JOTTINGS FROM WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4656, 23 February 1894, Page 2

JOTTINGS FROM WELLINGTON.

[By Our Own Correspondent.;] "■ ;.'.V ■■■■'■■ ■: Tuesday. ' Qovammt offici3,-Ihe::Parlia-mentary Librarij.-Tk tirmih of} . Wellington.-:! Match-box Gityno Longer.—Old'Tim Fancies. ■ The deoision which'has been arrived at to locate the Pubiio Trust office in the new Government Insuranoeßmldings, willmeet with! the approval of all those who havo bitsinesslodo*" with this-important branch tf the -public service. To have built separate offices atThorndon at'the rearof theGovern-' ment buildings would havH been not only an expensive but an exceedingly inconvenient arrangement,: 'Business' people grumble enough os it is at. the 1 inconvenience whioh is caused by having tbi) Government. ,oioes scattered all over the town. : . The Railway De: partmeht, for instance, is most inconveniently housed. ■ .The Luco-Supor-' intondoHt and his staff are located iu dingy offices" in Lauibton-quay; the Railway Engineer's Department is over the Union Company's offices on Ousioinhouse-quay, 'whilst A lhe head office is in the buildings; and the local staff employed on the Welling-tou-Wairarapa section are awaj down at Pipitca. Business people generally have felt for a long time pastlhatthe departments should be ooncemruted in one building or at least in reason* able proximity to one atiothcr. The fact is, that iu late years the : " biggest wooden building in the world" has b'eou found altogether too small to properly accommodate the growth of the departments. Then again there have been several new departments created such, for instance, as the Labour Department and the newly fledaed Bureau of Trade and Commerce. The Land and Income Tax Department has grown into a very large branoh of the public service, and during a busy'time, it has as many as 160 to 200 clerks employed in coping with the work. ,It is quite likely that before very long" tho Government buildingswill beenlarged by the addition of a new wing in brick at the back.

_ It seems a thousand pities that the Government Bhould have commenced the extensive alterations to the grounds of ilie Parliament Buildings' before the erection of a fire proof building to hold tho valuable library .which is now contained it/the wormeaten, hijjlily-mflamrnablb wooden walls of that crazy structure' known as the Parliament Buildings. The present alterations-lo the grounds, when completed, will very much improve the approach to the Parlia-; ment Buildings, but the money whioh is being spent could have been laid out to fur .greater advantage in providing temporary accommodation at nnyrate for tho library. Should a fico ocoiir in the building it would be almost an impossibility lo save the library aud its destruction would be a colonial calamity, for there are many works which are absolutely priceless, and could never be raplaced if ldsb. The library, in many branches of literature, is the finest in the Colonies, and the pecuniary loss alone would be exceedingly heavy. Most of the best books were purohased or presented in the olden days when our legislators were intellectually head and shoulders above the present Parliament, The Houso was thon composed of men whoso intellectual and Boholasfio attainments were of the the highest order. In those good old days tho 'debates were real baWoa of wits, and everything was not subordinated to sordid considerations. Plocp, power, and patronage were not thon tho only things sought after in politics.

. Wellington onco labored under tin reproach of beiug the worst buill iiitj in lUe Colony, it was generally known as the "matcb-box" city iron the faot that all the buildings wen constructed of wood., It was feavec that if an earthquake or any dimen sionß was to come along any edifici erected in brick would most probablj be laid low, and in addition the livei and property of the inhabitants woiilc be endangered. However, time lint removed,the foar that formerly existec and a' long immunity from (forth' quakes of any importance induced thf corporntion, very sensihly,some yean ago to lay on embargo upon the ereotion of ■" wooden buildings withir certain defined limits. It was recog ; nisfd that building in wood was evei more dangerous from one point o; view than building in brick, Eim unfortunately were of frequent occurrence and onco started amongal the inflammable edifice? wbioh graoed the streets of the Empire City, it wbb no easy matter to staj tbo progress of the devouring element. Whilst building to protect tbo town against earthquakes, because the great scare in the earlj fifties had firmly implanted into the niinds of the inhabitants,- a holy horror of a second, visitation, they were laying up for themselves a worse danger in the shape of tbe fire fiend, But in late years "now axons ehangi kmtcela," A new generation hae sprung up to whom the earthquake in tbo early days are mere legends, the fearful imaginings of the pioneers, whose excited imagination had conjured up the horrors of a second visitation, possibly of a worse nature than the first, Some scientists aver that the earthquake belt has shifted from Wellington arid that there is no longer apy more danger of a severe shake happening here than in any other part of the colony. The old identifies, however, on tbeothor hand shale tb.eir.grey heads and request us tp watoh and wait for a rude awakening one of -these days, from what they are pleased to term a fool's paradise. Be this as it may wo are prepared to ohanee the earthquakes now, and the result of the late years, has beeu the erection of sorao very fine building in brick which would be a credit to any city, More especially during tho last three or four years has the improve* mentin our city architecture been apparent, and it may perhaps not be without ■ interest to your readers to drar attention, to some of the fine buildiugs which havo recently been built, or are in course, of erection The new era of brick buildings.was perhaps commenced by tho erection. of Messrs-Eempthome, Prosser and Oo.'s fine warehouse by; Mr Jacob Joseph i then there C Was Messrs Scoullar and Chishdltn'si slately-iurni • lure emporium, tho new Post Office Opera House,' the Government Printr tig Office, :N.Z; Loan arid Mercantile Buildings, the National Mutual office mdothers, to say. nothing of many shops lofeplaee'those ktroyedyby: : fi r e l r>But-th 9 "plaoe m- m\Um. where; briok'buildings wye li kertft agio in the B V se V°f - is in kt:|arrpf?tteytb^ilinowti^'ilifl

enbugh'jthia ia a quarterlhWwitoiSl to Wellington r4relysee,Bltlibugli]tiisl# in filoao proximity to tUe Building is extending very/rapidly:in:s? this direction.. Sorpi and EweuV magnificent building ;bi»lf been upsonie years, and- it -forms/I" with Messrs TV and W. Young's Messrs Bannatyne Bro3.,oha;'Oeoiil Thomas and. Oo.'ir Huoter: street arid' Custom ;'Bous9|l| Quay respectively, an extremely someblook.. 'Strolling further boirever, we see many buildings oently erecteu.whioh strikingly i!lua-;ii T iratei the faot-that Wellington is dhally bacoiiiing the' centrei;oftraded for the .colony.' At the comer.-ofC Harbour street, faoing Victoria Btreet/ v ' is* Messrs Mo Arthur and Co.'s and v' ; Messrs Mucky, : Logan and BWj Life Society. Just'across the street'.' are the handsome and commodious /' premises of Messrs Biog, Harris atid V Co., Ross, Gleodinning and Co;iShaW-' ; land and Co,, 'and P. Hay Co.,allolosetogether. OnffHeft hand side.of Victoria street Messra- .■ : Briscoe, MacNeil and Coi have "just- - put up a fine warehouse,. and Messrai";^Townsendand Paul aro building very\;o commodious, auotibh- rooms: and sakvw yards. . •';' Continuing'- along Victoria £ v street fffl. notice the Working Men's i Club and at the babk thelofty chimney - and worica of the' N.Z. Electrioal' :; Syndicate's station. A little further/. t on is.the pretty building kuown as the :? Free Public Library, hy the side of:":/ ■whibb are the-fine offices of the Board of Education and the Bohooi 'of-;,7 Design. Many smaller .buildings are :• going up in the saniß direction and in •.;•; | the not very distant future the main '" business street of the townwilibe Victoria street. .Indeed it is a nity . now that it is not more freely used as a means of access to Te Aro in order to relieve theoongestion which takes place every day in suoh a narrow thoroughfare as Willis street; It will thus be seen that Wellington is rapidly removing from'itself the reproach of being known as the matchbox city,