JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4723, 17 May 1894, Page 3

JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

(By Our Own Correspondent). Tuesday. The Sunday free concerts; What thy ars,—/t new Legislative Council• lor,—The Fox Commissioner in a dilemma,—The Public Library mis-' management,-The Christcliurcli unemployed and4/it+ Whirarapa.—The new French Consul—Fortunate bankrupts- —The exodus of the unfortunates —Holidays and business,—The IFairarapa Licensing Poll,

I spoke once before about tho alleged freo Sunday concerts, which liftvo now apparently become a regular thing in Wellington. Every fourth rate" leg show," which visits this city now, make a practice of holding theso concerts, and although : lam not ft believer in witholding from tho peoplo rational amusement on Sunday, yot I must strongly ontor my protest against these sort of Exhibitions— it would be a gross divine art of music to the song and ''' fiT^other but she certainly does not appear to advantago on a Sunday night before the footlights in a long dress made in the latest fashion singing such a classic composition as "D— your eyes, Melbourne," and tho same remark applies to tlio comic man, who will put on a face liko a hired mute and howl sickly sentimental songs with a Yoico that rasps like a nutmeggrater. If we are to have music in the theatres on Sunday let us have good music, and not these East End music-hall dirges.

Then there is another point I would like to clear up. What about charging for admission to secular music whon given in a licensed theatre on Sunday ? Tho announcement that there will bo a collection at the doors is ft fraud. There is no Bitch thing as a "collection," for that implies tlmt anyone can give anything or nothing as lie pleases. A regular charge is made and varied according to the part of the house the visitor wishes to sit in, all declining to pa}MCCordingly are refused admission. PriJrifically theatrical representations, burlesques, variety entertainments, et hoc genus omne could just as well he given 011 Sunday as these concerts. The only wonder is that the police do not interfere. Apparently the law is a "Lass," and can bo bamboozled accordingly, In Australia the definition is that a collection made at the doorß is a charge, and this is illegal. It is, however, perfectly legal to make a collection when the audience have taken their seats. Does this rule apply to Now Zealand or not? I have no objection to people paying to hear good music, but when they are black-mailed to hear rubbish such as was was given in the Opera House last Sunday night, I strongly protest,

It is reported that Mayor Trask, of Nelson, ex-butcher, a man of considerable substance, and a thick and thin supporter of the Premier's, is to be called to the Legislative Council very shortly. Correspondence, it is said,is now being exchanged between the Premier on the ■■Layor Trask being raised of a colonial peer, It is BHTknown that tho Premier and Mr have been firm friends and Hllies for years past, and Mr Seddon now seeks to reward his chum's polif tical fidelity by making another charge on the Colony's Exchequer of £l5O a year for tho next seven years. Mayor Trask is a man who is anxious (radical though he professes to bo) to uliiiio in a social sphere, higher than that which usually pertains to the butchering, hence 110 is most particular to keep the Premier up to the mark. That is what he was over liere for lately.

Rumour hath it that the Fox Correspondence Commission is in a very queer way. First of all the Premier has departed for his home at Kumara, leaving the astute Mr Commissioner O'Hara-Smith to his own devices. He has to rely entirely upon his own resourceful self now—there is no ono to give him any hints or tips. The result is that Mr Commissioner Smith is beginning to feel rather sorry he took the job in hand. He is at his wits ond whom to call neiKfor the purpose of eliciting information. The killing part of the ivhole business is that it is now universally agreed upon who the guilty person is, and the idea of the Government setting up a commission for the purpose of capturing that individual is too ludicrous, Of coui'se tho truth may have been known all along by the Government, and, if so, thore is only one conclusion to be drawn from the appointment of this Commission.

The management of the Public Library is giving much dissatisfaction at present. The dissatisfaction more particularly applies to the lend ing branch of the institution, [inwhich subscribers are treated with Bcant courtesy or consideration. The subscription is comparatively high, the supply of books is neither extenuive nor particularly well-selected, and somo of the conditions are absurdly stringent, In fact, if matters aro allowed to continue as at present, it will be difficult very shortly to obta!r*ribei?i at all. It should bo those in charge of the Library to offer every inducement to people to subscribe to tho lending branch, as in time the revenue received from tlft source alone will go a long way towards making tho institution self-supporting, and so enable therateslevieduponproperty-holders to be reduced. As matters are now, tho authorities are doing all they can to mako the Library unpopular. The fact of the matter is, the Library Committee of tho City Council and tho Chief Librarian are not really up to the duty of controlling tho institution. No one lias lmd any previous j experience, and the Librarian is in aj 'similar predicament. The latter is a very hard-working and perhaps conscientious man, but he has liad 110 practical experience of tho management of Public Libraries-lie is in fact too theoretical and selfopinionated ever to make the institution a thorough success—and as he, of course, advises the Committee the result is much clamouring for a change. It would bo far better if some of the subscribers and rate-| payers were etojpod to manage the Library in conjunction with ono or two City Councillors, The present management will never satisfy people, and tbo sooner it is altoral the better it will be for the Library and tho public generally.

It has always been recognised that there are more unemployed in Christ-

church at certain seasons of the year than in any other part of tho colony. The time of tho your when labour is most scarco in Christcliurcli is just at the beginning of tho winter, when tho grain season is over, as the men, who liavo been employed harvesting all over the province, Hock into town. These invasions of tho unemployed into the city of the plains occur regularly, they are expected. Usually it lias beon found possiblo to draft these men off to other parts of tho colony, whore work is more plentiful, and so got rid of tltQ difficulty in this way, This year unfortunately all parts of tho colony are alllicted with the same complaint—thero is nothing to do, Tho Wellington district, for instance, is pretty hard pushed at present to find work for tho unemployed, who have already come here, But what do wo find ? Nothing else than the Government drafting these men up here in batches of 20, and sending them up country —mostly to the Wnirarapa, and all this in faco of the fact tlmt there is already insufficient work to employ tho men who have been living in tlio district for years. It is true that there are no public works of any description in progress in Canterbury —roadmaking on the Cheviot Estate excepted—but surely that is no reason why the friends and partisans of the Minister for Labour should snatch what little bread there is away from the mouths of the workers' in the Wellington district,

Hostesses are often greatly perplexed how to entertain their guests at evening parties. Nearly everybody is tired of everything now-a-itays, and it is 110 easy matter to amuso a roomful of guests of both sexes. Here is a description of a most original gamo I saw played at an evening party not long ago,which causod endless amuselueut and excited the keenest interest. Procure a quantity of photographs—the old fashioned carle Je visile size of your friends and relatives, Sort tholadies' photographs into packs of say 20 or 30 each and do tlio same with the gentlemen's, Arrange three or four tables round tho room as if for progressive eucliro, Let the guests draw for partners and tables [and then appoint for oacli table someone to act as "judge." Tho game is for each person to play a photo as if it were a card, and the ugliest photograph takes the trick. The "judge" decides which is the ugliest person, The photos are dealt out to tho players as if for cards. The winner of the most tricks takes the game, and tho player having tho most games takes the prize, It is, of course, great fun for the players, and if one's nearest and dearest relatives do occasionally "scoop the pool" well the only thing to do is to join in the mirth also for after all tho "judges" ideas of the standard of beauty may not be tho same as yours,

It is announced that our old friend M. leVicomteJouifray D'Abbans is coming here again as Trench Consul. The Vicomte was very popular when he was here before and as ho gonerally" took a hand" in everything that was going from levees to lawn tennis, or from banquets to boating, he was voted 011 all sides a downright good fellow. The position of French Consul for New Zealand (the head quarters are in Wellington) is not very onerous, The office hours are from i to 4 p.m., and tho salary is £OOO per annum, which is not so bad for tho work performed. Ido not suppose there are a couple of hundred frenchmen in the colony all told, bnfc yet the Groat Republic thinks it necessary to maintain a paid Consul-in-Chief at a salary of £6OO to look after their interests. The Vicomte is a barrister by profession and a scion of an old Legitimist family who have suffered loss of fortune and deprivation of estates for their loyalty. The Vicomtesse is a Swiss lady. A lady calling herself the Vicomtesse D'Abbaus came into some notoriety a few months ago by the fact of her attempt to blackmail a wealthy foreigner somewhere abroad, The affair made considerable stir at the time, and the report of the proceedings in Court were copied into the English papers and from thence into most of the New Zealand journals. As, I believe, an erroneous impression has got abroad concerning this affair, it would bo well perhaps to speak plainly and say that the Vicomte and his amiable wife are in no way concerned in the esdundn although unfortunately the lady who caused all the trouble did bear our consul's patronymic,

It is rather a good thing than otherwise to be a bankrupt nowadays, Your " white washed" one seems to have the best of the bargain, The incubus of debt which has weighed him down is lifted from him by tho kind offices of the Official Assignee. He can go about looking the whole world in tho face for" he owes not any man," the Official Assignee lias wrought this magical transformation also. Ho fares sumptuously and arrays himself in piu'plo and fine linen, and generally has a shilling or two in his pocket for refreshment purposes, It was only the other day that plodding humbly on foot through the mud 011 a country road not a hundred miles from Wellington that I met our friend, the bankrupt. lie was driving in a well appointed hired landau. The driver was got up immaculately in a shiny top hat an a light coloured coachman's coat with silver buttons, and my noble lord, the bankrupt, was leaning back with arms folded, seated by the side of the wife of his bosom, surveying tho scenery and the pedestrians with a lordly air of condescension as if lie had tho riches of a Rothschild at his command. It was only the other day that this same gentleman received a severe castigation at tho hands of the Official Assignee, and was plainly told ho had been living on his creditors' money for a long time past. Now, ho can drive about in a carriage whilo his creditors arc splashed by tho mud of his vehicle's wheels. "I'is a strange slate of affairs which renders such a thing possible, but yet we see it every day.

Tho oxoduS of the" unfortunates" still continues. Daily, nay hourly, the police continue to hound down these poor women. *je stringent new by-law of the City Council in reference to disorderly houses gives [the guardians of the peace every latitude in their crusado, and the Draconian severity of the Stipendiary Magistrate, when any unfortunate is captured and brought before him, has driven horror into the souls of these poor outcasts of society. It is the old world cry of "moveon." What matters it if they have lio where to "movo on" to bo long as 1 theso Magdalens offend not the moral

citizens of tho Empire City by their contaminating presence. Hounded out of Wollington, theso women nro making for tho couutry in shoals, and for tho neighbouring towns across the straits. Most of them havo received notice to quit in 24 hours time, and go they must sans money, sans consideration,sans everything, Indeed most of them are in sorry plights, as is proved by the fact that some are living in tents in the country. Every man's hand is against them, and it is almost impossible to find any other sholtcr. All this is happening too in a Christian community where clergymon of all denominations are daily instilling into tho hearts of the people the divine principles of that most beautiful of all tho Christian virtues—Charity, Do the authorities imagine for ono moment that the evil is to be cured by theso means ? It is only aggravating the trouble aud shifting tlio responsibility of dealing with these unfortunates upon tho shoulders of our neighbours, It will not have the effect of milking tlio community here moro virtuous, Rather will the result be to demoralise tho people still further, and if anything add moro to tho ranks of the fallen than ever. The evil lias existed from the beginning of time and must continue to exist while human nature is human nature, Would it not bo better to recognise this boldly, and regulate the matter accordingly, This could easily be done in our comparatively small communities, Society will novor bo safeguarded by the methods now being adopted, and the crnsade now taking place argues very little for our humanity or common sense.

Really these holidays are becom- 1 ing a perfect nuisance, Yesterday was Whit Monday, and the Banks woro again closed. There will be another holiday on the 24th also, You have no idea how these numerous Bank holidays demoralise business, Everybody makes it an excuse to do nothing, and matters become unsettled in consequence. Every month for the last five months there have been holidays of some sort or another, and business people are beginning to be sick of the very name of them. One does not grudge the poor bank clerks their little outings, but as a business man I can't help thinking it would be better if it could bo arranged to have them more together.

Parliament is to meet 011 the 21st June, but the Parliamentary grounds are almost in as great a state of chaos as over. The paths are not even formed yet, and tho wilderness of bare ground in front of the building shows the old edifice up more in its hideous nakedness than ever. The trees and winding paths formerly in existence did tone down the ugly front of the ancient building, and rendered the appcaranco of the whole placepicturesque,ifnothingelse, Now the whole place looks unspeakably ugly, and the iron railings which are being erected 011 tho lloleswortli and Hill-street frontages will mako the squalid unpicturesqueness of our New Zealand senate-house more palpablo than ever. Inside the building confusion also reigns supreme, The floors have been taken up for the purpose of putting down a new fangled system of ventilation, and the foundations havobeen renewedin brick throughout, Tho tot al cost of the alterations to building and grounds cannot be less than £SOOO, and yet it cannot be many years before the whole building will havo to be rebuilt, It is decaying rapidly now. How much better would this money lmve beon spent in providing a fire proof building for the splendid Assembly Library.

So the Wairarapa Licensing poll lias been declared null and void on account of the Returning Officer's action in counting informal votes when making up the returns. Tou will remember that some time ago I advised you that I had received information, on undoubted authority that a high legal opinion had been received to the effect that informal votes could not bo counted,