JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4642, 8 February 1894, Page 2

JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

; (By Our Own Correspondent,) Tuesday, The suicide epidemic. What it the cause!— School Inspectors and Education Boards.—An artist of repute.-' The Brough-Bowkmdt Oompany.—A family party.—Journalistic enterprise, —2' fie revenue. Is it falling off I )—Am influx of visitors. ■ DesiraiU aiul wt-desiraik.-The tourist boom 1

A most extraordinary epidemio of • suicides has set in iu Wellington during the last fortnight or so. In that / time there hove been, at leas' )ix successful attempts at sfjjjyjestriio' )n, and there is one. caae, JraT fortunate girl AVleu swallowed a: wineglassful of spirit's of salts, flhioh may even yet terminate fatally, • It is - a curious tHug this epidemic, if one may term eu dreadful a.state of affairs by suoh a i\ame. Wlfoto the oause " of it.? Is it caused deprei-. sion, the'result of hearing about other oases, or is it due to the faot that people are really tired of life ? Mind worry of ah acute nature,-is, to' my idea, the real cause; and people, \ by brooding over their troubles and ■ hearing of other suioides, are impelled ; by an irresistible impulse to'make away with themselves, Iu most of the oases of late years, you will have noticed that the people who bare taken their own lives hare been tormented with monetary troubles, and ' suicide has, to their diseased imaginations, seemed an easy way out of the difficulty; an escape, as it were, from •; " the slings' and arrows of outrageous foi tune." It is; a pitiable state of affairs, and only shows what a ten denoy there is in the present day to escape, stall hazards,from the worries of life, with a selfish disregard to the. feelings of,those left behind, Unfortunately our modern civilisation" seems to suggest ho remedy, and even the terrors of religion have apparently very little hold over people who .are■ determined upon self-destrnotion. A great deal of all thjsis, do doubt, due to the agnostioism of the and the eternal cavilling that goes on in the current literature of the day, at the futility of life under any conditions. Toil'- 1 a! incod and ill-regulated minds and more especially in the case of a person of imperfect reasoning powers, the arguments laid down by soma modern writers are all is, of course, well-kMrnlßaTiiard times usually carrw'ivitk them a ghastly record of suioides,' but sorely the struggle of existence in a young' country like this cannot be so crushing as to render self-murder the last desperate means of relief ?

The School Inspectors, now as* 0 sembled in solemn conference in 8 Wellington, by a large majority • vetoed (he proposal that tliey should •• hold office directly under the control 'i of the Education Department; instead ! r of under the Boards as at present,ln ~ ' this they were wise in their genen- ' tion, and the short-sighted few who supported the proposal must have lost their heads or spokeand voted without 6 due consideration of what the ohango J meant for them. The worthy Inspec- • a tors cannot have properly considered' ; 0 tho aspects.of the case or they would g not have ventured to have rushed blindly on their fate in the mannor t they attempted; In the first place, by becoming officers of/lbe Depart- , ment, pure and simple, they would 0 have rendered themselves liable to all the disabilities of Civil Servants, 1 They would hsve laid themselves open j to political influence against them, tbeir tenuro ot office would have been uncertain, they could be transferred F at a few days notioe from one district J to another, thus breaking up their j homes, family ties, and oiroles of friends, to commence life as it were afresh in a new place. Their pro. J motion would have been doubtful,and'"' 5 their pay would have suffered, to say j nothing of (he faot that at any mo- - i ment they might, any of them, find b themselves thrown out of employment 1 upon some trivial excuse or another? • with little or no compensation for loss 'of office. Taking one thing' with | another the present system is infinitely the best for the Inspectors, and lam not sure it is not 60 for the edt;ca- > tional system also. The.j&yM&hat 3 was mooted some time ago to shift | Inspectors every few years from one district to another has many disadvantages, inasmuch as it takes a man ' years to thoroughly understand and ' appreciate the educational require- | ments ot a particular district. It is . much better to allow matters to go jib , as at present. If a change is required [ the Government will make it fast , enough-little fear of that. A really fine exhibition of piotures ' has been opened in Wellington by a , German artist—Herr Tannert—of j some considerable eminence in his t own country. Herr Tannert has been . settled for the last few years in.Mel- • bourne, where he has achieved great ' suocess as a portrait painter. Herr B Tannert is making a stay of'some months in Wellington and all ihcao 1 interested in art should not failrto pay ■ his studio in the National ffctual j Buildings a visit. There arelome 1 very fine examples of tho artist's mill r in figure painting, and the subnet ' pictures are exceedingly' oleveruro j design, colouring, and generally efwI tive treatment ■ Herr Tannert's stmo , is open to •visiiQtgjjjj WedoesMv ' afternoons, and stroHlj | recommend such of your readers. may be visiting town to call at ' studio and view a very interesting olever collection of pictureß the best style of Continental art. The Brough-Bouoioanlt Company are having a most ful season in Wellington, which to bo wondered at when the great aH round excellence of th'a actors is into consideration. Of all the they have produced up to the " Niobe" Seems to havo hit l»r fancy the hardest. It' a dainty piece of stage the very improbibility of story adds to the charm of "The Village Priest" drams, though sombre, splendidly acted as it charm like" Niobe." as dramiu^^^^^^H masterpiece though an was the is thinly brutally

artists on the English stage. Mr Bouoicault is the son of the famous Diotißouoioault, author of" London Assurance," the " Colleen Bawn " " Shaughraun," and other well-known plays. Perhaps many ofyourreadera will' remember the versatile Diou when ho was touring the colonies tome years ago, playing a round of oharaoters from his own plays. Mr Bouoionult,i jr., is himself no mean actor, and is in addition a very cultivated and agreeable gentleman. The same may be said of Mr Brough, who with his accomplished and amiable wife, aremoat popular members of Australian society, Your oontempoiary the New ZoalandTfmes will shortly outer into jojjs&mbof; most hindaorae and oOTmodioßLeffiSes which aro aow nearly coveted. The new offices have been built on the site of the old wooden structure which did duty for so long and in whioh it was a perfect marvel kw all the work which was performefatiiere was successfully accomplisbeT The building now approaching completion faces Lamb* ton Quay, it is three stories in height, and is finished off with a bandsome facade and altogether the whole edifice is a distinct gain to * our street architecture. The building is lighted throughout by eleotriciiy and machi nery for printing the paper by the same agency has been erected by the N.Z. Electrical Syndioato. The paper was as you are aware, printed by eleotricity the other morning, and very shortly thiswill be a permanent arrangement. The enterprise of the N, Z, Times oompany is much to be applauded for not only have _ they erected a fine building, which is an ornament to the city and a credit to New Zealand journalism generally, but they are right up to date in their motive power for driving their printing machinery. Not very long ago it was cibled out from Home as a great piece of news that the" P#ll Mall Budget" had the credit of being the first paper in Great Britain to use electricity as a motive power for its printing machinery. Now we find the same thing happening out here under the Southern Cross. Comparatively speaking therefore "The New Zealand Tiuies" ia miles ahead of its English contemporary, distance, population, and a newer civilization being considered. One very excellent idea in connection with the new offices will be a public vestibulo where all the town and the chief counta paperß will be filed for the convenience of the general public, May the enterprise of " the New Zealand Times" be rewarded. Matters must be very flourishing in Mastertoa, for I am told a well known firm of photographers, Messrs Wrigglesworth and Binns of Wellington, have endeavoured for Borne time paßt to obtain suitable business premises in your town, but they could not find a single vacant building which wad at all up to requirements or so centrally situated as to be of any service to them, When premises are available you may expeot Messrs Wriggleswortb and Binns to open in Masterton, which is another proof of the confidence that iB placed in your town 1 ~ and district by business people in Wellington.

Can yon not through tbe columns Of the Wairjuupa Daily Times move the new fyilway Commissioners, by a spirited article, to do something towards improving tbe train service between Wellington and Masterton 1 A fast express train is urgently required at least three times a week, if not every day, Tbe rolling stook too, used on tbe through service, is unusually bad, even for New Zealand. Some of tbe musty, uncomfortable, and evil-smelling first-class carriages would disgrace even a branch line to nowhere, to say nothing of such an important and handsome profit-earn, ing line as tbe Wellington-Eketahuna section is, I hear frequent complaints of the length of tbe journey aud tbe discomfort of some of the carriages. It really lookß as if anything was good enough for Wellington.

It is laid that the revenue returns * for the quarter ending the 31st March wjlpta a falling off as compared witHnWeturas for the same quarter laat year if the poor results shown in the month of January aro maintained. I believe that the customs revenne at the port of Wellington for January was very muoh below tbe averagecaused no doubt by the congestion in trade which exists at present. If.there is anything in this report, it will be a slice of ill-luck for the Government to finish up their financial year badly. Can it be that, anticipating something of this nature, tbe Government has issued the edict forbidding the pressthe usual monthly Customs returns. Tbe town lias been extremely full of people for the last week or so, One meets people from the'Wairarapa, tbe lianawatn, Wangsnui, Taranaki, and Hawkc'a Bay districts, at every turn, i and all the steamers arriving from the South bring full compleBiignui of passengers, not only from Hither parts of tho colony, but from H&ustralia. All the hotels in towns Hhave their accommodation stretched to Htbe utmost, and tbe cry is: "still Hthey come." It should be noted also Hthat, tempted by cheap fares, we are ■|R3ually«fccrowded out by Auswflond it a hard tussle to a. orußt on the other side, and think New Zealand is a land promise flowing with milk and Hfoney. This is evidenced by tho Hnot that the Benevolent Trustees Hjave had to dispense rations to a good 11 dead beat" Australians lately. course, these people are mostly Hiteerage passengers, who can, under Bbe present liberal rates offered by the Co. or the Union Co., over to this colony for leas money would keep them not halt so on shore for the time oc(be passage. Thiß is also a season. Australian and tourists are here in shoals, again have to do with the and this kind of influx we means money. The and the "Hauroto" a great crowd of which the "Sydwas very much en these people are and it by far A