WELLINGTON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 6, 12 September 1879, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

• i fFaOil OUlt OWH fOLtBa3PONUBMT.] J£; TUB GENERAL ELECTION. Tho elections so far us they have gone give a small majority to tho Opposition, as will be seen from the following. Out of the eighty-two members who voted or paired on the great no-confidenco amendment to the a klress, forty-eight voted with the Ayes, and thirty- four with the Noes. Of the forty-eight Oppositionists, nineteen have up to the present been reelected ; and of tho thirty-four Government supporters, twenty have been re-eleoted. It is, however rather strange to find that four of these admirers of the Grey administration have deemed it prudent not to present themselves to their old constituents for re-election, but have sought fresh fields where to pour out their fulsome adulation. ' Nineteen new members have so far been e'ected, of whom ten may be "classed as Oppositionists, and six as Government sup-. . . porters, while the other three have arranged their addresses and speeches so as to allow of their going in on either side must for the present be considered doubt- | ful. It will therefore be seen that the Opposition may at present claim a majority of three, but it is much to be feared that when the returns are complete there will be a very - small majority in favour of the Government. _ "WELLINGTON ELECTION. > Our election fight is now over, and each sido has succeeded in returning one man. ■■ Mr Levin, an Oppositionist, is a gentleman _ r of standing ability, albeit rather young, but will nevertheless make a representative who will be a credit to the city. His colleague, Mr Hutchison, who is a Government supporter, one cannot speak about so confidently; he is a demagogue, almost equal to the Premier in this matter, who is continually haranguing the crowd on the oppressions cf wealth and. the down-trodden ' estate of the working men. He was returned by the labouring classes, and lot us, hope he will answer their expectations. MA.SAWATU ELKCTIOn'^.;: ' ' ' ■■<] •<< The electors of Manaw&tu jiiave ehoeenir;< wisely in again selecting Mr W. Johnstoa ' as their representative in Parliament. I congratulate Mr Johnston on his success, aud the inhabitants of Manawatu. generally;: ' • and Foxton in particular, on having a mem- , ber whoßo mind is not pre-disposed to favour tha Palmerston routo for the West Coast Railway, but who will judge impartially on sufficient data being laid before the House. ANOTHER LIBEL AOTIOH. ■■■'■'. : ' ; 7 Mr Clark, the English engineer who pro; i mulgated a scheme of drainage for Welling- - , ton some time since, has caused the proprietors of the Chronicle to be served with a writ claiming £1,000 as damages for an alleged libel published in their paper con* cerning him and his scheme. Certainly when the Chronicle takes exception to any man's doings it is not as a rule particularly nice in the. selection of the language wherewith to denounce him, and the strictures published with reßpect to Mr Clark's drainage scheme were probably drawn from its most advanced vocabulary. It now remains to be seen whether such writings do, or do not, exceed the proper bounds of comment and criticism. I tbink?\ the odds are rather against them, ' v KAIWARRA CONTRACT.' .'M -'" I have seen the plans and specifications of theKiuwarraj3Q»tra(\f <s<f ' Ju^-ffeUitujx^o*- ; FoxtorTKaTLway, now advertised for tender, and *!■■»» tU.-flk»l*»~-»T<wl««»-inoIuJotl in the CJ)ri*-»^ tract are of considerable magnitude. 'In ' the first place, the contract provides for \ about 40 acres of reclamation, commencing '> from the present reclamation, and extending nearly to Kaiwarra, as a site for a terminal station ; then tho Hutt railway is to be diverted further into the harbour, just before reaching Kaiwarra, so as to permit of the formation of a gradually rising embankment for tho Foxton Railway between the I-tutt lino and the road; the Foxton line ' then crosses the Hutt Road on a substantial bridge, built cs'cew, and after running along the face of the cliffs a short distance, turns into the Kaiwarra Gorge with a rather sharp curve of eight chains radius ; the line then, so far as this cbntract goes, consists of hejivy side cuttings, and three tunnels, of a total length of 889 yards, all constructed in the steep hill sides above the Kaiwarra stream. The gradient, js chiefly -,j • 1 in 40, which is certainly objectionably steep, but still will be easier trnm the Upper Hutt incline on the Masterton railwiiyl-O not to mention the 1 in 15 -in descending » th" lUmutaka on the same line. . p The whole of the works under this con-, _ tract, which is only about a mile and a hdtf ' ''■ long, are to be completed within two years ; but I daresay threo will be taken. Fortunately this is about the heaviest piece ; 0f ; ,,: work on the line, otherwise it. would be a . long time before we should be able to take a railway trip to Foxton. '''','