JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4830, 20 September 1894, Page 3

JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

(By Our Own Correspondent.)

■ ifcr. Tuesday. the. Gallery.—lke close of the' Session.—Speculations as to ichat trill be done,—Humours of work fir nat fiettion.—The Sail icays Bill—Current thereon.—The Bank Amalgam-*lioi--Sir Mert Stout poses.—A new Lecturer on a new' Subject.—Flower Stealing,

It is said that tho remainder of tlio present session will be devoted to " washing up" matters already on hand, ■ and disposing of sundry unimportant questions. The Public Works Statejfc'mont, has, of course, yet to come; but '' that is hardly likely to be long or particularly important, so the debate on the subject will not bo of a lengthy or troublesome nature. Tho Government, I havfljpird, arc disposed to cry content now they have got the Lands for Settlement and liailwavs Bills through, to say nothing of the nastily conceived and hastily executed banking legislation, They; arc willing to let other important p<j#y measures stand over till next session. lam informed, in fact, that the. Government is prepared to devote next session almost exclusively to Nativc matters, the revision of the Tariff and Local Government, in order that these burning questions may receive ample . consideration, and be fully and freely discussed,

V There is no doubt that the revision of the Tariff means increased duties, and that a protective policy may be expected to be brought down next session. As to Native Lands, it is felt that the time is far too short now to discuss this important question aud to deal with it in a satisfactory manner, so the Bills now before the House will no doubt be quietly shelved until next year. Many people aro of opinion that a special session should be held in which native -fiiPeasures might he dealt with exclusively. The whole method of dealing with native lands is now in such inextricable confusion that sweeping reform is imperative, and to effect that reform thoroughly tho calm ami quiet of a special session seems the only way to arrive at it.

But little surprise is felt at the action of tho House in once more restoring tho railways tothe direct control of the Governmeut. The result was a foregone. * conclusion, and anything was better] tliam the sham board of commissioners which tho Bill proposed, The House at auyrate Was honest, which is more than can be said of the Bill, Some people say that MrPinkerton's Amendments were inspired as the Government saw thatthe feeling of the House was against a board of commissioners conBf believe myself that the old gentleman is P one who could be so easily told what to " do, for in liis quiet, douce, mildmannered way, the member forDuncdin has a decided will of his own. Curiously enough when the question came to tho voto several of the Opposition members voted for the direct control while the majority of those who voted against Mr Pinkerton's amendments were Government supporters, The Government,! have not the slightest doubt, were secretly rejoiced at tho turn matters took and it is more than possible tho Bill was framed to bring about this k result. Anyhow it is mucn better that v matters should bo as the House has now decided, for if we cannot have real Commissioners with real power, we do not want sham ones with sham power.

As to who is to be the new Minister for Eailways there are several rumours floating about. Somo people say Mr Larnach and some are inclined to favour Mr Cadman. I do not think myself that a strong man like Mr larnach would suit the Premier, so I am inclined to narao Mr Cadman who would be moro « pliable. Mr lionayne, it is conjectured, " will bo appointed General Manager, . while Messrs McKcrrow and Scott will retire. The Government would be doing the right thing wcro they to reappoint Mr Maxwell as General Manager, but it is hardly likely that after giving him his conge, they will bo so magnanimous. Mr Maxwell has just decided to stay in the Colony, having refused an appointment V under the Local Government Board of London, so his services will be available at any time should he consent tore-enter the Public Service.

There was some excitement in town to. day, and quite a rush for tickets for the House, as it was reported the Colonial Treasurerintendtd to introduce theßank Amalgamation BiiL The ruisour has, • however, proved ill-founded, as the Bill is not yet ready for submission to tho , House. The amalgamation proposals will to be discussed very shortly as the of Colonial Bauk shareholders S takes place in a week's time, on the 26th inst. I hear there is considerable enquiry for proxies in Wellington. Tlie shareholders generally approve of tho amalgamation scheme, winch is largely in the Colonial Bank's favor,and reflects much credit on the financial ability of the Hon, George McLean, the Chairman of Directors. The Colonial

• j-,.. Bank shareholders have indeed, every Am reason to be satisfied with the amalgaillation, for tliey will receive fully paid shares without .further liability, and the business is liquidated should be a balance in hand after providy\& for bad debts, it would appear that they will receive a dividend from theso surplus funds. The officials of the Bank naturally feel some apprehension as to their positions, but it is believed that the majority of the junior officers will receive emplovmontin the Bankof N.Z., though, no doubt, many of tho seniors and higher paid officers will find that their.services will not bo required. The amalgamation of the two Banks has considerably relieved the Government in one respect, as there is now no doubt that tho Hon. G. McLean will bo aptouted. President of the now Board of lircctors of tho Bank of New Zealand. It realjAooks like, at present, as it the pick orthc appointments were going to tho Colonial Bank officers.

Sir Eobcrt Stout's lecture on Saturday night in connection with the " Forward movement" on " liberalism—true and false," was attended by a largo audience who showed their sympathy with tlio lecturer by frequent burets of hearty applause. Sir Houert Stoutis always interesting as a lecturer—l have heard him lecture on several subjects, from Herbert Sjienccr domi to Agnoiticism and totalabstmenc* —and tho discourse on Saturday night id was no exception to tho rule, Sir Robert ' >choso a subject he was throughly at ' homo in, and there is no doubt that the lccturo was as much a political address as anythingclse, though the lecturer is far too clover a man to commit himself in any way during a session of Parliament to anything which openly could bo construed as haying any bearing upon the present state of politics. There is one thing quite certain, and Ithat lis Sir Koberfc is an authority upon true and false Liberalism, and from tho very peculiar position he , Jiolds in politics at the preset) tmomcnt "Tail's views on the subject, cliarmingly pouvpyed in _ cultivated language gjrp additional interest to the lecture. ' J f' v CouH not tho Hon, tho Premier be in: duccd to give us his views on Trite and Fplsc Liberalism Pin a sense thoy would be ereii more in teres ting than Sirllobert Stout 1 !,

Lady . Glasgow returned to Welling{on op. Sunday night from her trip to Europe pd js looking remarkably well after -,'Jier travels- I iintlcrsland that Shcr tadysliip'.s brother-in-law and Wsjjter, Major «nd Mr Stewart, return to ' I Muni almost as Major Stewart/ baa ,to rejoin - his regiment. ' Captain CatopM-Preston who came

with lady Glasgow, will tako Major Stewart's placo as aido-do-canip to the Governor. Major Eliolt and Mr Clayton will still continue to act on His Excellency's staff, Tlio Governor and family intend, I hear, toleavo for Auckland at the close of the session, where tlioy will probably stay till after Christ' mas, and then returning to Wellington for a time, after which Christchnrch will be visited, Miss Thurston, a daughter of tlio Governor of Fiji is now staying nt Government Houso, and Miss Jcrvois, daughter of our former popular Governor, is also staying with Lady Glasgow for a few days. Miss Jcrvois will stay in New Zealand for 9 months, visiting friends iu various parts of tlio Colony.

By the" Aorangi" which arrived the other day, there camo on a visit to our shores Miss Yates tho founder of the English Bread and Food Reform Lcnguo, Miss Yates is, lam informed travelling for her health, but she will deliver a series of lectures in New Zealand before leaving. Miss Yates is now on a visit to somo relatives in Tnranaki. Miss Yates is well known in England and America as a lecturer on her particular subject which is vegetarianism pure and simple, and sho has met with considerable success in her efforts to reform tho beef of tho Briton out of existence. Miss Yates has, however, surely eomo to the wrong placo when she comes to New Zealand. Do we not depend largely upon our frozen meat trade and therefore we should not look with favor upon one who tries to persuade her countrymen that all meat is unwholesome, perhaps Miss Yates makes an exception in favour of New Zealand mutton and beef, in which case if that is so, wo will forgive her anil listen to what she has to say, It would be well worth the large frozen meat companies while, to suborn her to say that all meat is unwholesome except that which comes from New Zealand. Wo might even make a convert of Miss Yates from vegetarianism, now that she is here amongst us from the fact of our meat being so good aud wholesome.

Flower stealing lias been particularly Srevalcnt in Wellington of late. Thieves o not now confine their depredations to private gardens, but they even desecrate the graves in the cemetery by stealing I flowers therefrom. The other day a wcll-kuowji and highly esteemed Wellington resident was carried to his last resting placo in the Sydney-street cemetery, There were many beautiful floral tokens of respect which were piled upon the newly-filled grave. The funeral took place in the morning and before the afternoon everyone of the wreaths and crosses had disappeared. It is supposed that some people make a regular business of robbing graves and ilower gardens for the purpose of either selling to the florists or to liotelkecpeis. Of course, the people who buy havo not the faintest idea where tho flowers come from, nor have they dreamt of suspecting any tiling was wrong. Justabout this time of the year there is a largo demand for flowers in Wellington for balls and parties, and consequently it is probable that the thieves make r good thing out of their robberies. A woman was, however, caught red-handed, stealing flowers from tho cemetery, a few days ago, and was to-day fined £0 by Mr Martin, S.M. This substantial fine may have the desired effect of putting a stop to those annoying robberies. GarI dens arc none too plentiful in Wellington, and when a man with infinite trouble has managed to raise a few choice flowers, it is exasperating in tbe extreme to find they have been appropriated in the night. As for tho persons who would rob a grave of its flowers, there is nothing too mean for them to do, they would just as soon rob a corpso of its cerecloths.