Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1894. ARCADES AMBO.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4707, 1 May 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1894. ARCADES AMBO.

We believe that when" the Hon the Premier and the Hon (he Minister I'or Lamia are hi camsra their respective appellations are "Dick and Jack." The pair are lovely in their lives like David and Jonathan and do not stand on ceremony with one another. Both have been travelling about recently, for while Dick has been touring in the far north Jack has been on circuit in the Middle Island. As yet the bright cheerinesa of the former has not deserted him. He is still chippy, and, when in Wellington the other day, waß " fit enough to " cheek " the unemployed. His messmate, the Hon John—and a nice mess it is that they have brought about in the Colony —on the other band, is decidedly glum, and distinctly morose; Last week lie glowered at a deputation which bailed him up in the good town of Oamarn, and blurted out somo unpleasant truths, which, while they do credit to his candid honesty, can only be regarded as avery wet blanket by the community, He held out little or no hope for the unemployed, relief'works were out of the question,' and a vague promise to send some men to the North Island was the best he could do for Oatnaru. There is now but one formula for distress, Another batch is despatched to Eketabuna, and « brigade already there is sacked to make room for the new-comers. Then, too, the Minister for Lands admitted that buying land near Oamaru for settlement bad been a failure, and that the pto« perty the Government had acquired' was not, at pre ient values, worth the money they had paid for it. lie admitted also that there was great distress all over New Zealand, and he' did not blame the farmers for dismissing their hands because they could net make crops pay, and it was folly [or them to sow the ground, If we accept Mr McKenzie's own stalementof the condition of tlwcolony,we are forced to the conclusion that the only solution of the difficulty will be a loan. A million of money can be profitably expended in completing certain lines up to a paying point, and in opening up new lands by roads, There is little doubt but that a spirited public works polioy is the surest and flpeedieat remedy for the existing depression, and that the Government will eitlier.be driven to report to it or compelled to rotirefroiu office, Every day the situation becomes more grave, ' and we get no indication from the Government of any remedial mra* sures, A Masxekton Hospital Ball is spoken of as likely to come off soon, In this district every institution runs to dancing, For some fifteen years thoHastorton Hospital was efficiently maintained without adventitious aids of this kind, and its best friends regret to see it descend tp a lower level and scramble for money wifcb big balls and their concomitant begging, In Greytown the position is different, for there the Hospital has come to be dependant upon its annual ball, There exists, bo * ever, no simitar necessity in Masterton, and an annual ball here means that in time subscriptions will fall off, and the institution will have to depend upon dancing, However, the temptation for a Hospital ball is probably irresistible, it is such an easy and popular way of raising a big lump of money, and of plundering the Government subsidy that we expect to see the thing come off, not because it is right and in the best interests of the institution, but because it is a pleasant and'nice way of raising the wind, i

===== J An Auckland correspondent of a contemporary statos:—living is oteftp at .the present, time in Auckland, Yesterday bananas Sold at Ijd per lb retail, and four or five mullet for a shilling. If to this the ' fao't is added that almost every drapery establishment is selling off at a " ruinous Sacrifice;" then it must follow that families can at present bo cheaply maintained in Auckland." ■ The Annie ErandtCompany concluded their Masterton seanon last night, lew 'lns)[g(tbeßMh»ttnW-dß]f,