WELLINGTON ITEMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 8146, 18 April 1887, Page 5

WELLINGTON ITEMS.

[Bt Telbrbaph.] [from our own correspondent.] WELLINGTON", April 16. The Evening Post strongly condemns Mr Richardson's scheme of Railway Boards. It says :—“We notice that he does not announce his new Bill as a Government measure, but simply as one which he Las prepared in the hope that it will meet with the approval of the Colonists. Rumour has it that the Bill is looked upon very coldly, even by his own colleagues, and that they have not yet committed themselves to its support. We do not wonder at this, for Mr Richardson’s latest scheme is weaker and worse than any of those which have preceded it and been thrown aside. These Boards are to be men-of-war without guns, bodies with duties and responsibilities but no powers, mere convenient buffers between the railway authorities and the public. We very much doubt whether men of any position, or in whom the public would have the least confidence, would consent to accept such very unsatisfactory positions as seats on such Boards. They would he daily brought face to face with evils and wrongs which they,, would be powerless to remedy, while the public would naturally hold them in some measure responsible for not remedying the wrongs proved to them to exist. The Boards would be costly, and worse than useless; they would bar the road to real reform. If such a Bill as Mr Richardson has indicated is brought before the House, we trust it will be at once rejected. That he should have devised such a scheme, and consider it likely to correct the evils of the present system of railway management, evinces such a total want of appreciation of the gravity of the situation as to destroy all hope of railway reform of a practical character being effected while he remains at the head of the department and subject to the control of Mr Maxwell. Mr Richardson’s speech of last night will, we believe, tend to injure the Government of which he is a member, and to destroy all hope of reform in the administration of the railway system of the Colony until a radical change takes place in the Cabinet and the Department. A rumour has been set afloat by a Northern paper that Major Ropata is to he called to the Upper House at an early date. I have made enquiries on the subject, and learn that the Government have not considered the question at all, hut if anyone is appointed to All the seat rendered vacant by the resignation of the Hon Mr Morgan, Ropata will in all probability he recommended for the position. Many years ago Sir Donald M’Lean made a promise to the North Island Natives that two of their number should be placed in the Legislative Council, and that promise was kept, but Mr Morgan resigned lately, and the only other North Island Native in the Upper House is Wi Takao, who is so frail that he is unable to give due attention to the affairs of the Legislature. The North Island Maoris are, consequently, practically disfranchised, so far as the Legislative Council is concerned, and they think the G overnment ought to appoint a successor to Mr Morgan. Major Ropata has done good service to the country. He is an intelligent and upright man, and would make an excellent Councillor. If, therefore, the Government decide to appoint any Native to fill Mr Morgan’s seat, there is littlo doubt Ropata will he the man. Mr George "Williams, who has invented a means of exterminating rabbits, and who has recently been endeavouring to form a small Company in the Wairarapa, had an interview with the Colonial Secretary on the subject yesterday. He stated that, owing to the difliculty which he experienced in the country in forming a small company to purchase sufficient wire netting, he has not|yet been able to practically demonstrate the utility of his invention. Mr Buckley expressed himself desirous of seeing the apparatus in operation, but pointed out that the Government could not afford any pecuniary assistance in the direction of giving the invention a public trial. The Colonial Secretary suggested to Mr Williams that he should visit the South Island, and endeavour to form a Company to give the invention a thoroughly good trial. Mr Williams has decided to act on the suggestion, and will leave for Christchurch on Friday week.