TOLD ON LAMBTON QUAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5109, 22 August 1895, Page 3

TOLD ON LAMBTON QUAY.

[Bv The Axciext Marixer.]

" And thus spake 011 llmt ancient man, The hright-ei/cd mariner."—Coleridge.

Weuixrtox, Tuesday.

A WARD SI'RPMJR, Tho last of that famous reception accorded the Colonial Treasurer on his return from England, has still to be related. The Committee formed to boom the reception started upon tho time-honoured plan of" ringingin " guarantees, and in this respect it is a pleasure to note (he response from tho rank and lile was substantial, so ranch so, that at the meeting of tho Committee, held last night, tho Treasurer reported a surplus. Tho Committee, however, notwith- ' standing the surplus, appear not to have given satisfaction,as two of the subscribers to the guarantee fund, and wlio happen to hold seats in the House of Representatives, wrote to the Committee expressing surprise at the oxtravagant expenditure. Some people are novcr satisfied, and the two members of Parliament must be classed with this lot. By the aid of the guarantee fund, the Committee was, no doubt, enabled to fill the Banquet-Hall, and toshowa surplus, Hftit tho success so obtained is unsatisfactory. There is nothing so irritates the full-Hedged Liberal as an attempt to touch his pocket. Fill them up if you will, and he will fawn upon you, bat extract a few coins from him, and he murmurs and groans ad lib. COJIMKKCIAI. JIOIiAMTY.

At the above meeting tltore occurred a singular thing. Tlic Secretary of the Ward Reception Committee workedhard and worked well, and some of his ennfrem lliouglit it would be a fitting compliment to make him a present. True to Liberal principles, it was, I believe, proposed to-douato a portion of the surplus to the Secretary, when a subscriber, not unknown to fame, and who has appeared before a Judge of the Supreme Court as defendant in a civil suit, got up and preached commercial morality. "The Committee must uphold commercial morality, and the Executive had no right to touch the money. He, for one, would be pleased to put bis hand in his •jacket to make a donation to the Thisisdeliciotis,indeed, but I ain inclined to think that the Secretary will never see a "red ceut." for all his trouble.

THE SOt'VKXIK. There was a time when the good folks of Lambton Quay were startled to bear that the Liberals intended to present their model chief with 110 less than a thousand guineas, by way of a tribute for having survived fifty years, We have not beard anything of these guineas for weeks past, and the feeling is that the promoters have shirked the job. This, I think is true in a sense; the collection of one thousand guineas is no trilling matter and the Committee is not meeting with the response they expected. The fact is the Liberals can stand a half-guinea banquet, but when it comes to " parting the greed " without a quid pro qtm t not even a feed, ' they ore not in it. The Seddon will be tarnished if it exposed much longer, and tlio Committee still hopes to bring it off, but in a milder form than originally intended. The Seddon Party sent a deputation to the Ward Party with a view of biinging about an amalgamation, but the bait was not taken, the most that Seddonites could get, was permission to interview the members of the Ward Committee individually. What good this will do can only be surmised, but the fact is evident that the rank and file of the Liberal party have thrown aside discipline, each atom playing its own game,

A I,AST .SHOT. Just another and the last shot at the Liberals. The distress and poverty that has sprung from the misrule and bad financing of tho Government has to be relieved, and it is to the other party that the unemployed appeal, when their condition is hopeless. Last year it was the same, and again this year the Conservatives aro tinding the money for the relief works. The Ministerial Party have evidently found it ttflconvonient to subscribe to therelief mind, for it is a painful fact that in the list of subscribers one may search diligently for the name of any Liberal witlioutineeting with success. Why this thusness ? The Liberals are " fly-blown " probably, this may be the condition of the greater number of them, but there are some who can afford to drop a little into the" poor bag," but who will not do it, and the only reason t can suggest is that they can see no return for the money. The morning paper has strained itself in endeavouring to prove that liberality is not unknown to the Liberals, but the writer of the article can rake up only £lB, as having come from the pockets of its party. They create the distress in the country and shew not the least disposition to rolieye that distress.

A GOOD I'IIOSTECT, During the last few days tho talk of the city has been devoted a good deal to mining matters. We hear men talking about mullock, quarts:, wash-dirt, reefs, lodes, stopes, winze, galena, pyrites, rotten-rock, tailings, crushing, etc,, etc, Very learned yaneof them appear when they make of these terms, but, as a matter of fact, few of them know anything about gold-mining. All this jargon arises out of the fact that some adventurers have" struck a reef" of rotten-rock close to the city, showing a good prospect. Tho Wellington gold-'mine is near the Karori reservoir on ground belonging to the City Council. One gentleman who has inspected tho locality, informs mo that there is no quartz reef, but the gold shows freely in a strata of rotten rock which is well-defined and about twelve feet wide. The theory for this is that by volcanic action the quartz-bearing gold has been crushed into thread-like streaks aud diffused in the rotten-rock, The gold is there, without doubt, but whether it can be saved in payablo quantities has yet to bo determined. The owners of the claim maintain that it is payable, and furthermore they assert that thoro is no intention to ■%at companies," but that suOicient jjjiital is available for exhaustive Tests, without tho necessity of appealing to tho public. Tho miners aro at a standstill pendiug permission being obtained from the Council to work the ground, and as an assurance has been given that the Karori stream will not Bo fouled by tho debris there is every probability of the necessary leave being given to develop the mine, EXCOUIIAGI.NG THE DUCTS, Every encouragoment is being shown the midnight revellers, the

sodden boozers, and the youths" 011 the razzle-dazzle," for at convenient distances on both sides of our streets in nil parts of the City are to be seon great posts, which the "ordinary drunk " can lmng on, while feeling his way home, Any boozer can find tlio road home by tho aid of these poles, and as ft matter of fact many do seekthe frontdoor in this manner. Tho Oily is beginning to look extrcmoly ugly with the number of telegraph, telephone, and electriclight posts. Tho latter are the more plentiful, for the reason that nearly every private house that takes the incandescent light, lmsa postjn front of it. On Wellington Terrace where the dili: lira able to afford this luxury the number of posts aro formidable and dnngoronp. There would bo less room for complaint if the poles wcxo lixed in a proper manner hut when th»y abut on to the side walk they are a source of danger, more par-: ticularly 011 the nights when the water mains strike aud n-iuie lo work the olectric-ligliting m;i< ■ and the City is in darkness, ituuiuunts to! this that if we have many more poles there will be I rouble, and those responsible will be put to the expense of removing them, and running the the wires underground.

M.ACK lIUSIXESS. The House having got clear of tho Budget debate, is not likely to settle down until the banking legislation is dealt with. Unimportant bills will be brought up, but no real business will be done until the report of (he Select and Secret Committee is presented. lam assured that it will not be necessary for tho Committee to spend much more than a week in its investigations as all the documentary evidence is ready, and the witnesses to be examined aro few. It is impossible lo say what kind of a report the Committee will bring down, but this fact is apparent, that the Ministerial party is not-enamoured with theaction of the Government last session, and therefore will be tardy in according support this year, unless very full information is forthcoming. The banking business blocks the way, and until this is cleared, the House will not engage in useful legislation. The report of the Select Committee is anxiously awaited, and tlio uncertainty as to the nature of this, tends to dapress commercial matters, The sooner, therefore, we know what is to result from the •labours of the Committee, the better.

A FISAXCI.U TRICK. Financing is a line art and some fellows become adepts at it. In conversation with a gentleman, the other day, I bad related to me a piece of clever work, which is worth recording. X bought a piece of ground, making a deposit of £SO; for the balance of the purchase money, he sought and obtained the assistance of bis Dank. A vacant section with a mortgage is an expensive luxury, and X realised this, lie thereupon looked up a timber merchant, and secured his consent to supply, on six months' credit, all the material required for building four cottages; the next item to be found, was money enough to pay the wages of th builders, and back again be went to bis banker and arranged the matter. The cottages are built and occupied; the sum involved is very nearly £I2OO, and on this valuation a mortgage of the property has been arranged, which will enable the clever individual to wipe out his liabilities to the Bank and the timber merchant. He has done all his land-buying and cottage-building with £SO of capital, and if he can sell the cottages foi .CM) a-piece. which is by no means an exorbitant price, ho will clear £IOO. The man is a born financier, but such as he never get into Parliament.

VARIATION' IX VAU'I.-. J have long held tho opinion that rentals asked in this City are out of all proportion to the earnings of the people, and holding this view I have consistently maintained Unit (he capital value of house-property must recede. This contention is daily being verified, and the sales now recorded are a long way below the prices obtained a few years ago. A property which in 189;-) was purchased at £4OO, and upon which a mortgage of £27 ii was easily obtained, lias changed hands within the past few days at £BOO, the proceeds to tho vendoi, after paying commission and charges, amounting to a few shillings more than £5. Another property, which eighteen mouths ago cost over £BOO can now be bought for about £000; and a number of other instances may be cited, Property-owners who wish to sell, seem desirous of "skinning" the buyer, but the latter show a wonderful regard for their hides and in the end manage the business in such a way as to tell against' the interest of the seller. The absurdity of paying, £5, £(i and up to £l2 per foot for residential sites isgradually being realised, and the sooner tho owners write down their properties to their true values, the better will it be for the community. Rents continue abnormally high, and the poorer classes are obliged to herd together in single tenements, We fail to see anything wrong in this just now, but later 011 we shall discover that the system of cooping up four or i,live families in ft single house has bad a baneful ell'ect 011 the morals of the coming generation.