JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4625, 18 January 1894, Page 2

JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

[By Out Own Ooctespondent.J '* TOBSDAY. Departing colonists; homeward bound,—Government House and the Governor's staff.—The death of Mr F. Vogel in MataMeknd,—Tke BeneW' lent Homt.—A'sentibh arrangement, —An admirably . gossip.-Tht growth of Wellingi ( ton.—Talk on change,—Belies of the ' past,—Removal of some historic land marks. i Several of our leading citizens are about to pay a visit to the Old' Country, Amongst those on tho * wing are the Eon. O. J. Johnston, 1 ' Mrs Johnston and family, B, Izard and his former leave for England by way the Canal, next month,.whilst.Mr : Izard goes Home this week in the ::i " Eimntaka," I anr'sorry to state"':'; ; that Mr' Izard has sufferers good: :, y;£ deal lately from :an-affeotief|£|!!r'V' eyes, and I understand!.■'thsWX'ia '■ going Home ohiefly to obtain advice ; and treatment from some of the colebrated European ooulista, The Hon, ";•''■ G. M. Waterhouse, ex-member of the , Legislative Council and a well-known . former resident of Wellington, aocom--1 panied by Mrs Waterhouse, is now " 1 visiting Wellington again. Mr and ' Mrs Waterhouse have resided in Eng." ; land for some years past, and their i present visit to New Zealand is only a flying one, as after a few;'weeks' stay i they intend to travel straight baok to ■ England again, ■ Mr and Mrs' Wate- ' , house are now permanently residingin England, and there is not muoh • chanoe of their settling once more in ' the Colony. ■..'•■ " ■' |' Everyone in Wellington who has' been brought into contact with Colonel I Pat. Boyle,'the Governor's genial and i courteous private secretary,' will regret to learn that he bas resigned I from His Exoellehoy's staff,' and ! shortly proceeds to England to join " \ hia regiment—the craok Grenadier Guards. Col. Boyle Is a model of all i that a private secretary Bhould be. ' Kindly, considerate and oonrteoas to ' ■ all,.and possessed with a ready taofc' ' he haß done muoh to popularise the i regime 1 of the representatives of Eoyalty [ in the Colony, I am also informed i that Captain Honter-Blair, A.D.0., who was recently married to Miss r Rhodes of Oliristchurch, intends to i rejoin his regiment —the Gordon • i Highlanders-at an early dajfciV ~Ab | Lady Glasgow will also probably be ' absent from' the Colony during the! , oomiog- winter the good people of ; Wellington will miss the usual" i Government House entertainments [ unless Mrs Stewart, her Ladyship's 1 sister, does duty for her. Lady 1 Glasgow goes ■ to England I under- ' stand for the, purpose of presenting . her eldest daughther Lady Augusta'' | Boyle, at Court, v ' i Two of Wellington's leading i lawyers, Messrs Menteath and j Jellicoe, contemplate an early visit to '■ | England, Mr Menteath goes home , to support an appeal to the Privy I Oounoil in connection with a welli known Native oase whioh has excited ■ public attention .for some time past. I Mr Jellicoe is forced to take a obange. 1 on account of delicate health and j will be absent from the Colony, , for at least a year. Accompanied , by .Mrs Jellicoe he intends, to v.' i make his way to England viatfhina 1 and Japan,orossing from' \r^tba ■ to British Columbia and journeying ■ | through Canada en route to the old ' country. < f The many friends of Sir Julius and ! Lady Vogel and of Mr H. B.Vogel in Wellington' will deeply deplore the . sad bereavement they have suffered " ) by the death of Mr Prank Vogel in . Matabeleknd. This high-spirited and b line young fellow, who haiso'sud., denly been cut off in ■ the very flower of his youth, threw up a go*od appointment in Mashonaland for the '' purpose of volunteering for the front, j when hostilities with theMatabeles t broke out.' In a bright and ohatly letter to his brother in Wellington . some months ago he vividly depioted ■• . the preparations that were being i|2jte': i i by the colonial authorities to pnjfld ) against the Mataboles, and IooHJMF;- » ward with youthful ardour anon'ope- , \ fulness to an early and sucoossful j termination of the campaign. It is . sad in the extreme to think that suoh , a promising young lifo haß been , i sacrificed, but the griof felt by hie- ' , bereaved paronts will no doubt bo > alleyiated by the thought that at least their son has died, as many bright . young Englishmen have done before 1 him, with his face to the foe in a last ' | heroic stand against overwhelming 1 odds. In Wellington, where Sir , Julius and Lady Vogel are so well " known, the news caused quite a painful sensation, and tho heartfelt '-. sympathy of thousands will be wjth them in this their great sorrow, Mr ! H. B. Vogel is himself absent from ", town in the Inland Fatea District, • engaged on Native Land Court business and it must bo some days before ' the sad news :oan reach him. Sir '■■ Julius Vogel has of late been in voBj? I indifferent health, and great anxiety'" is felt as to the effect the shook of the news will have upon him, The Trustees of the Benevolent ' Home have at last after much oogi- : . tation, bit upon the idea of giving tithe master of the Ho.me'\piffl»r-to eject any unruly inmate wß^kpfrisiatsi. in making himself objectionable, and •' refuses to oqnform to the rules of the Institution, Why "such power WBS not given to the master (Mr McOleary) before, is a matter of mystery. These old gentlemen, many "of them oxtremely able, bodied and quite able to' work for their living, seem to fancy theyhßveapreNemptiverightto ,, bo8s" the Home, and that while condescending to avail themselves temporarily or •otherwise of the hospitalities of the institution they are perfectly entitled to do whatever pleasestheirownsweefc'' will. That .they are liyirig on charity at the expense of the ratepayers, does' not seem to ocourto them for a '-■, moment. Some of the gentry have at,: timeßmude matters extremely rife-" pleasant for the master and 'matron/", and the power now given for the purpose of taking prompt measures to suppress insubordination and iin-■•".■ ruliness by instant ejection, was very muoh, needed; It has been - too much the habit to pamper 'these old wrecks of,humanity up to such i_ pitoh that really they have conceived suoh an insufferable 'idea of their own importance, as to ; imperil tbe : disciplineofthe whole" -. establishment. It was most intensely.. ■ ■ ■;-' amusing on election day to sea the ' '■ :?£ old fellows drive up; in state to the" poljingbooth,; under the watehful eye "-3 ? S of tlie master for 4any : of themwere. ; ;i not so as to' be able'W s'|£S a^pint;; admintßterpd; at-. : rT-^ 6Bin^6rtinMiß||t^

„ waived aside the importunites of the canvassers foe the various candidates _* •' »t the door of the polling booth. It was one of the drollest inoidentu of '- the eleotion. ( Should any of your readers upon a , visit to town have a spare half hour, • in whiob. they know not what to do '. with themselves, I would recommend a visit Mhe Home as a veryprofitfibleand pleasant manner in which to wile away the time. Mr and lira MoCleary make all visitors heartily welcome, and spare noither time nor trouble in showing you over the Home and grounds. Some of the old fellows themselves aro very entertaining to talk with for a few moments, and the old dames neatly and cleanly dressed v • are quaintly amusing, Nothing I *" seenin the colony puts me more ._. Jkthjl old fashioned country in England than does the Wellington Benevolent Home. Everything in the Obiro Home is a modal of neatness end oleanliness, and refoots the highest credit upon the care- | takers, Tiytoe, whiohissituated I on the must not be con« . founded with the Old Men's Home at Newtown, which is aseparate institu- ,• tion altogether, supported entirely by Voluntary contribution. The oft repeated interjection of the Butterman, in Byron's celebrated oomedy of " Our Boys," of "aiotit 'ot ?" ocours to one's mind a hundred times a day dnring the present Spell of sultry weather, which we in the town in common with you in the country, havr been experiencing for the last week or so, It is, of course, Seasonable m- aher, and what we have only a /ight to expect t>t this time of the year if the seasons had not got so horribly mixid up as they have lately, w that we have quite given up -expecting any summer sun. Yet, nevertheless it is the kind of weather, in which we in the towns appreciate the remark made by Bomo wise man— I forgot whom for the moment—that " God made the country, and man the . towns." One longs for green lanes and shady dells instead of bricks and mortar or pavements shimmering in the noonday glare. There is no coolness in man's towns—there is in God's country. Yet we must, J ] suppose, look upon this seasonable warmth as a blessing, for many a poor struggling bush settler groaning under the disappointments of several years had " burns" will have cause for *-. if the present hot weather L """ coclinues. Indeed, judging by the haze 61 hangs around Wellington at present,.bqrnirjg operations must be proceeding right merrily up country, more especially up the Manawatu line and bush lands in the near vicinity of Wellington, There is still very little revival in trade ciroles, sod money is, to use the hackneyed but very expressive term, extremely " tight." The shopkeepers are not feeling the pinch so much just now as tbe wholesale ■""*" houses are, with keen competition over ' and adamantine bankers : deaf to all entreaties for further ' accommodation The calls shortly to be made by the N.Z.'Loan and'Mer- ' cantile Agency Company under ' tbeir reconstruction scheme, will < press very heavily upon some of' the small people of Welling- ' ' .ton, who have invested their savings ' in what they thought was a certain : means of obtaining a good return at ' little or no risk. Then, people, mostly clerk and otters of the wage earning ' class, willful the pinch pretty ' severely to pay up calls and make ' both ends meet during the next few ' years, There are more of this class of shareholders in Wellington than would be generally sup* posed, Still, bad as it is, for many, there is a general feeling of thankfulnoil that matters are no worse, and ' the eheerfulneis with which tbe i reconstruction scheme is being ac- ] cepted, angurs well for the welfare of i this institution which has undoubtedly , been a great boon to settlers in the i past and will, there is no doubt, be I the same in the future. Some very large shipments of wool ... have recently left Wellington for London, and the" Rimutaka" leaves . on Thursday, a full ship, with a big | cargo of wool and mutton. I hear j there hav&Jm some ver/large clips ' in varioiuvparft of this province, and ' if fair prices are only obtainable at j the London sales,things should take a , turn for the better again. ApromU i nent sharebroker in town informed me ' | that sales in shares were never so j L,, .--'quiet as at the present time—there is , absolutely no speculation; The same i remarks applies to sales of real estates, ' they are"like angels' visits, few and ] far between," , i House properties in the city are, j however, at a premium, and although j very few'are changing hands, yet, ( nevertheless, it is a difficult matter to - ' obtain a decent house at a moderato ' rent, They are let as soon as empty, ! and building is prooeediog very rapidly ! , all over the oity, sb recent returns i Bhow. This means, of course, that our < population has largely increased dur- j ing the past year. At the Thorndon ■ end of tJjiG town it is absolutely im- ' possible to obtain a fairly largo house < r at all, say of from 10 to 12 rooms at ' rente at all proportionate. The rents J for houses of this kind at the Thorndon ■ > end'range from £9O to £l2O per < ■ annum, j It ii satisfactory, to" note that the i -•••••■■ last determined to | compel theoWnrWof those disreputable ' ■ old-tim? tenements on Thorndon and Lambton Quay to pull them down i within three months. Thesetotlering decaying, worm-eaten old structures, green with the moss of ages on their roofs, and sudden with the accumu* lated dampness of years, have long been an eyesore and a disgrace to the i 1 town, and on that ground alone they ought to have been removed long ago. More than that,. however, they must be positively dangerous from a sanitary point of view, lam told that those disorepit old edifices on Thorndon .Quay near the Boyal Hojjl are nearer fifty than /forty years old. One of tbem now ussi as a second hand furniture H and lutnfer shop once had the honour H 'of sheltering the official staff of the H Lieutenant-Governor and commander H of the troops in the olden days. H Nearly all of them aro historical, for ■ when once the waters of Fort NicbolH son laved their doorsteps in the good W old timeß,wben tbe reclamation was ■ not, they were tenanted by the eljt I of Wellington, military am! civil. I What tales these old ..crumbling I wooden shells could tell of th e ■ ) roysteting days Of the early forties, W I when Foneke v&s in its infanoy, and If no man whether he would I- bo tomahawked by tbe Maoris one I" pigbt,'or if he escaped that whether ho If would be swallowed up by an earthly quake tbe nextjl