WELLINGTON NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 247, 15 February 1898, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

[from our own coimE>roNDE?rrl. V/iixisotov, Febrary 7 IN THE TOIL*.

Pkkmibr Skddon left Westland crowned with laurels, inflated to bursting point with the adulation which had Mowed to hiin at banquets, in addresses and poetical tributes to his greatness and the jov feft by the democracy of the diggings at his hobnobbing" with royalty. Tis but a day's journey from Kumara to Chnstchnrch, but not only do the people change, but the Premier also in that short distance. There is a fermenting disconteut on ono side of the mountains, there is revolty and public cash ga'orc on the other. The artizan classes of Christchurch, for whom their idol Reeves adopted and parsed Labour Bills, now want to become farmers, and ask Mr Siddon to show them how. He. knowing all things as a rule, confesses Ilia inability to convert shoemakers into agriculturists except by the State proriding for them while they learned the trade. There in the great stronghold of Liberalism is the Tarty, once so united, now resembling en angry Caliban plunging hither and thither blindly, in the hope of finding (Miverance from the bondage it feels the pressure of, but does not yet know how to cast off. But the giant's eyes are opening tor a special rally with the object of organising the Party and hardening it up for the conflict that will ensue in seven or eight months from now, this call to arms was answered by only 100 souls, and that too when the two great chiefs of the party were present in person. The records of the first half of that depressing meeting are public property owing to the presence of a Christchurch Press reporter unbeknown to the leaders ot the movement. The Eight Honorable was dispirited and took a gloomy view of things. He figured out that if the great Liberal Party stuck together, and confined themselves to the one great principle of keeping Seddon and Co. in power that he thought it could be managed if they only raa the candidates he approved of, and on his part he would provide a new sort of weapoD, guaranteed to exterminate opponents at loDg range, called the second ballot. He was proceeding to repeat the old wheezes about the Opposition not daring to advocate the repeal of the Liberal Statutes, which, by the way, are one and all the very measures he himself opposed when introduced by the Atkinson Government, when MrO W. Russell ex M.H.R., and at cno time leader of the Left Wing, caught sight of the reporter. The av ful news was whispered to the orator, who was wound up for the usual 3£ houis, but the shock so unnerved fnni that he collapsed before an hour had passed. He during the harangue advised all his hearers to go to'the West Coast, a laud flowing with mi k and honey, and something to put in it to kill the microbes. In blissful ignorance of the presence of a Tory scribe, the Hon. Jock continued the oit told tale of how capital owned the newspapers of the colony, and the only way Ministers could keep in touch with the people was by stumping the country. Both the Dunedin papers, he said, were Conservative, and in Christchureh one was the fame, and the other —goodness knew what. When he had got that far the attention of the meeting was diverted to a bit of by-plsy between a 'arge-sized milesian and the reporter. ". Lave the rccm at wance," said the former. " What do yen neon ? " asked the presMiian. " Lave the room at wance, I say, or begob oi'll .nake yez," said the chucker-out. " Your reasons, please ? " asked the unabashed reporter. " Raysons, is it ? Come on now wid yez," ordeted the other. " And if I refuse to leave," queried the reporter. The Liberal whip then condescended to explain that tht meeting was a piivate cue and the reporter had no right there, and on this he left. The curious part of this affair is that while the Government of the people complains that their only means of laying ihe ! r views lefoie the people is by stumping the corntry aid explaining themselves by that means, that in a populous city like Christchurch they hold a hole and corner meeting of 100 followers and prevmt the electors from knowing the views they vaguely talk about by refusing aduf ssitn to the press. THE GOLDEN WEST. Mr Seddon, like Horace Greeley, when asked advice as to how to get on in the world, said "Go west, young roan, go west." Wc all realise that the Premici's constituents are in clover, and it is worth while examining the nature of the pastures upon which his flock thrives so well thtt every village and towi ship on it can piovidc brass banch, triumphal arches, banquets, and back gully poetry. In ordiuary places a community lives on what it produces and sells for export. If exports full off, imports must also, because all trade is barter in the long run. Weatland, however, contrives to set this economic law at defiance by the operation of that wonderful engine—the .«poils to the victors-. Gold is the chief product, and if we take the number of men engaged in that industry we find that while the Ministers' statement to Parlhment last year sets the number of roiuers down at 1926 in Westland, the Warden's report shows that only 358 paid for miner's ligh's. Now, no miner. with a claim or water race worth keeping, will lisk losing it for the sake of the 10s for a right. This implies, therefore, that only one digger in every six has a payable claim. This surm'se is borne out by the quantity of gold produced. For the year ending March 31st, 1897, the tfiiual retr.rrs show that the value was .£94,907, which divided among 1926 tnineis, gives the maiiiticent sum of £49 4s per man or less than £1 per week. But even that paltry income is growing rapidly less, for during the December ejiiarter, only £13,432 in value was won from the ground, this is less than las per week. It doe 3 not require a wizard of finance to show that this sort of thing will not inn lanqucts and brass bauds. Where then does the money come from ? The answer ia—subsidies. Subsidies to so-called miners and prospecting assocalions. There are 11 tf the e blood-suok-iug machitcs in and near Kumara, four at Ross and four at other places in the Premier's e'ectorate. One of them had a vote of £1862 'ast year, another £IBOO and downwards to £7 10s. Subsidias 9gain for Sludge Change's to the extmt ci £6509 for the same period and to the same constituency, all of which is worth less to the colony as opening rew fields for according to the Warden's reports, the localities where these vast sums are being spent arc be'ng gradually worked out. Then come the enoimous diversions of loan money from the purposes it was borrowed for :—Over £7OOO from the Thermal Springs Vote ; £4200 from Lands for Settlement Vote, there being no Thermal Spiings and very litt'e land suitable for settlement in the country ; then over £14,000 for roads on gold fields, and it is impossible to say bow much from the appropiiation for development of go'.dficlds for the £40,000 spent last year is not allocated' to any particular district, but it goe? without saying that the lion's share went to Westlanrf. Leaving this out of f.he count althougher, we have £35,C00 of public money distributed among 1926 miners—?ay £lB per annum per head—equivalent to the Old Age Pensions Mr Seddon desires to give to all. Nor do Ministerial favours end here. Special favour i 3 shown to Westlanrf sleepers, wh'ch are considered so much superior to any other that the Government steamen are utilised to comey them to Auckland, where bitter timber grows, and to \arioui ports on the South Jslaui'i In the inspection of tl cse, a sleeper that would be condemned in eny other district is considned good enough iu Wtb'.UttJj as seeing is an aid to

believing, Mr Massey brought a very convincing pi oof last session in a decayed | chunk of a silver pine sleeper which had i passed muster in Westlaud and been conveyed to Auckland. Finally, there is the Midland Railway upon which 180 m.u have been employed and scill are, and the cost charged to the debentureholders, who, of course, have to grin and bear the martyrdom of having work performed on the cooperative pi inciple. It will be seen that the public cash spent to make Mr Ssddon'a fiiench happy is just about tquiva'ent t) the total value of their productions, and although it is a very good thing for the colony to be able to expoit gold, still when that gold costs the colony its full va'ue and the denizens of the wild West Coat enjoy the benefits and pleasures arising from the spending of it, it is clear that theChiistchuioh Liberals have good cause to feel discontented. They should certainly go west. But methinks the day is not tar distant when the?e pampered banqueters will have to rely o i their own resources, as do their cousins in Otngo, where the private eircrpiise of the investors in dredges and icefs and sluicing claims is producing larger quantities of gold by far, and not beholden to the State for a single sixpence.