune in the west by dredging for gold with a tin dish amongst the atones of a mountain tarn. His methods were of a sort that never could win gold oiitsfde ol a picture house hut he won it. The five minutes' 'iiterval in the picture came here, and a hoy emerged from fhe back of the dress circle crying: Hiss! Hiss Weets! A glance at his 'basket of chocolates convinced us that ho had' nothing to say agaiinst the merits of Hie pictures but bis impediment belied liini. In the next series of scenes the Man of the Hour is elected Mayor of New York (followed by Hiss! Hiss! Weets!); foils tlio plots of t-he. villain'who caused his father to take hie own life after flic hiss o: all bis money (Hiss! Hiss! Weets I a.) before); and finally the man of tlio hour marries the daughter of the villain. and the .audience .streams out with such clamour of feet that the small boy with the sweet impediment fails to make himself heard as lie addresses the people who are remaining to witness the suicide scene Tor a second Lime. So much for the picture shows. There are vaudeville shows at both ends of the town and ''something crisp and snappy" at the Opera House where a .J. C. Williamson musical comedy holds tlio boards Trith "The Girl in the Taxi," "High Jinks," and other light and frivolous themes for music song and torpsicliorean extravagances. Some sombre person who hap conscientious or other objections to siich faro has paid bis money to enaWe him to protest effectively: and now a huge hoardng at Newtown bears on three parts of its surface the words "High .links! Wellington Opera House!" and on the other ffiird of its surface a text "Grid commamlet-h man everywhere to repent because He bath appointed a day in which He will judge the world I"

The Dominion Museum becomes more iind uioro intorosting as each year's record of gifts and purchases adds to its attractiveness, 'Hie average Wellingtonian decries three things: the Wellington wcatliijr, the Wellington landscape and the local museum. As an actual summary oi truth, it should

he recorded that "Wellington weather is bracing, if rude; that Wellington's landscape is picturesque; and that tho Dominion Museum is better than' Wellington deserves, seeing that hor citizens (as a whole) neither help it nor visit it, The present display of Clio exhibits i.-s an improvement on that lollowed up to 1005 or thereabouts, but the tact, is apparent still that many items of endurrng interest and of educational value, ai|*itTdeii (comparatively speaking) in corners of the vestibule or shown to tiniall atTvairfrago ou tlic cribbed landing place that gives entrance to the galleries. Paintings and photographs of New ZealantPs early statemen and earlier warriors; records o! great historic value; water-colour drawings of early Wellington at tliree or four stages of its progress between J-810 and 1870; all these rest there in positions and in lights , not favourable to those intent on properly viewing them. One of the best examples of portraiture to be seen anywhere in AustrntSma- (the painting of Sir William h'itzherbert, done in. oils by Miss Sperry) hangs her<*-_ in semi-obscurity, vet even in these unpropitious (surroundings the old-time Minister and Speafter seems to start life-like from the canvas. Isaac Earl Featherstoii—the soldier politician—is another Now Zealand pioneer*" whose picture lingers in semi-obscurity on the foyer. -The .mummy of PeFisim, priest of the god Kb em, was for long years practic-

ally the only Egyptian exhibit of interest that the Colonial Museum liaTl to show to visitors; but the present-day catalogue is much more extensive, Tho priest's mummy, however, now is wedged between other exhibits in such a way that only the foot of his sycamore coffin can -be inspected. In a show case alongside of the priest's coffin there arc shown several articles of attraction for all who are interested in Egyptology. The most notable of atl is an alabaster carving of a head, dug from the ground near Heliopolis, in 1915 a.d. by a New Zealander from Hauraki Gulf while engaged in constructing .a military trench 1

Yesterday was Labour Day, and in "Wellington a close holiday was observed by all tradespeople, retail shops, wholesale houses, banks and olfices. A gayous procession of decorated horses and carts. with emblematic displays ol craft-work on lorries was held, but the general effect was marred bv persistentrain. None the less, the brass bauds play«T lively lilts and the participants in'{lie procession looked as gay as they could. The sports that were to terminate tho> 'function stands over till Saturday next.

Work ill the metropolis is less brisk that it Avns eighteen months afro, notably iif the bespoke tailoring and printing trades. Building is not stagnant, but it could Ho livened up a good deai before contractors -would complain. Ffere and there in the city some extensive piles of bricks are snarinsi to the second and third stories, though unoccupied flats of offices are not hard t<i discern 011 the upper stones of some of fhe big building** on Lambton Quay, The new Parliament buildings still show cause for being regarded as a work ui progress: but .so is tl;o Twentieth Century: and on present- appearances it is ail even chance as to which -win r>e nrst to reach completion