WELLINGTON ITEMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 8903, 20 September 1889, Page 5

WELLINGTON ITEMS.

[Bt Tslegbaph.J [raOM OUB SPECIAL cobbkspondemt.] WELLINGTON, Sept. 19. TAWHIAO. The Ministerial journal says this morning that Tawhiao will not be interfered with so long as he does not break the law, from which I conclude that the surmise, of which I advised you yesterday, that the notice to His Majesty was sent before the failure of the Native Meetings Bill, is correct. THE COLONIAL BSOBXTABTSHIP. There is a rumour to-day, rather faint, that Captain Russell is likely to be appointed Colonial Secretary. People ore, indeed, asking whether he has accepted the position. The opinion in circles favourable to the Government is that the appointment would be a very good move and a very strong move for the Government. It would be distinctly palatable to the Ministerial party, and the country would rejoice at the upsetting of a certain little applecart in the fair city of Camara. As yet there is nothing more, I believe, in the rumour than the wish of Ministerial supporters being father to the thought; but there may be more in it to-morrow. THE PUSH-FALLING SEASON has, I hear, well set in about Hawera and the interior district generally; but I cannot find enough reliable information to induce me to report that there is any demand, as it is, alleged there is, for any appreciable quantity of labour from other districts. DAIRY PRODUCE. There is some excitement in that part of the world about a report to the effect that a ring of southern speculators has secured all the available cool cargo space for dairy produce for the coming season. The Hawera farmers are very much exercised in their minds about this, and the feeling in the district is that the Shipping Companies ought to be “ pitched into ” for allowing such a thing. It is probable that more will be heard of this in a few days. THE KGMONT FARMERS* UNION, lately registered, is spoken of as an organisation likely to play an important part in the above and other matters. As this appears to be a popular thing in the district, I send you the following description of it, which appears in to-day's Evening Press :—“ This institution may now be recognised as a going concern. It is essentially what it declares itself to be, a union of farmers for the purpose of conserving and protecting the interests of its members. At a recent meeting of shareholders, some of the leading settlers, who are also the prime movers, declared that their chief object was to place the produce of their farms in the hands of the consumers at the greatest profit to themselves, and to this end the Union would urgently need to sweep aside everything of a parasitical character that stood in the way. It is expected, in short, that this new organisation as at present constituted will secure for its members large and important advantages in whatever direction it proposes to operate. Applications will now be immediately invited for the post of Manager and Secretary, the duties attaching to which I have previously enumerated. As one instance of the method upon which it is proposed to work, I understand that one of the first duties of the Secretary will be to solicit contract quotations under classification for the fire and marine business of the Union, and in like manner, as far as possible, to submit every department to competition.”

THE ACCIDENT AT THE CLUB HOTEL to-day, is remarkable for the circumstance that tbe unfortunate victim escaped, after a fall of some forty feet from an upper window on to the hard pavement, without breaking any bones. General regret is expressed in the establishment, as the young fellow was thought well off by everybody in it. The unhappy part ot the story is that be came by his mishap in consequence of disobeying instructions, which were not to get on the window-sill to clean the outside of the upper windows, but to do the work with a hose provided for the purpose. PRACTICAL SYMPATHY. The public has come forward so well for the relief of the families of those lost in the accident to the pilot boat, of which you were informed some weeks ago, that the cash collected now stands at £6OO, which has been fairly divided. By the way, it was freely said at tbe time that the boat was capsized owing to the breaking of the grummet of the steer oar. The boat gave a sheer, and the grummet breaking, the steer oar was useless; and between the action of the tow-rope and the stress of the heavy sea, over went the boat. That was the popular theory, founded on the fact that the grummet was broken. Hundreds rjm that as the boat lay in the boat harbour after the accident. Upon the broken grummet they built their theory, and loud were the hard comments upon the fashion of covering up ropes with canvas to hide the process of wear and the course of decay. 1 have ascertained, however, that the grummet broke during the capsize; that, in fact, it was the strain of the capsize which broke the grummet, not the breaking of the grnmmet which caused the capsize. UNJUST CRITICISM. Another matter I may mention, which requires to he noticed in justice to the rescuers of the survivors. When the steamer got alongside of the swamped boat, all her occupants got hold of the ropes thrown to them, but only two of the five reached the deck of the steamer; the others, falling back into the sea, were drowned. There was much criticism in consequence. “ Why," people asked, ** did the crew of the steamer not go down into the boat to help those poor benumbed people up to saf etyp” The reply was that there was no crew, everybody but the steward, captain, and steersman baing away in tbe boat, scouring the dark waters in search of the overturned boat. To this it was objected, “ Then why not have sent down bowlines into the boat P” But in the hurry and the darkness there was only time to throw the ropes. The boat went from under the unfortunate men at the first contact with the steamer. The steamer suddenly comes up with the boat, over go the ropes as fast as they can be thrown, away goes tbe boat, leaving the men clinging; three out of the five, unable to hold on, fall into the sea. That is what happened. No blame, of course, rests on the steamer’s people, who did the best that good seamen could do under the circumstances.