EARLY WELLINGTON,

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 582, 10 August 1909, Page 4

EARLY WELLINGTON.

. THE DOCUMENTS FROM LONDON. The Hon. D. Bnddo considers. that the Ixwks and papers relating to the Now Zealand Company received lately by the Government from the Colonial Office constitute the most valuable find of documents relating to tho early history of thiß part of the Dominion that has yet beet'made. , Speaking to a'Dominion reporter yesterday,- the Minister said he would strongly advise old; settlers, especially • Wellingtonians,.' to ' visit' tho Museum and look through the''documents, as they would find much to interest • thorn relating to the old families- of tho dis-' Irict.' He felt that the 1 public'owed much gratitudo to Messrs. A.. Hamilton, A. H, Turnbull, and C. A. Kwen, who had gone through the papers and compiled a valuable report upon them; also toDr.,Hocken for his carefully-prepared catalogue, whioh 1 was tho mtons of drawing attention to the documents,' and'had greatly lightened the'labours' of the investigators in Wellington. Even as' it was, their task was no light one, 'as the documents amounted to about a ton-and a" half in weight.' None of-the papers will bo destroyed, but those which aro not exhibited or .bound for reforonce will bo lodged in the Mount Cook storage rooms under tho supervision ' of ' the Director of the Dominion Museum. Further details relating- to this' interesting find have already appearod ■ in' this journal. Mr, Buddo" added that lie had been advised that another two cases of documents connected with' the early settlement of Now Zealand had been found stored in London, and. would bo forwarded to New-Zealand if desired. He had given instructions to havo them sent out, ' The' first meeting of creditors of George' Morris, milk vendor, of Wellington, Will'bo hold at .tho Official Assignee's office on August 20. iv.;. b The London "Globe" notes the remarkable and pleasing fact that during the jmr 1908 "pot one single, (or married) passenger waskilled from accidents to British trains, rolling stock, or permanent way," and considers that this justifies tlio boast, of. a railwaydirector 6oino years ago that the.safest place in the world was a iirst-ola-ss carriage on a British railway. Only forty-five passengers were injured during, the same year—tho injuries including ; "shock"—that somotimos rather vague, oomplaint for which the most soothing plaster is -a bank note.

, Amiablo members of • tho oxocodinj»ly aauablo Fabian Society (sftys tho "Financial Review of Reviews") who oxpoct to set the world to rights by nationalising railways, nught consider some ' facts about French finances which Mr. A, J.- Wilson' sets down in the "Investors' Review" of Juno 12, : At tho end of 190G tlk Frenoli Government bad spent about £28,000,000 on State railways, which produced a not revenue yielding tho mxmifioeut return of 2,05 por oont. Bv tho cud of tho current.,year the total capital outlay will oxcood £30,000,000, and tlic rcturu to tJip Stato fall to 1,78 per cent.—a yield on' invested capital that even tho peasant "rentier" would jib at. ! Moreover; tho Government has just be<sonio the dircct owner of that antediluvian conoorn, tho Western railway. Tliis lias always been a drain ou the Government, and as a result of tho State taking over tho worldng of tho line, tho Government expect to bo', ft'ii extra' £700,000 out of pockot tliis year, "Tho Stato," says Mr. Wilson,, "has succeeded to a,most dilapidated property." Tlwso of us who'have had tho ill-luck of personal experionco of tho Western railway can cordially ecbo t "It haa,"'