OUR WELLINGTON LETTER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 7, 17 September 1878, Page 2

OUR WELLINGTON LETTER.

From our own Correspondent. cniUSTCHUIICH AND DUNEDIN KAILWAY. So tlio lion Bond uniting Chrisfcchurch and Dunodin hua at length been completed; and what rejoicings it hag occasioned ! The bpecitil truin coikvey'ng the Vice-Regal party, owing to tlio various luncheons and the almost endloßH array of congratulatory addresses, did not accomplish the journey in so short a timo as it might have done. Ilowovor, I soo the now time-table allows exactly olevon hours, to bo reduced to ton, I believe, when the now arrangements are perfected ; and if this timo is kept I think the Railway authoritieswill deserve great credit for it. WAIHAIIAPA BAIL-WAY. Wellington-cura-Wairarapa people are now looking f arward with very great interest to the expected early oponin of the railway to Featherston, and our country friends, following the example of the more pretentious Southerners, are busy arranging for f eastings and banquetings. The Ist October is the day at present fixed upon as the gala day, and all kinds of proposals have been made to fittingly celebrato this great ovent. A free lunch at Featherston was for a time contemplated, but the idea that the number of customers at this price might prove greater than all the viands of Featherston would be able to satisfy, necessitated the abandonment of this propos il. Then the propssal to roast an ox whole was suggested, only to fall through ; and a liberal idea by the Upper Valley people — to engage coaches to carry visitors to Masterlon from Featherston at a shilling <v head — I have not yet heard the fate of; but if adopted, it i 3 to bo hoped that horse-flesh sufficient for tho undertaking will be provided. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. Wo are just now iv all the turmoils of a municipal election, the vacant seats for all four wards being hotly contested. Meetings in favor of one or other of the candidates are being held nightly, generally resulting in the publican's till getting rather heavier, and everybody being satisfied that everybody olso was a *' fit and proper person," &c. OUlt LITTLE DJXXER. But while touching on matters munioipal I mmt not omit to tell you of the splendid little agitation that some of our " free and independent oitizens" have been getting up over our recent Corporation Spread to the Delegates to the Municipal Conference Our worthyXity-Sutiifei-rtuoagiit, it wmxki be hardly becoming to the E upire City if these Delegates, after honoring Wellington as their meeting-place, were sent away without some show of hospitality on our part ; more especially as the completion of tho imposing new offices for the City Council furnished an additional encouragement to tha cherished idea "to have a dinner." So a dinner they had, and such a dinuer, too, costing a little over £150. When the bills came in for this little feed, Councillors became enlightened as to the state of the law on thj subject, aud much to their chagrin, after searching the " Muuicipal Corporations Act" through and through, they could not find any provision whereby public money could bo spent ou somi-private dinners ; aud as a happy solution of tho difficulty, it was arranged that the Mayor should pay for the spread, and the Council munificently increased his salary just the amount required to meet the expense. And yet men are to be found who will grumble even at this ! cabmen's petition. Our cabbies, poor fellows, have resorted to tho forlorn hope of tho time-honored " petition " against steam as a motive power on om- City Tramways. It would take up | too much space for me to tell you the grounds they urge, but these may be summed up in ono word — " bunkum." The public highly appreciate tho tram ; and the advantages of steam over horsepower are too groat for sensible people for one moment to think of steam baing superseded, aud really fjr no cause, for if at the first a horse or two did take fright at the novelty, they seem to be getting used to it now, for accidents are never heard of. So I think the powers that be will fail to see the reasonableness of the prayer of this petition. CITY IMPROVEMENTS. Wellington continues to grow apace' and from time to time provision has to be made for our extended necessities. Branch Ban; 8 and Insurance Offices have already been started at the Te Aro end of tho City, and now tho PostmasterGeneral delights us by promising a special Post and Telegraph Office for this locality, and really it will not come a moment too soon, for the ouco Te Aro flax swamp is now a bustling, busy plaoe.

The Auckland Timber Company lately held their half-yearly meeting. The report showed a profit of £238 d, equal to 13 per cent., which w«*S carried to the new account as a woi'kng balance. s A double murder of a most atw>c<> cious kind took place at Northampton, where a sergeant of militia B?ot a quarter master and a pay sergeant.