WELLINGTON ITEMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11558, 20 April 1898, Page 6

WELLINGTON ITEMS.

[From Our Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, April 19. Yesterday-was so wet here that the cooperative workers did nothing at the Parliamentary Library. To-day has been fine, but again they have done no work. There has been trouble amongst the men themselves, not, however, on account of their relations with the Public Works Department, but the fact that some of the men are declared to be, in regard to the work in hand, inexperienced and incompetent. This, it is alleged by the experienced men, has kept down the quota of their earnings. The dissatisfaction thus brought about led to these men remaining off work tc-day. Now, however, it has' been practically settled that the men shall resume work to-morrow on a new- footing. The arrangement hs communicated to me is that .all earnings up to date are to be paid forthwith,' and that the inexperienced men will be eliminated from the cooperative gang. This kind of thing is common enough in connection with the earlier stages of co-operative works, as experienced men do not like to have their earnings kept down through inexperienced companions. The proverbial ability to see through a brick wall has lately been exemplified in a way worth noticing. Early last week a lot of goods consigned from London to the Government reached Wellington. Amongst them were a number of iron bedsteads for the Porirua Asylum. Until Friday or Saturday last they remained not only in the ship’s hold, but in their substantial, firmly-secured packing cases. They were,int’act,absolutely invisible. This, however, did not- prevent a southern journal from publishing in its Thursday’s issue a statement to the effect that some of the iron bedsteads in question had arrived in a decrepit condition, namely, with one leg shorter than the other three. As an instance of clairvoyance or packing-case reading, the statement will doubtless interest stiidertts of psychplpgy,._but it will be seen that its relation to fact is bn a par with the connection between Tenterden .steeple and Goodwin Sands. No complaints 'concerning the heds have yet-been received from the authorities at Porirua and, as a matter of fact, all goods for the Government are officially inspected by an expert before they are shipped from London. The Minister of Railways returned from the south to-day. It is expected that the Minister of Lands will be back from Otago to-morrow. The Minister of Education, who is inspecting the schools to the north of Auckland, was at Whangarei last night on his way back to Wellington.