THE LABORING CLASSES AND THE WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Evening Post, Volume XIX, Issue 64, 19 March 1880, Page 2

THE LABORING CLASSES AND THE WEST COAST RAILWAY.

? We are glad to learn that there is a probability of a meeting of the laboring classes, being held shortly to consider the advisableness of making proposals to the Government that a number of men at present ont of work should be employed by the Government on the West Coast Railway and paid mainly in land. The plan suggested is that their wages, or at least the greater portion, should*' be, credited to them as. instalments towards the deferred payment for the land, and that they should then be enabled to settle on the land at the same time that they were making j the railway. This would be the general principle of the scheme, the details as to the rate | of wages,' price of land, allowance of rations, &c.,. being matters for arrangement, if the idea- were entertained by the Government. The plan has very much to recommend it, and although it may be put forward by the laboring classes in a semewhat crude shape at first* it would not be difficult to mould it into & practical and workable shape if taken in hand heartily and with the earnestness its importance deserves. If some such plan can be carried out, it would do much towards solving the " unemployed " difficnlty, while at the same time settling the oountry and facilitating the construction of the railway.

His Excellency the Governor and Lady Robinson are expected to return from Napier to-morrow by the Hinemoa. From the official meteorological report for February, 1880, it appears that the mean temperature was above the average at all stations. The highest shade temperature was at Christehureh,' flic loweat 37deg at the same place. The rainff Jl was greatly under pie average, being less than two-tenths of an mcty at^ellingfon, Nelson, and Christehnrch. We understand that as at present arranged his Lordship the Bishop of Wellington will consecrate the new church at the Lower Hutt on Sunday next. The style of the building is Early English. It consists of a nave 48ft 6in by 29ft, a chancel 20ft by 18ft two transepts, each 13ft 6in by 10ft, a vestry 12ft by 12ft, on the south Bide, a porch 7ft by 10ft, and s tower 9ft by 9ft, supporting a

spire 76ft high. The height of4fae nave from floor to ridge is^ffc Theiriterior/if I the building lsjhned with rimu. The wood is varniskedJlaad^ has a very good effect, affording an excellent example of the beauty of New Zealand : woodfl for these and kindred purposes. The work has been thoroughly , ¦well done, and reflects great' credit on the architect, Mr. "T. " Turnbnll7 and the contractora, Messrs. O'Brien and Co. We congratulate"the members of theTEnglish Church at the Hntt on having obtained such a convenient and suitable building to worahip in. The rain which has been falling all day, though doubtless unpleasant for those who have to be out in it, will prove of very great benefit to the soil. Our readers may perhaps not be aware that this is almost the first good downpour since the beginning of the year. The harvest all over the colony is now garnered, so that the rain should prove an unmixed blessing. It is the opinion of practical men that had the dry weather lasted much longer the winter grass" crop would have been altogether destroyed. -After this the feed should be abundant. The appointments of Mr. W. C. Wright as District Surveyor, and Mr. S. Anstey to be a draughtsman in the Survey Department, are gazetted. J r 'r> Mr. John Varnham~has been appointed a clerk in the Treasury, and Messrs. E. S. Medley and A. H. Hamerton cadets in the same department. < ¦ Councillor Logan, in accordance with notice, moved at the City Council meeting last night that the sum of £50 be granted towards putting up a clock at the Wellington Athenaeum. He pointed out that the Athenaeum was essentially an institution of the ratepayers, and probably a proposition would shortly be submitted for its amalgamation with the proposed Free Publio Library. The" r decision against his Worship the Mayor, given in the District Court this morning; will be an expensive one to him, as in addition it carries verdicts, with costs, agamsfcirinrnran action for .£lO9 3s 4d, and in the Resident Magistrate's Court for £82 13s 3d. In each of these cases his Worship pleaded thajrTie had received" no valuable consideration, and that his endorsement was a me*e.n^i|to;of aoi&OjSn\odatie>n. A petition was read from the licensed plumbers of the town at the meeting of the City Council last night, urging that having once paid the license fee of three guineas they should not be called upon to pay that/ amount annually^ as they were at the present^ time. They asked that the amount paid thisj year. mightj>e refunded. On the motion of Councillor Maginnityithe report was referred' to the Publio Works Committee. It must be many years since on two consecutive days the police sheet has been a, virgin page, but such was the case both yesterday and to-day. There: was no charge whatever entered, and the cells of the lockup were empty for no less than 48 hours at a stretch. Wellington morality is evidently rapidly improving, and it is to be hoped wilL continue to do so. I if At the meeting of the City Council last) night an amendment in the hackney carriage by-laws was confirmed, to the effect that the hirer should, at his option, pay either by distance or time; if no arrangement were made at time of starting, the payment to be by distance. The Hospital consumes 60 quarts of milk —costing £I—per1 — per day. ~We are requested to remind those interested that Messrs. Win. M'Lean & Co. will sell by auction at their rooms, to-morrow* at 2 o'clock, the booths in connection with the forthcoming Druids' sports. j An opinion was read at the City Council last night from the City Solicitor to thej effect 'that under the amended Act, no person who owed rates in any part of the borough could be placed on the burgess-roll of any one of the wards. This opinion was given in consequence of a doubt being expressed as to whether a person owing rates in one ward could not be placed on the burgess-roll of "another ward provided he had paid the rates he owed in.the latter. ,"• The" entries for the sports/ to come off at the Druids' Fete on Easter Monday close to- • night at the Star Hotel, where, the committee will attend from 8 p.m.-'until 10 p.m. for the • purpose of receiving them. From what wp can learn there are likely to be good field* for the various events. The handicaps are to be declared oxLMonday. , \ Bachelder's Pantoscope at the Theatre Royal was rather thinly patronised last evening-. To-night is for the benefit of M. Chalet, the able ventriloquist and lecturer. In addition to the ordinary attractions there wffl He several specially atniißing and interesting features introduced, jS&ssrs^ Wilson ana Eastori TOisfe ths#l>M£>fceich, "You Don't Say So," and M. Chalet will achieve the very extraordinary feat, first accomplished by the celebrated American markßman Dr. Carver, qf hitting glass balls with bis back to them. The Twin Trapeze Vaulted -^ — - -ijspi A man named Walter Dickens was arrested to-day, olmrgea with stealing a?p~aif jbf boots at&eLdwerHutt. 1 ' 1 l ir '- L On the recommendation of the Water" Sdpply Committee, the City Council last night declined to: entertain Mr. W. Finnimore's offer of the Kaiwarra watershed, but Btated that if he were disposed to offer the; land for a, moderate sum,, say J2lO per acre, ' it might be worth'their while to consider it. We hear of a good many disputed bets over young Scott's last walk at the Arcade. It seems that several persons during the last hour backed him to do 109£ miles. At 3£ minutes to 10 Scott retired on accomplishing exactly 109 miles. Those who backed him to do the extra quarter of a mile decline to pay, as they maintain that they would have won had Scott fulfilled his undertaking, -which was to walk for 24 hours. It is certainly hard on these gentlemen, but we cannot see how the bets can be decided any other way than against them. It is the intention of one person to submit the question to the Australasian. The r men of the Wellington Naval Brigade are likely to do credi£)bo th|& district at the approaching Christohurch/'review,* and are drilling zealously every day. Both officers and privates are enthusiastic, and there is <every prospect' of theirolfping the -most numerous as well as the best disciplined of Naval Brigades on the ground. There i 4 no. ; certainty yet as;to the. arrival, of the Guards' uniform, and many of ¦that body 'are on "tenter hooks" on the subject. :""The Olive Branch Lodge, LO.'G.T., met in the new hall in Woodward-stfeet last evening, the first business being passing the minutes of the previous session. The lodge received visits from the Pearl of Peace, Pioneer, and St. John's Lodges, and the guests were received warmly. The evening 1 ' was spent most pleasantly, and proceedings concluded with a vote of IhnAiTra to the visiting members of the order for their presence,and a hope was expressed that an interchange of like courtesies wenld be frequent in Thirty of the Wellington unemployed who have been taken on the Government railway work commenced operations on the line near Master ton yesterday morning, having arrived the previous evening. The Wairarapa Daily speaks in complimentary -terms of their healthy -and .business-like arajpearance, j and -adds thaft another s lot of jSOjare .shortly expected to Join them. At present the men are campedJOiit in four large "tests. The Wairarapa contractors are complaining that ioQ/3JU)rt a. time waa (allowed tbemtfor puttingjih their tenders fo^the Wairarapa Statioipßuildinga. "" Wfe regret to hear that Mr. Brown, <|f the Mammoth Minstrels, commonly known} as "Big Brown," died suddenly in Sidney about three weaks ago. The remains of the late Mr. John Wallace were interred this morning in the English cemetery, , the Yen. Archdeacon Stock officiating. The funeral was "s^fietly pr|Tate; In our brief notice of the performance at' the Theatre Royal on St. Patrick's ' Day, when Mr. Baohelder gave a silver watch for the best conundrum on the festive day, we omitted to say that the prize fell to Mr. R. J. Collins, of George-street. A cricket match will be played on the Hutt ground to-morrow between the Excelsior Cricket Club and Past and Present Collegians. The teams will go to the ground by the 1.15 p.m. train. ' The Excelsior team will be represented by Stohr, Duncan, Augarde, Holmes, J., Ridings, Bannister, M'Girr, Kreeft,~Harle, King, ATGorvan, R. The emergencies are Criohton, Varnham, and Vine. Present and Past Collegians — G. Bishop, W. FitzGerald, F. Richards, A. Burnes, F. Luxford, R, Leckie, M~C. Burnett, R. Kirk, W. 1 H. Field, H» Stock, and A. Cooper. Emergencies — L, Burnett, G. Burnes, and Hirchberg. ' : The girl Caroline Goodin/ committed for trial on a charge of setting her father's house on fire at Carterton, was brought down and lodged in gaol here yesterday. She will be tried at the Criminal Sessions of the Supreme Court next month. Messrs. Thomas Cook & Son, the famous tourist agents and excursion managers, of Ludgate Circus, London, who have branch offices in Parig, Geneva, Rome, New York, Jerusalem, and many other cities, have determined to include New Zealand in their round-the-world tours which they are organising in connection with thoJMelbourne International tExifbifion, The management of the Australasian business, the head office of which is in the new Exohange, Melbourne, has been entrusted to Mr. K. S.'Smythe. who is well known as an energetic agent all 'over the colonies ;* and this gentleman arrived in Wellington to-day to confer with

the Minister of Public Works respecting railway -Jfioilities for English and American tourists. probably a" goodly number of intending settlers, anxious to make a tour of Australia and New Zealand, will avail themselves, of Messrs. Cook's circular tour tickets*, "Ur. Smythe believes that the ,Eonnd-the-world tour will form an" exceliaA advertisement for the colonies. The usual meeting of the Wesleyan Mutual Improvement Society was held last evening at the meeting rooms, Taranaki-street, when Mr. W. H.' Bennett delivered an interesting essay on "IMb in Russia." Affairs in Russia are at present engaging considerable attention, and the paper evoked a good deal of discussion. The Hinemoa attempted to land some telegraph poles at Stony River a few days ago. There was a heavy surf, but the wind was off shore, and it was found that the poleß would not drift to the land. Several members of the Armed Constabulary, who were present in the neighborhood, then plucfcUy swam out through the surf, and one of them got out a line, by means of which the poles were hauled in. Captain PairchflfE had not time, however, to land the whole of them, and discharged the remainder at New Plymouth. Persons desirous of settling on land adjoining the proposed West Coast Railway are requested to attend a meeting to be held .at Mr. Black's coach factory this evening, fat 8 o'clock. 1 ~ The heavy seas of last Saturday did a certain amount of damage to the unfinished breakwater at Timaru. ' I The Academy of Music was well-filled last ! night on the occasion of the second produc;i»on of the Happy Land. The political hits spd other pleasantries of this "skit" were successful in thoroughly amusing the audience. The piece will be played again this evening. The Wairarapa Daily yesterday calculates in italeader what it will cost the farmers to feed their pigs on oats this year. Taking into consideration the abundance of the oat crop and the consequent low price, the problem works out favorably to the experiment being tried. ' At the Athenaeum last night the roll of membership was further augmented in the Star of Wellington Lodge. A considerable portion of the session was devoted to a discussion* on matters affecting the internal ! management of the . lodge. A seafaring brother about to leave for Home was requested to forward congratulations to all lodgeß he may visit after his arrival there. Last Tuesday evening the discussion respecting voting for those who are engaged in the liquor trade, who may be candidates for Parliament, Ac, was brought to a close in the Perseverance Tent, when it was decided to leave the matter an open question. ! Charles Robinson, hotelkeeper, has filed a declaration of insolvency. The Bpeeial correspondent of the Lyttelton Times at Parihaka telegraphs that Hiroki, wearing an Armed Constabulary shako, was very conspicuous at the meeting on Wednesj day, being busily engaged in distributing food. Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan, the author and composer of " H.M.-S. Pinafore," have produced a new burlesque entitled "The Pirates of Penzance," which is exciting a good deal of interest at home. A correspondent at the Hutt sends us the following: — A match has been arranged between J. Tidswell, of the Wairarapa, and D. Judd, of the Taita, to run three events — half mile, mile, and mile and a half, for iJSO aßide. The race to come off in Wellington, on the Basin Reserve, before the end of March. . A cricket match will be played on the Basin Reserve to-morrow between the Rising Star C. C. and the Wellington C. C. The following players will represent the Rising Stars: — Messrs. Mansill, Roberts, Howe, Plimmer, Brown, R. Renner, Mason, M'Beth, J. Renner, Lambert, and Williams; emergency, Nicholson and G. Godber. The admission to the Academy of Music has been reduced to — chairs, 3s; balcony, 2s ; and pit, Is. There will also be an entire change of songs in the first part to-morrow evening The electoral system as affected by the .legislation of last session is the subject of a leader in the Timaru Herald last Monday. The conclusion arrived at is, that if a large number variously estimated, at from 10,000 to 70,000 were excluded from the rolls before, under the law which has just been passed there will be a very much larger number excluded. , „, . " Canis " writes •.— " I should warn any of your readers who may possess favorite dogs to be careful how they allow them to be at large on Lambton Quay. Yesterday, between the hqps of 12 a.m. and 9 p.m. no leas than six dogs were poisoned ;' five of them, including my, own^, died. From what I can gather, three out of the bix were registersd. habit jOf^J>hrpipngDpisonedjmeat about the ponce T)ught to endeavor to find out the offenders." In reference to the above we understand that several similar complaints have been made to the police, who are on the look out for the offenders, for it ia pretty certain the poisoning is not the result of accident. Messrs. Dwan and Co. will hold au important sale of ironmongery to-morrow, at 2 o'clock, by order of the consignees, to pay freight and charges. -"Oraf old friend, Captain H. J. C. Andrews, has been appointed Harbormaster at Poverty Bay in the absence (on leave) of Captain J. C. Smith, The unfortunate rnyn Grant, alias Dewar, who was recently murdered in Dunedin, was formerly in the employ of Mr. James Gear, of this city, and used to ride about Wellington daily for orders. Mr. C. P. Pbwlea, the Treasurer, wishes to acknowledge the receipt of the following donations on behalf of the Wellington Benevolent Society: — From the Rev. W. J. Habenß, and from "L," £10. The dibrtßo( the Tay Bridge is being removed by dynamite, and steps are about to be taken to rebuild the bridge. n(ji , Messrs. R. Hannah & Co.'s advertisement, announonig T a great sale of boots and shoes, will appear to-morrow. The Taranaki News says that a few days ago Sergeant Daffin seized a kerosene case filled with bottles of rum from a Maori bullock cart. The native driver stated that he had obtained the spirits at Messrs. Humphries', Btore for Tamihana, and that he was I about to take it to Parihaka. The Southland Times objects to horse racing, and in a leader a few days ago the ! editor be wailad the fact that the sport had I b'een^revivecT at Invercargill. It is worthy of notice 1 that these strictures did not appear until after the meeting had taken place, and the Times had received the full benefit of the advertising. ' I An' interesting case was tried at the last sittings of the Palmerston North District Court on Monday last. This was an action brought ij Mr. Edwin Charles! » carpenter, against the' stewards of the Marton and Rangitikei Jockey Club, for permitting adanger,ous game upon the Bulls course, at the last race-meeting on the Ist January. The dangerous game, alluded to was shooting in a rifle gallery. The, plaintiff's case was that , when walking in rear of the gallery he was struck by a bullet in the thigh, and from the injuries received had been incapacitated from attending to his business ever since, besides being put to great expense for doctor's bills. Mr. Fitzherbert, who appeared for defendants, contended that they were not liable as they had not given the .proprietor of the gallery permission to be on the ground. Some technical points were also raised. Several witnesses were examined on both sides, and counsel addressed the Court at considerable length. The jury, after half an hour's deliberation, returned' a verdict for the plaintiff, damages .£IOO. Mr. Fitzherbert gave notice of bis intention to appeal.

Thb most trivial affection with which we are troubled is what is commonly called colds, and yet, trifling as they are from a superficial standpoint, they are but inductors or conductors of^many dire diseases. If they do not end in pneumonia or some pulmonary complaints, they fall on the kidneys, and here is just the point at which Udolj? ho Wolfe's Schiedam Aromatic Schnapps, comes to our aid, and by its searching, permeating, and pervasive action on these organs, restores them to their normal condition.—CAdtt.J

What is it that a man with two eyes cannot see with one ? — Tother eye. In a le'tterto a friend a young lady states that she is not engaged, but she sees a aloud above the horizon about as large as a man's hand.