JOITINGS FROM WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4655, 22 February 1894, Page 2

JOITINGS FROM WELLINGTON.

[By Our Own Correspondent,] ; • Tuesday. The Totalisator, Its use aiid aim, Gambling Made Easy.—A Wairarapa Grievance. " Taxation Witbut Be* • presentation."—Ue Flow-Show. A Bint to Wairarapa Omardists Again. -No Enterprise, 'Advertise wßusl' —The Frozen Engineer! Wavarapa IPatifs Supplied on the Shortest Notice. —Hon W. P. Ernes and the Agency General,—Sir Walter Bulkr not to be • done.. A return-to order of the House of Ropresentativesahowmg the number . of tctalisator permits <jha year ending the 81st just issued from the Government Printing office. From tbia return notice that tbo total number Of per-. mits issued was 240 in the year, and : the totalisator, throughout the.polony, was in use on no less tlinn'jllW.ays. In other, words, including - Sundays, there were only 58 days in the year, • upon which the N.Z.-publio was not gambling on somo raoecourse. Yet . we pride ourselves on being a virtuous J people I Our Parliament endeavours .« to make us so by repressive, legisla— } tion. We qau gamble as much as we please up>m every" day in the year by means of the totalisator, but if we dare to uao any other means, and are found out,, the law relentlessly swoops down upon uh, and makes a shocking example of us for the wrong doing. Where is the consistency ? If it is well for the morality of the people . that gambling should : be sternly repressed altogether, why let it be so, but why make an invidious distinction in fa vor of the Total-* ißator 1 There's neither rhyme nor reason in it. Let us go the " whole hog "or nothing. • : From the official return,, above alluded to, we learn that the district of Wellington paid to the Treasury for totalisator tax the sum of £2509, Auckland paid £1897, Hawke's Bay £1425, Canterbury £2129 and Otago £1586. The total revenue derived from the one per cent, tax from the whole colony was £IO,BOO. In giving ' these figures I have omitted shillings and pence, It will thus be soea that a nice little annual revenue ia derived by the colony from the totalisator. Why not go one better the, use of the totalisator a government monopoly ? This kill about one half of the racing olubs ia the colony and of course that would never do, so npy peoplaa' occupations would be gone, The Wellington people apparently are the haavieat investors on the totalisator, for the tax paid on the total amount passed through the machinos in this district • is considerably ahead of Bny of the other racing centres. This ia accounted for no doubt by the fact that a large number of small country meetings are held simply and solely for the totalisator profits, without which they could not exist.

The Wairarapa people areof opinion that they Buffer a certain amount of hardship in being forced to contribute to the support of the United JDistriofc Charitable Aid Board.withotit obtaining a commensurato shfje of JbtL. benefits which arise lishment of tho vaHßßaritable institutions and the ffiSpilal in. Wei-' lington. It must, home in mind that the Wellington hospital offers exceptional advantages for the treatment of patients whioh cannot possibly exist in a country institution. There is a Targe staff of highly trained nurses, the best medical and surgical skill that can be obtained in the colony, and many modern appliances which cannot possibly, from the nature • of things, be bund in a country hoav pital. All these advantages are at the service of the Wairarapa ratepayers, the hospital is not maintained solely for the benefit of Wellington. Bxcellent as are the Hospitals at Greytown- and Masterton there are many who are glad to take advantage of tho wider benefits which are obtainable at a large hospital replete with nil the most modern appliances like that at Wellington.. I dare say if it was figured out it, would be found that there more Wairarapa patieuts who ÜBe the Wellington Hospital than would appear at first sight,- As to the charitable aid, it hardly seems fair that the whole cost of maintaining and assisting the poor and needy of the Colony should be thrown entirely upon tbo towns. It has been said that there are no paupers in your district and that in cases where assistance is requirod it is done locally without any appeal to the I Wellington Board. I do not think, however, that this is altogether borne out by facts, for the books of the Wellington Benevolont Trustees will show that there are a fair number of cases from your dißtriot to whom assistance has been granted,

Tuo Wellington Hortioultura! Society's Autu,mn Show takes place to-inoi'rOwandThursday,and promises, judging from the large numbers? entries, to be an unqualified succor." lam sorry to notice, however, that '.here are no exhibitors from the Wairarapa. From the fino collection of fruit sent down laat year, and whioh carried off the ohief prises, it was expected that a similar show would have been made at The features of the show mIF be the cut flowers, vegetables and fruit, and keen competition is expected in both the amateurs and gardeners classes. Possibly, however, some of the gardeners' from your distriot mayenter yet, bringing their exhibits down with them. As I pointed outsome time ago a splendid opening exists in Wellington for fruit growers in the Wairarapa, and I Bhould have thought that at least there would hare been a large number of entries from your District in order to lot the people in town know what your orchards can produce,

The present Government is always atraining every nerve lo advertise the ' Colony, and therefore it'sems strange-..-that they should neglect such exjf') cellent ohsncea as have occurred recently,' in the shape of displaying to full advantage the natural products of the Colony at the worlds' exhibi. tions. We were not represented at Chicago chiefly through the apathy and indiffereuco of the Go vernmenty and now that another opportunity .; occurs of being represented, for a comparatively small sum, at the Ex- ' hibition. whioh is shortly to be held ■■.: in the sister colony of Tasmania,the ' t Government curtly refuse theropre« : ■:' sonlation. Honey has been spent oh :;; : a far worse speculation by the Government than in at Hobart, Of Colonies, New Zealand flil| bo'the only one whicii stands coldljKp?: aloof. The Taemariian ;Exttbiti6_S^ will be no meai sbow, "d irteemsvg:;! a pity to lose Ihebbanbeo|Bii6|a|^%l

excellent advertisement mote espeol ally as moat of the great nations will be largo exhibitors.

To the general publio not behind the fl'cenos.tbe sentence on the second engineer o( the cargo steamer " Waikato" does seem harsh. But really the oiroumstances of the case quiiejastifiedtheoisgistrate'sseverity. Here is a man placed in charge of the freezing machinery, which required to be constantly attended to day and night, allowing tho fires to run down and thereby endangering the whole ot the valuable cargo of moat which the " Waikato" had ou board, Sup|ios> ing the freezing machinery had stopped the whole -ot tho cargo might have been ruined or deteriorated and the loss would have fallen on the owners of the Bteamer, The,toß9 would probably haye run "roto rfrjftjblhousand pounds. . For a man knowing the great responsibility Which rested on him to deliberately -taffiS- intoxioated and so imperil the safety of tho cargo, tho punishment was nonojoo severe, as it will act as a will not easily be forgotten. A great deal of abuse has beon heaped on the Chief Engineer who made the charge but his duty simply demanded, he could do nothing else.

Wairarapa deputations have boon pretty prolific of late. FiM wo lwvo one from Pahiatua, praying for the construction of a bridge over the Mangatninolw. Then another wants a Court Honso in the township. Lust but not least a most influential deputation headed by Messrs Hogg and Buchanan worry ihe Minister for Lands for a bridge over theMatarawa ford. As to tho latU-r, tho Minister for Lands scenting Crown Lands, which can he opened up fa l 'settlement by the construction of the bridge, it is not at all unlikely a vote may appear on the estimates for tho purpose. Mr McKenzie certainly seemed favourably disposod, nnd if that trusty henchman and sturdy supporter, that ought-to-have-been Railway Commissioner, Mr Hogg, cannot obtain what he wants for bis district from the Government —well nobody can.

The rumour is steadily gaining ground hero, why I know not, tlmt the Hon. W. P. Reeves is almost certain to be the new Agent-General, It is, of course, an open secret that the Hon, W. P. is not lored of his colleagues, And on the other hand the .delicate- refinement, and intellectual daintiness of the Minister for " Labah' 1 loathes the rough coiup,uionsliip of his brother Ministers. ' He is anxious for the position and revels in the idea of startling the great world of London by his meteoric smartness, the Cabinet on their side would be glad to be rid of him at any price, but, unfortunately, there is Sir Patrick Buckley to be reckoned with, Sir Patrick, too, is yearning for the billet, but lie can't quite see bis way clear to cut the Attorney-Generalship adrift.

Everyone ia curious to know also, why Sir Walter Buller is rushing in such hot baste back again to the Colony. Even his own friends do not know why he is coming exactly, Sir Walter's term of office at the imperial institute is nothing like up, and he was expected to stay at least .until tbe time for which he was appointed Lad 'expired. Somo people say that the Knight of theMoa and the MaoriM a distinct promiso for a reversion of the Agency-General when Sir Westby Perceval retired.and that be is now coming to personally urge bis claims to tbe ollico. Mowevur, no doubt in the fullnes3 of time all will be made clear to us,