TOLD ON LAMBTON QUAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5164, 24 October 1895, Page 2

TOLD ON LAMBTON QUAY.

1 [By The Ancient Mariner,] "And this spafo on that ancient man, The bright-eyed mariner."—CohMge. ■Wellington, Tuesday, delicately described. Tho story of a youth sowing his i. < wild oats is invariably unpleasant,-At but sometimes the comic jostles the tragic for a prominent position, and. rises to the top like tho foam on a " long-sleever," and amuses the crowd. A young fellow said to be well connected down South, aud who in his escapades fell into the arms of the police and was put i away "on the Hill" for a brief y > sojourn, was recently set free to , begin again his agricultural opera- ) lions. His firstmove after regaining liberty was in the direction of a , telegraph office; ho walked down in [• a quiet unobtrusive manner, his face the picture of concentrated misery. His clothes were ill-fitting and illconditioned. He sneaked into the office and clutched a pen. "Collect" be wrote in a clear hand, giving.*, proof positive that thero was not a shot left in the locker, Tho message that was to speed across the wires to his friends down south, was short and suggestive and consisted of s but two words," Let loose." I _ A remittance together with an injunction to "come home," was tlio 6 response. Towards the close of B day, the same young man appioached the same telegraph office. A change Q had come over the scene; he was 3 rigged fore and aft in a new suit, "slops" they were, but nevertheless 3 new, with nothing of the prison taint abouttbem. Hisdejecleddcmeanour of the morning had given way to a reckless indifference toconsequencos, His walk was of an indescribable character, something of a cross between \ an amble, and a policeman's [1 measured step. Ho wobbled into the j office, seized a pen, and indited a e second telegram to his people. This was no simple task; he negociated the address and instructions to " Collect" the cost, without apparent difficulty, but the body of the message required consideration. At last , inspiration came, and he was able to delicately describe his conditiou in 0 the one brief word, " Drunk." " The telegram was no doubt correctly interpreted by his friends, at any rate the remittance received in response to the first wire was spent '•»' partly in clothes, the rest of it beingJa* poured down his throat. The 3 t digal has gone South, after a close lB shave of being "gaoled" a second time. THE WELLINGTON SHOW. ). One of the principal events with us at this time of the year is our Agricultural and Pastoral Show. , 0 It is the one event in which tho ] 0 "mutual" business between town „. aud country is exemplified. We find Si the bawbees and the country people . I( l find the exhibits, and the benefits ► i,. arc mutual. Wellington's show thii ,g year promises to eclipso all previous efforts, so the Secretary, Mr George Scales, says, and ho ought to know, jt for he has been in the thick of our BS Shows evei since we mustered the t 0 monoy for them. Theenlriesalready ,• w , received are largor than they have ever been at a corresponding period in advance of the closing date for eutries,whilethe promises of exhibits from outside the Province, and tho applications for space for the exhibition of produce and aie such as to ensure a * Show. The space for produce and ' implements will require to be double . what it was last year. Mr Scales thinks that there will be a specially good show of Shorthorn and Ayrshire cattle ; also Lincoln, Romney and Down sheep. All the leading features of previous exhibitions are in the programme this year, while a new line has been added for poultry, .' which will attract many exhibitors. The entries already in hand come ', from all pails of the Colony; Auck--I'_ land, Dunedin, Westland and , Taranaki will be well represented,. , and from the Hawke's Bay District , tho promises of numerous entries have been made. This year's Show v will be quite metropolitan in character, and worthy of the Empire City. Country visitors, more par- ?.| ticularly those from the Wairarapa, will be glad to know that the Railway Department intends making the fares exceptionally cheap, and I understand the fare to passengers from Mastorton will bo about 6s ( return. CLAIMING THE CARICATURE. "■< or In my letter of last week, I ig describod Bob and his doings, and I it regret to say that I have been surlo feited with the thanks of several i 0 Bobs, whose conceit has lod them to l suppose that it had special reference ' d, to them. Amongst the number, was p. a journalistic friend who mildly suggested that he was the Bob. I II resent this most distinctly, as " Bob [ s the Mayor-makor" was a caricature; of myself, and I cannot permit others; , n to rob me of the semblance of myself,. ■ e Some say tho prosy picture is; exactly liko me, but this is "aa invention of tho onomy," at any rato,, l whether it bo a portrait or a cartoon, I do not feel disposed to let others claim it, I hope this gentle hint will be sufliciout for all claimants, olherwiso it will be a case of " pistols and coffee." UNDER SERIOUS CONSIDERATION, .r ir 1 invariably peep in at tho Parlia- < il mentary Buildings on a Tuesday ie afternoon, to hear what mombers ir have to say and see what can be n seen. This afternoon, danger lurked Jt " in the eyes of every country ir Bentative. Tho Estimates for Public o Works are miserably inadequate, £ and the country M.P, is in a moroso mood in consequence, The elect of 0 Masterton, was 6evere in his . ' denunciation of tho small eip9ndi- , n turo in his district, and swears that n the departmental expenditure, which •- he calculates- has increased at the rate of £IOO,OOO per annum since the - death of tho Hon. John Ballance, is e responsible for tho present state of t affairs. Country mombers are mad, i, and Ministers are in a fright, because 1 their. supporters promise them a c warm time next scEsion. When the t time for tho next session arrives < • members will find that a vigorous • Public Works policy will be one of !■ the trump carts of the Soddoa j Ministry. The matter is now under serious consideration, and there is i every probability that the Goyernr ment will next session submit pro- , posals for a loan of between three' and four millions sterling, for thntf construction of roads and bridgesfP the completion of railways now 1 partly constructed, and the bribing , J of the constituencies to give the ~ Liberal Party another lease of office. 3 Those who growl about tho small • expenditure now, will bo able noxt j session to vote plenty of monoy for 5 tkefc districts. Self-reliance is to ) bo kicked overboard next session, and you will find that what I say

about loan proposals next year, is correct. VMHJK AT ZEKO. A week or two ago the puuters in the mining market were wont to relato with much pleasure thenmonnt of profit made on Imperials, Hanrakis, Golden Hills, Brokon Hills, r Queens, and Extended?. The profits j. were of course on paper, n few only the punters could say that the profits were realised and in their pockets. The tune has somewhat changed during the last fow days, and punters are inaudible, but their feverish anxiety is manifest iu the way thoy rush to sco the latest quotations in the windows of sharebrokers. j There is a lull iu the mining market, and tho pluck of tho punter has in consequence gone down to zero. Mining speculators are never con-. sistent, otherwise they would certainly make allowances for the"wildcats," who cannot always be expected to be fiisky. They must haye moments of repose, and even if they do go into a hypnotic trance for a week or two, thoy will wake up again. The Auckland brokers t who are coining money through the existence of the mining quadrupeds, may be trusted to rouse the creatures into activity again. "The bottom has dropped out of the , boom " is the cry of not a few timid , Wellington speculators, while one punter who has realised to advan- ' #(age, assured me that the game was not worth tho candle. His main , trouble consists in being obliged to , leave his warm bud to gut the morning paper and post himself up in the , mining news. i Investors in the EmpiroCily have, however, ground for complaint at j tho apparent apathy of the Welling- , ton sharebrokers. Notwithstanding that there are about a dozen linns . carrying on sharebroking either wholly or in part, there is no such thing as a stock exchange. There is , accordingly no similarity in tho bvokeiuge,tbequotations particularly for mining stocks, vary with each broker, while jobbing is not unknown. Thisgo-as-you-pleasesystemis detri- - mental to both broker and client, : and the sooner the sharebrokers of , Wellington shako off their apathy ; tho better will it be forall concerned. , I bolievo somo sort of effort is being made to form an Association of 1 Brokers, but the effort is of a mild character, and it will be somo time ; before there arc any results.

THE HARIiOCR THIIIITTF.. W, The tribute of infants to Port Nicholson must be very largo each •' year, but it is only now and again , that wo are made awaro that this tribute is paid, A fow weeks ago , tho mortal remains of a waif were ' found on the beach at Thorndon and . to-day another baby corpse was , found in Evans' Bay. These gruesome discoveries rouse tho iudigna- , tion momentarily and wo rush into

print with suggestions for slaying 4 the fathers of the bastards, and sympathising with the unfortunate mothers. After the inquest these fits of virtuous indignation die away to reappear when the next babycorpse is thrown up by the waves. Nothing of a practical character is ever done, and never will be done. Much of the mischief is undoubtedly duo to the want of proper parental control. Boys aud girls of tender years are allowed toroara the streets atall hours, corrupting their morals and shaping their course for ruin a and disgrace. Another contributJKng clement is the herding together of several families in a single house. The high rentals which are out of all proportion to the earnings of tho tenants, in a measure compel several families to jointly rent a single tenement, and whilo this plan of living ensures cheapness, the cheapness is secured at tho cost of the morals of the younger generation. Attention to these points may not stamp out infanticide, but will tend to lesson the number of these crimes,

a, c and ut. Ever since the Bank agreement j has been made public, wo have extracted no end of amusement from the customers of the sellir.g Bank, ■who are mercilessly chaffed about ■the B, C and D lists. " Which list ■are you on f" is a rudo question to put to some people, while others again smile and reply," on the D list," Tho letters are not sufficiently descriptive for the denizens of Lambton Quay, aud a wag has improvod upon the Bankeis' titles, and christened the lists "Bad," t" Crooked" and " Damned bad." Tho talk iu the City is mainly on tho Banking question, a wearisome subject and quite as bad as the unemployed question, There is a wonderful diversity of opiuion as to the" panning out" for the Colonial , Bank shareholders. Some reckon upon a total dividend of from 25s to 30s, others can see nothing more than 13s,whilo a few think that a call will bo necessary, There are, however, speculators in Colonial Bank shares, for I heard of a parcel changing hands to-day, at 18s Cd. Some very tough stories about liquidations are related by old hands, ■/ and Bank failures that aro lost in tho mists of time aio raked up, and tho results of their liquidations shown. The old Oriental Bank, I. was told by one who was in it, is still in process of liquidation, although it suspended thirteen years ago. The new Oriental Bank, which closed its doors on the 7th June, 1892, has not washed up, and will be *■' unable to complete the job under three or four years more. The South Australian Bank and the experience of its unhappy shareholders, afford JUplenty of illustration for those (listhe Bankiug question, Upon one point alono, is there unanimity, and that is the hope for a speody settlement one way or the other. Business people find the ' • suspense irksomo and detrimental to j_ trade, and they growl fearfully. Business is duller now than it was during the winter months.