JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4446, 16 June 1893, Page 3

JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

Wednesday, June 14, (By Our Own Correspondent). ' Those Birthday Honours.—A Talkative Session.—The Ministerial Dry Hunt.—Hem alanders and the Australian Bunk Suspensions. More Ministerial Meddling,— titrcet Forestry in IMinyton I—The Wellington "I'ops."—A Sueeessfnl Com- , pany.—HJl.S. "Orlando" in l'ort. —Society Notes. Considerable disappointment is felt here in the matter of the Birthdiv honours distribution, as it would appear that this Colony lwa been completely ignored for some reason or other. Sir George Grey and Jlr J. E. Fitzgerald were looked upon as "' ' certainties for recognition and it was also thought that Mr G. S, Cooper, late Under-Secretary for tbe Colony, would receive a'C.M.G.-sbip as a reward for his long and able public service, extending over fifty years, After all there ajipeirs a probability that tbe session which commences on the 22nd will not be a short one. Not that it> is likely much work will be done, but from what I can hear a large amount of talk will be indulged in. I learn that Sir Bobort Stout will probably be asked to move and Mr A, I), W ilv' ■ "lis address in reply, but definitely settled yet. Members are now commencing to arrive, no doubt with tbe idea of securing convenient lodgings for the session, Tbe early bird secures the worm in this connection in Wellington during the session, as lodgings adjacent to the Parliament Buildings are very j scarce, and landladies must reap gol- ( deu harvests, owing to the famine prices usually charged for accommodation, The leadiug Opposition mem- j bers evidently anticipate a lengthy ( session, as Eome of them, notibly , i Capt. Russell and Mr A. E. 6. Ehodes, j have rented bouses for tbe winter in £ Wellington, The Governs /-?" ?ufn Parliament in person on the 22nd, J with tbe usual state and display. The , House will forthwith proceed to busi- j ness, instead of adjourning till the £ following Tuesday, as was formerly the J custom. I Everyone is curious to observe whit j will be Sir Robert Stout's position in £ the House, .Will he still continue to t be adviser and dry-nureo-in-chief to j the Ministry, or docs Mr Seddon now j consider he is old enough to stand alone.without the lending strings of j thfcT'flUitleddemocrat) SirKobert a • r islK..fHhtyioflink into obscurity; j ' and Mr Seddon, on the other hand, will desire to assert himself now he is at the bead of affairs, The latter has t beenstrainingattbeleashforsometime j past. Few have any idea how many people in this Colony are more or less 1 directly affected by the recent bank c suspensions in Australia. I know of [' several cases where people having invested their savings in some of the 0 Associated Banks, tempted by large t dividends, now find themselves in 1 a very embarrassed position. The '■ people mainly concerned are either c retired military men or ex-ludian r civil servants who have settled in the v Colony, and of course it is a very J serious matter for them. Une easel d have heard of, that of a lady—-the 1 widow of an officer in tbe Indian ' Aimy—is exceptionally hard. She J| had all her little capital locked up in t Bank, and is now rc- c duHnkl comfort to comparative c povtoy/for the time being at any- ° rate, P It is to be hoped that the attempt n made by the Ministry to sccuro con- ® trol over the Parliamentary officers J 1 will prove a failure, which it should ' do if the speakers of both Houses c Bland upon their rights and privileges 6 and demand that their authority ? Bball not be interfered with. It is of J 1 the highest importance that officers of 1! the House should not be subjeot " to individual Ministerial control, as 11 from the nature of their duties they P are placed in very important and responsible positions, where it is absolutely essential they should be freed 8 from anything approaching terrorism. " If par'toptary officers wore placed ° ] in the position of ordinary CivilSSe- b vants it would be impossible for them 8 to discharge their duties free from ut bias, they would naturally be in- f fluenced by fear of Ministerial dis- J a pleasure on some occasions. The old ) r system has worked admirably for J 1 many years paßt and works admirably j" now, and there is nothing that calls for a change, I well remembor Sir 1 Maurice O'JRorke, when he was w Speaker, coming down on the floor of "• the House and' doing battle with Sir w Harry Atkinson for the maintenance ofhis control of parliamentary officers, and winning the day too, to the entire J e . satisfaction of the House, Would al such a man were in office now I fr , hi ForesUofgr»atpoles for the Electric 86

m Light are springing up in tbe slreo everywhere, with tho result tlmt i a ® somo of tho narrow by-ways thefoi traffio is very muoh impeded. 1 0 . say nothing 'of the danger in wooden town of allowing these ove' id head" wiies and enormous poles I d, impede the publio thoroughfares w so making it a matter of difficulty I ™ get at a house if»firo should tat place, the beauty of the town, nor 116 too apparent at presont, is nntadde to by this system of arboriculturi i »Lemon" trees tho great pole y erected by the Telegraph Depaii '!• mcnt used to bo called; " baron 8 (bairen) trees,theEleetrio Light polf " might be called now, out of cotii|ili meat to Mr Suckling Buron the N.Z ie Electrical Syndicate's general mana is gor, Ir . f mentioned some time ago tha k the only thing required to make thi " sum of civilisation oompleta in Wei [, linuton would be the presence of i :d German Band in otir streets. Imus: have been prophetic in my utterance! io for the said band has now arrived, ant may bo heard braying at every utree '? corner at all hours of the day anc jj night, It is tho real genuine Simor ,1 Pure, all the performers being wan ie derera fiom the" Voterland," unmis :k talteablc" sauor krauts," Thesi i* Teutonic Troobadors bore in Wei ' 8 lington bring back with a rush t( 0 one's memory, rrcolleciions ofLondoi e suburbs, crowded English seaside re d sorts and bank holiday jaunts in thi it Old Country, when tho eternal Ger 1. man Baud was to be met at everj o turn, Graying nut melancholy waltzei ® and keeping ft wary tye on si ray six j ptneea. For" Auld Lang Syne" on< ]j " parts" ungrudgingly out here at the k Awipodes although tho musio is nol 0 divinely tuneful or cheerful, even, Nc e doubt you will see the Deinchers ir Mastoi ion, we will spare them cheerff f " lly ' The Wednesday and Thursday popular concerts have "caught on" with ' a great rush, There was an immense audience on Wednesday last at the Skating Rink, Nearly 2000 people were present to hear a very good programme of music performed, all for the vrry lowsura ofGrf. These sixpenny Wednesday "pops" havebeeu " slarled in opposition to Mr Parker's e shilling concerts at the Theatre Royal, bni they are not- likely to. clash in any ' way, as Iho patrons of each are dis- " tincilv different. Mi' Oimino caters for the great mass of the people at ' the Rink, while Mr Parker's concerts being of a somewhat more ambitious slyle of music draw only those who ' are, so to speak, musically educated. ' However, both are very good in their way, and the public of Wellington ' owes a debt of gratitude to tho pro- " moters. Music is a great factor in the ' civilizing and humanifing ofmankind, ' and for this reason alone these coil--1 certs deserve every support, I hear that a scheme for the settlement of D'Urvillo'a Island is bring floated in town, It is proposed, I bdiove, to lake up land on the Island under (he Special Settlement system. 'I should think, however, if Iho objpet of the proposed settlement is farming, that it would not prove a very remunerative speculation, as, the Island is extremely mountainous and sterile, and in many places ibickly wooded, Minerals of all kinds, especially copper, exist there in abundance, so porhaps Iho ide«, the details of which have not yet been made public, is to obtain concessions of land for mining purposes. Mining, however, on D'Urville's Island has been tried before with no very great success. In these times of depression it is highly gratifying to find an institution like the Gear Meat Company paying an interim dividend of ten per cent, It speaks volumes for the management of a concern which from the outset has been a distinct success. The fact alio that tho Gear Meat Company is making such a handsome return to its shareholders, is proof posith e of the flourhhing state of tho meat tiado in this province. The dividend has been paid too,in the face of what is admitted has beeu tho slackest frozen moat season for some time past. With the Gear Company, however, nothing is wasted, if one bianch of the business is not doing so well as it might, this is compensated for by another making up more than the deficiency, To a large extent the Gear Company's experience is tho experience of other meat cornpanics. When they do well every farmer in the district ougbtto do well also, tho natural conclusion is therefore, that it is to the great advantage I of producers to support institutions which have doue much to support them in the past and will continue to support thera in the future. It has almost passed into a proverb in Wellington that when a man-of-war is in port, bad weather may be reckoned upon as a certainty, This, has been amply borne out in the case of the' Orlando, 1 for every day since this fine warship has been in port it has rained and blown as only' Wellington weather knows how, Our climate, not content with wind and rain, has even treated our naval visitors to a snowstorm or two by way of a little variety. Our gallant defenders reasonably enough,growing tired of the eccentricities of our variable olimate, decided on Saturday last to haul tho ship alongide tho Queen's wharf, and the novel speotar cle may bo seen of an armoured cruiser carrying a heavy armament of all tho latest fighting guns snugly berthed like a merchant sieamer at a prosaio pier. Of course officers and men like this new departure) as it enables them to get ashore with dry jackets and without the fuss and formality of ordering out a boat and crew. '' General leave" has been granted to all goci oonduot men, and the town is swarming with blue jackets and marines, The'Orlando' - is daily crowded after one o'olock . with hosts of curious sight-seers, and j the utmost courtesy and attention is Jj paid to all. s The officers, of course, havo been in b great demand socially during the last 5 few days, and have been the recipients of much hospitality, which, I am bound to say, is repaid with the lavish generosity characteristic of sailors, j upon a call being made upon the o ward and gun rooms. The blue ® jackets, as usual, have fralernised j] freely ashore with the civilians, and judging from the guard-room reports some of them have been enjoying , themselves not wisely but too well. This, however, is not much to be ■ wondered at, when it is considered ttiat the life of tho average man-of- j warsman is not by any means a bed ' of roses. True, he has plenty to eat and is not hard worked, but he is subjected to a vory strict discipline, he is at the beck and call of every officer, from the little midshipman upwards, . bis little shortcomings are very severely dealt with; wtbi? sleeping |

els accommodation is, to say the least in it, deefdodly limited, . The main jot warsman has no comfortable foi To caatle, he has to sling his hammc a between decks and snatch what sle et- ho can, surrounded by dozens of I to messmates, and bumped into nd passers-by at all times of the day a to night. He has not at atom of p ike vucy, and how he performs, his toil na is a mystery, for he has to appear led inspection, clean, neaily dressed, m re. carefully shaved. Iu this lespei lea Jack Tar is a wonder, On board t it- '• Orlando," not only is the sleepii i" accommodation, like all meh-of-wo Ice primitive, but there are actual li'i eighty men for whom there is abs Z, lutoly no accommodation at all. The a- mm have to berth every night whei ever they oan find a spare plank something to sling their hammoo at to. lie —. )1- Socially, there has been muoh'd a ing during the last few days, an st there is also plenty of promised gaiel 6s ahead. The receptiongiven on Suturdi id niglit at Government House to tl et Admiral, was well attended, althoug id tho weather was bitterly cold. Ever; in body enjoyed themselves by walkir u- about, talking and listening to tl s- strains of Kiug's excellent string ban se l'lie dance at Government House o il- Monday to the Admiral and officei to of the" Orlando" was also most sue in cessful. Two other dances have bee e- arranged for the" Orlando " men tb ie week,both at Government House, or r- to-night' (Wednesday) and ono c :y Saturday. The Mayor entertains tl: e's Admiral and the Governor and the k- respective* staffs at dinner lo nigh ie The squadron will not rendezvous hei ie after all, this .time, so the dance at tl at Club falls through; Several aftemoo to tea parties have taken place on th in '' Orlando," and nearly every evei r- ing the mess is crowded with visitoi to dinner, The Amateur Theatr cals at the Theatre Royal o,tm >- off last night, with much fclat, b< h fore a large aud brilliant audienci ie On the 'whole the performance wa ie very good, though the play selecte lo ('A Lesson in Lo?o') was nc )- exactly suited for representation b ir amateurs, Mr E, B, Izard wa especially successful as the 'comi ut man' of the play. Mr W. H. Levir 's Yice President of the Wollingto I, Club, is giving a largo ball at th y Club House next month, and therear i- rumours about a fanoy dress ball a s Government House in August. Lad; t Buckley, wife of the Colonial Secre 8 tary, left for England by the 1 Tonga s riro' on Thursday last, and expect; 0 to return to the Colony early nex I. year, I hear that Mr H. D, Bell hai r expressed his determination not ti 1 stand for re election as Mayor whei - his present term of office expires ii 0 November.