JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4369, 16 March 1893, Page 2

JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

(By Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Wednesday. One of the firat topics that naturally suggests itself to one to touch on at tbia unseasonable time of the year, is the weather. Ooe could wax eloquent over the caprices of our climate, but I will forbear, merSy stating that the experiences of the last few days are enough to stake anyone's faith in the belief that Wellington I possesses any sort of a climate at all.' K Ibis rain, rushing up with fierce, oold blasts of wind direct from the Antarctic regions, had iiob held up, it would have been necessary to have waylaid some of the subscriptions that are now pouring into unfortunate Queensland, and handed them over to the Wellington Floods Relief Fund. As it is, the damage done in' Wellington, the Vallay of the Hutt, and other suburbs, will run into some thousands of sight of tbogreat mass crtfily liquid in our drainage is tooarry otTatorm water - when any extra pressure is put upon its resources. At the very lowest computation some fifty families are rendered homeless in Wellington by the flood. Mitchelltown ia e\ scene of desolation and ruin. In'Grainger street the houses are half full of mild and at present : many are quite unfit for occupation. The poor people in JDrunimond's and Sannder's lanes off . Tinakoiißoad,are in the woratplight, however, lor the water is to-day, Monday, still standing in their houses to depths varying from 8 to 10 feet. : The Corporation does not seem to be able to grapple with the mishap for no efforts appear to be made i the water off. In the meantihjßlT '" their little household possessions are being utterly ruined by a deposit of ' nlthy mud. to say nothing of the water, No one could have believed that a town situated as Wellington is ' could possibly havesufkedsoseverely from floods caused by mere surface storm water. The Hutt aud Petone are truly inadeplorablestate although • the water has now drained away to a . vory large extent. At present from the Petone beach up the valley to the. Taita, the district, resembles a see of : mud. The beautiful gardens wbioh flourish so luxuriantly in the rioh valley, of the. Hutt are utterly ruined and it will take a longtime for everything to be put ship-shape again. Fortunately MoNab's famous gardens esoaped with comparatively little damage. The flood atthe Hutt and Pe> ' tone was caused, of course, by the Hutt River and other small streams ; overflowing their banks. The shop, keopers at Potone .have suffered severely from the invasion of the water . in tboir premises, lu town'very few "*' of the shops sustained any loss. For a wonder Lambtdn Quay, opposite the Government Buildings, was not flooded to any great extent, As a rule this part of the town,.when the rain is anything above tho ordinary, ' ; quickly becomes a lake. The land / slips in the vicinity of the tojg} are 1 very considerable, and I am'told it \ ■ will cost the Hutt County Council at " least £4OO to put their roads in order. i again, The Petone Borough is also a ■ heavy sufferer, damage to the extent , ofJ>3oobeing:done. The Corporation ' of Wellington will have a heavy bill in for repairs also. It is reported that exclusive of the damage to the retaining wall at the Tuorndon Esplanade that to repair damage done to oulverts, sewers, roads and channellings will take from £2OOO to £3OOO. It will cost the Railway Commissioners tore* pair the line from Wellington, to the Hutt alone a p:etty considerable Bum, without mentioning slips, etc, on the Rftnutaka Incline. The railway bridge at Kaiwarra will havo to be entirely replaced, and the retaining j wall from Kaiwarra to Petone is in ! a very shaky condition. The yacht r owners in Wellington have been particularly unfortunate, but otherwise the damage to shipping is not great. | Most of the gardens in town are in a bad state of repair, and many troos , have everywhere been blown down. ' The town has been in darknoss ever since Saturday, owing to somo of the Wainui water pipes having been carried clean away by the flood waters on Petone JJeacb, in consequenoe of which the maohinery for gonorating the electric light cannot bo run. The Wellington Racing Qlub ' have been singularly unfortunate lately. They recently had to pay '., about £2OO in double stakes owing to the recent Supremo Court action / . over the miscarriage of nominations, • \ and now their tan gallop, whioh cost jA \ £2OO to lay down, has been out to sea. The damage to the new | A. and P. Bhow ground at Petone ia ■■■:■■ not very great, .although the water covered the entire enolosnre to the'depth of several feet,. •

In the midst of all this time of trouble to those poor people who have been flooded out, their furniture destroyed, Bnd houses wrecked, it is gratifying to nolo koiv ready have been thomeasures taken for rendering assistance, Hig'uand low have met oa one common platform in the cause of sympathy and each vied with the other in housing, clothing and feeding the unfortunate sufferers. How true is it that" one touch of nature makes the whole world kin," In ; tbo blinding rain and furious wind of Saturday morning might have been seen wetJSßaa* ministering to tho SufferewfofPlf no leas nobly in their work of help by their more hardy sisters,' the women of the people. Upon occasions of this nature, how quickly casto, conditioned creed,are thrown on ono Bide and an ennobling cause places all upon an equality.

The weather has now oleared up and May the sun jb shining forth oncomore. Thatovil prophot Capt, Edwin, however, predicts heavy northerly galea ae a pleasant ohange after the southerly "busters "of last week; with heavy rain as an accom.paDimont, Beally Capt. Edwin has been far too successful in his predictions of late, lot us hope lie ie in error this time. The Government ought certainly to raise the gonial captain's official salary for as he has been heard pathetically to. remark " how can' people expect better weather wbon a man only gets a beggarly £BOO a year; if better weather is required it must be paid for." Under the cir-. cumstanoes it might be economy to' raise our prophet's "screw.". The Government should really take the matter into Berious consideraation; ■ '

The Hon Mr BollesWs supporters arefilled with themoßtsuprerae disgust at his Auckland speech, bo I am informed by one of his sturdy henchmen here. If the leader, of the Opposition persists in his ospreßsed de* termination to deliver some morepolitical addresses down South the party will be up in revolt. Much as he is esteemed as a man, "a scholar and a gentleman" tho Opposition party will [not stand very wjieh m® 0 |

fcoblo attompta to meet tlic cnoiny in a position where ho is utterly incapable of doing tho slightest good (o his cause, on tho contrary hois doing it infinite barm. It is now thoroughly believed that Sir Robart Stout will be a certain ciindidato at tho general olection, a fact not altogether relished [ hy the Government, although they I try to look happy and unconcerned, g. What to do with him when in B*Parliameflr is tho groat conundrum? No ono is likely to be self-abnegating enough to niakn room for liiin on tho Treasury Benches. As a frou lance Sir Kobert Stout would bo trying, and as a " candid friend" ho would uiako tho Cabinet's life unbearable ; tho only way to keep him quiet iB to giro him a place, but who's to go? All, there's llio rub! It is generally admitted on all sides that Sir Robert's speech at Auokland was a masterly exposition of the state of affairs—from his point of view—and ihcro is no mistaking the position ho will take up in Parliament if returned. Private mattruLof great urgency, which have Robert Stout out of politics "TOfflßPirW few years, have quito recently been cleared up, and there is nothing to hinder his candidature if so minded. Mr W. J. Napier, solicitor of Auck- - land, who has recently licon on the Btump in the Liberal interest, will, it is rumoured, be a candidate for one of the Auckland seats at the General Election. Mr Napier is a man of great ability, and should stand a very good chance of election, Mr Napier iB a son-in-1. w of Mr E. W. Mills, of Wellington, Another largo shipment of stoats and weasels arrived in Wellington jJTffijrjJjF day consigned to a wellknown firm in town, Their destination is, I am informed, the Wairarapa. It is open to doubt whether the new arrivals will be welcomed by settlers in the dißtvict who may be in possession of poultry yards, It is high time this importation was stopped, for it has beon proved over and over agaiu that the rabbits they destroy is more than counterbalanced by the mischief these yermin do to poultry and game,

A friend of mine recently had the curiosity to reckon up how many lawyers there were in Wellington, when the alarming fact was disclosed that there are nearly seventy lot loose to prey on this community, Ye Gods I Fancy 70 lawyers in a town of 80,000 odd inhabitants! The wonder is how they all live and let others live. One would hardly have thought that there was enough law in town to keep 70 practitioners going. A few no doubt make really handsome incomes, but the rank and file must do a lot of "devilling" to make ends meet.

One often hears a lot about bow so and so Minister for this or that held a largo and enthusiastic meeting of bis Liberal supporters in some obi scure up-country town, and wonders how on flgfth the affair was worked up, A little anecdote told to mo the other day by a gentleman who is behind tho scenes throws a lurid glare on the business. It seems that not very long ago, a certain premier, who shall be namolesa, was invited to address a public meoting of Liberal sympathisers at a town not 100 miles from Feilding. Tho meoting came off til right, and was very successful. a packed bouse listening to tho address. It leaked out, however, afterwards, that the requisition for tho address bad been hawked about by tho caretaker of tho public hall, and Bomo prominent names having been obtained, it was sent to the Minister in question. Tho same caretaker received a commission of 25 per cent of tho rent for every night the Hall was let, and business having been dull about that time in the hall letting line, he conceived the brilliant idea of working up a political address and pocketing his commission on the rent, Hence the spontaneous and infiuentially signed requisition for the address 1

His Excellency the Governor leaves for Hawke's Bay on Wednesday morning en rmlc to Auckland where he will reside until the latter end of April, returning to Wellington to receive the Austrian Heir-Apparent who is expeotcd here about the 29th of April. His Excellency will after his return remain in Wellington until after Parliament has dissolved, People here will miss very much the festiviI . ties attendant ou Government House \mte f 8 Dew OCCU P an ' 3 °f the vice'***ftjijj) residence havo proved more than usually hospitable, Receptions, garden parties and dances are of frequent occurrence and people very much appreciate tho kindly and unaffected hospitality of Lady Glasgow, His Excellency and Ledy Glasgow have proved a distinct success and are universally acknowledged to bo the most popular representatives of Royalty who havo over held court in this Colony.

Talking of dances, it is strange how the overloeting waltz remains in favor, though it is infinitely pteforable to the riotous" larrikin" polka. The pas de (jualre, introduced by the Government House family, is still very popular here. The music is inspiriting, and the step is graceful when properly danced; Aaianco forming a pleasing " ..PIASKW&era aro now nearly always danced in what is known as the!' kitchen" style. This species of romp iB great fun to the younger generation, though the older people still prefer lo walk through the figures in tho old-fashioned sedate and dignified stylo, The reel, four* somo and cightßorao, has become a firm favourite here through tho example sot by tho Government House family, who, being Scotch, of course, aro patriotic enough to like the national dances. At Government House, tho reel is nearly always danced to tho bagpipes, the Governor's aide-de-camp, Captain Hunter-Blair, playing that melodious instrument with much gusto. ________