Wellington.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 1, Issue 48, 11 July 1890, Page 2

Wellington.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Political News.

' I have kept you posted up pretty well by telegraph regarding political matters, and after last night's budget I have little more to add as to any fresh development. The great topic at present is as to what attitude the Government will assume respecting the request of the deputation of extreme retrenchers who waited upon the Premier yesterday, preferring a request that the estimates be taken back, and reduced by a lump sum of £50,000. The significance of the request will be apparent when it is understood that, of the eleven members who comprised the deputation, the bulk of them are Government supporters, therefore in the present unsatisfactory position of the Government, the force is something to be reckoned with. It was not to be expected that the Premier would " eat the leek" by taking back his own estimates which he declared had been framed with the utmost regard to economy, but he declared that he would accept such decisions as the Committee of Supply might arrive at in regard to the several departments. This decision did not please the deputation, who, a b jond time, waited,upon the Premier and urged retrench-" ment, with such force that a meeting of the Cabinet was to be held last evening to consider the matter, and the decision will probably be announced when the House assembles to-morrow evening. The position of the Government is a very inseoure one at the present time, and is greatly weakened by the absence of the Premier when there are important debates in the House. Mr Hutchison's indictment will be a hard nut for them to crack—indeed, it seems unanswerable, and has injured the Government greatly. Mr Hutchison alleges that in the proceeding relative to the two million loan of 1888, Ministers so dealt with the Consolidated Fund as to assist the Bank of New Zealand (one of their number being Chairman j of the Bank directors at the time) to the prejudice of the tax-payer; that through the Agent-General the Government were the means of bolstering up the Bank's position prior to the unsatisfactory disclosures of 1889, and that the advance made last October to the New Plymouth Harbour Board, though under the guise of protecting the two-and-a-quarter million loan conversion scheme, was really meant to suggest through the Agent-General that default in payment of interest would not be made by the Board. These charges, combined with the repeated rumour that two members of the Cabinet owed the Bank £60,000, and had paid no interest for four years, has created great suspicion regarding the relations of the Government with the Bank of New Zealand. I am not an advocate for a dissolution, but I fear that the term of usefulness of the present Cabinet has expired, and that the least of two evils would be to send the issues to the country, be the cost what it may. With a moribund Parliament, a Government without a head, and unfit to carry any useful legislation, and practically under the new Act, twenty-one members having no right to the title of representatives, it is high time that the House was dissolved.

New Zealand Bank. In a long letter to the Times this morning, defending his action, Mr Buckley, late Chairman of the Board of Directors, concludes a scathing reply in the following terms, which are well worth perusal : " We hear something about questions of ' taste,' matters of ' honour,' and so on; but what of questions of honesty, robbery, and spoliation ? In Auckland the shareholders of the Bank must have been spoiled first and last of at least a million of money, so that all the accumulated profits, and over half the capital of the Bank have been lost. The proof lies in this: The Committee wrote off the capital in October, 1880, £300,000, and Mr Hean estimates the additional loss on Globo Account at £349,ooo—total, £649,000- I ask, is there to be no thought for families, whose capital was. invested in Bank shares, and who, by this sort of thing, have been reduced to starvation from positions of comfort? The Shareholders' Committee which included one of the ablest Judges who ever adorned the Bench in New Zealand—recommended " more specific action " as regards some of the principal of those who had dipped their hands up to the shoulders in the Bank's till whilst holding positions on the Board of Directors. Why has not this " more specific action" been taken? Is it because some of the parties involved fyold such high positions that they are unapproachable by the ordinary legal processes ? I venture to say that when the full and true history of the Bank of New Zealand comes to be written, or unfolded in our courts, things will be revealed which will literally make " the hair stand on end," and that it will be found that the very worst pages in the record of the City of Glasgow Bank

failure have had their counterpart in the actions of certain persons who were connected with the Bank of New Zealand." Trades and Labour. The Committee of the Trades and Labour Council appointed to enquire in the dispute between the directors of the Woollen Mill Company and the operatives and ex-operatives, have, after taking exhaustive evidence, reported against the latter, and the consequence is that the strike pay will cease. The incident shows that the operatives, or a section of" them, were acting in a manner that could not command the sympathy of the public, and this is apparent from the fact that that their own tribunal reported against them, and gave the Company credit for carrying out their agreement in a fair and just manner. The tram strike still continues, but it attracts but very little public attention. No doubt the Company has suffered much in patronage,' but with capital at its back and no scarcity of hands to work the concern, | it pursues the even tenour of. its way. I may mention for what it is worth ' that a rumour is current in. the city that the trams have been bought by the proprietors of one of the evening here. As they are shrewd business men, reputedly wealthy, and; enjoy muoh popularity, it is probable that in their hands the concern could be made to pay as handsomely as their I newspaper property is reputed to do. J The steamship owners have now | under consideration the demands of: the Marine Officers' Assooiatian for an increased number of officers shipped i on board coastal steamers, reduction in the hours of duty and increased pay. The owners have replied to the demands, but the nature of the reply has not transpired; in the meantime a ballot qf the members of the Association is being taken throughout the colony, the result of which should be known in a few days. Charitable Relief, One of the inmates of the Benevolent Institution, an old man named Pucill, has directed attention to what he alleges is the harsh treatment to which the inmates are subjected. A•' round robin " complaint was lodged with the trustees, but subsequent enquiry did not bear out the allegations made with respect to the food and accommodation supplied. Pucill was asked to do some light work, but refused on the ground that he was incapable of doing any kind of work, and he was turned out of the institution. Being without means and nowhere to go, he applied to the police to be locked up, which they considerately did, and he was this morning brought before the Magistrate as a vagrant, and remanded to see whether he would be again taken back to the establishment where such men are boarded by the trustees. The complaint of the men as to the quality of the food supplied to them seems to be groundless.