Our Wellington Letter

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 70, 29 November 1890, Page 2

Our Wellington Letter

■. . —rzr. ♦ (FBOM OVR OWN COKMBBPONDEKT.) . Wkxmwotok, November 27It has always been the boast of NewZealand th»t-tKe only poisonona insect that we possessed is the katipo, and that little creature is- very harmless if left alone. We are, however, threatened with a few choice specimens of nuisance* from other nacts of the globe. It will be remembered that not long since a earpei snake made its appearance at the racecourse in Auckland.lia.ving beenjbrough* over from Australia in a CTserof wfi>e. We are now warned, by a writer in the Times, as to the danger of importing venomous insects and reptiles through the agency of bunches of bananas. The writer statrs that he has teen-small snakes curled round the stalk of the banana r and has also seen centipedes and millipedes brought into Wellington in the same way. Fruiterers are *dvised to keep a sharp look-out for Such. unwel* come strangers. It will be a adiry. l d«y for our bonny New. Zealand when our camping and picnic grounds are infested by such reptiles as favor our sisteir Islands. ' . \ / Several glaring cases of contemptible meanness and fraud faave come under my notice which are worthy of vehtila* tion in the hope that iucb sharp practices may be put a stop to. One of our Ministers, who is wellaknown '(evidently foo well-known for his benoToleace). was waited a montn or two ago by a liidy (?), who desired that the Minister would lend her five pounds until she got her Savings Bank account tansf erred to Wellington, at the same time producing; a bank book ;, continuing her yarn, the woman stated she belonged to the Min--1 isters' denomination, and thai sheswa» coming to live in Wellington. The rev, • gentleman scraped every three-penny, piece he could together, and gave the woman the money which he really re*quired for his own household necessaries. . Another Minister of the same denomina> tion was also visited by one. of his flock, a storekeeper in this city, and asked for 1 £10 to meet a bill, and added that the . Minister must find him the money j which at length the gentlemen of .the black cloth managed to scrape together. ~ But, I am told by the t>o rev. gentlemenfio question "that they have not : seen one penny of the money since, nor do, they expect erer to do so. This form of " religious racket" has been very eom~ mon in Wellington of late; in fact the writer himself recently gave 2s <Sd " tone! p a poor sick woman" to go to her friends in Australia; but in the after* noon he had the chagrin of seeitjg the " benevolent individual," who'; professed to belong to the Salvation Army, suffer* ing severely from the effects of the sun outside a Cuba street public house^ Of all the frauds which walk the earth, s»ve us from the one who swindles under the cloak of ieligioh. There is a similar case to the above now occupying the at* tention of the fi-M. Court, a young man having "got at " a parson of one of the suburban churches for a few pounds'. ■ ■■i dressmaker named Elizabeth Snooks received such a shock to hqr system, that she .is not .likely, to recover from "in a. great hurry; The' lnspector.: under the Factories Act, recently had occasion to visit the establishment of the lady abovementioned, and requested anmittance tosee if everything was going op well, but Mrs Snooks preferred that the Inspector should keep outside the door, and in the meantime she managed, W release several young women, who had been kepi after hours, by a back way, and; then the inspecting gentleman was welcomed with open arms and shown over the premises,, but as things were not as they seemed* Mrs Snooks yesterday was asked to pay £7 and costs, to the credit of Her Majesty's Government for refusing the Inspector admittance, and also for failing, to give her girls the required half holiday* .Robert Hannah, the well-known boot importer, was asked to contribute. £3 tothe same fund for working girls linger than is specified in the Act. The general verdict is " Serve them right/ for it is a> matter of extreme difficulty to gain con-' notions in these cases owing to the girls preferring to suffer quietly rather than expose themselves to the . crosß<examina« tion of unscrupulous lawyers in a; court of law.;, to say nothing about the risk of giving evidence against the one who pro* vides < her bread and butter.' ' One employer, to my own knowledge, remarked to bis milliner not long since; when she had been brought back after hours, " It will be well to put a blind over that back window, for I know, you would; -not like having to go to th? court. It's hot very pleasant for young girls "; and.it was not pleasant for him either a few w'?eks later when he got fined for a like offence. " An old dog for a hard road"' is Mr George Fisher, the late member for Wellington South. Finding that the Newspapers have been condemning bis actions in the last Parliament, the wily George has favored the Wellington public the lust two nights with two .. columns of ! '' some press opinions of Mr Fi»her,'* which were written some six years, ago when he was Wellington's idol. Of course the dates are omitted from! some of the clippings, which would, lead, the unwary reader to believe that they, were written quite recently, TheVPfess last night, however, shows up the other side of the question, and says that: it is Mr Fisher who ha» changed. . Messrs Dathie and Bell are looked upon as certainties for Wellington City in the next House, with either Mr F.teher or Mr Fraser as the third; man to be picked from the rank and file. .