PARLIAMENTARY

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 392, 16 September 1884, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY

J_By Telegraph.] (From our Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Monday evening. Several telegraphists being laid up in. the hu^piial, Mr Bradshav intends to bring the subject fully before the" -House and to expose the treatment the officiate have received by > being overworked, The public is already deriving some benefit from tiie change o£ Government. Some of tbe secrets of !ne prison bouse are being dis* cussed, aw. l thoughtful men are becoming coiivincttil that a Continuous 'Ministry is an. institution. not in accordance withjthe public inteims. tfhi?r! ar. has been the time since Miijor Atkinson was finally ejected from the Government buildings, a number of matters have liaii^jjiifid which go towards showing how beneficial the .advent" of a new Ministry is likely to prove. The latest is that the ■Agent-Oeaeral's rppartraenfc has recently

laid itself open to grave accusations in regard to the neglect or something worse, of the inspection of materials, ordered by the I üblic Works Department throught it. From the facts stated in the. House on Friday night it appears that a large quantity of utterly useless railway-plant has been passed in Jimgland and sent- out. That some fearful railway catastrophe has not resulted is more owing to good fortune than to any other cause. Axles made of what is technically known as rotten metal have been sent out, and some of them were absolutely issued for use here before the real character of the metal was detected. Had these gone into actual use the probability is that when a strain was put upon them at some dangerous gradient they would have snapped, wrecking the tram and probably causing loss of life. Fortunately this result has been averted, but the question of how these axles and other unsuitable material came to be passed in England should be enquired into, Haid the Continuous Government remained in omce, the public would never have heard anything about the matter.

Sir Edward Stafford will shortly visit the colony upon private business. Sir John Hall was to have left jLiverpool about the middle of August, intending to pay a short visit to Canada and the States, and then Jjoin the steamer to N°.\v Zealand at San Franciacojlon 27th September. Lady Hall and family reside in England. ■