WELLINGTON NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13935, 18 December 1905, Page 2

WELLINGTON NOTES.

[FkOM OUR CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON, December 16,

The Mahono’s record trip from Lyttelton has made a sensation. The big boat left Godley Head at 8.2 p;m. on Friday, reaching Pencarrow Head at 6.13 this morning, head to head in 9hr llmin. This breaks the record, H.M.S. Orlando having held the same till now with 9hr 40min, when she brought up Lord Onslow early in 1890, in time for the first session of "that year. If I remember rightly, the previous best passenger record was the Moeraki’s, with lOhr 17min. The Maheno avei’vged eighteen knots on her recordbreaking passage. Going out this afternoon, bound for Sydney, she went into the Strait at a tremendous pace. Apparently it looks os if wo may expect a new record for the Tasman Sea.

Rotorua has begun well this year. The head of the Tourist- Department, Mr T. E. Donne, who has just.returned from a tour of inspection of the principal tourist- resorts in the North Island, reports that ho paid a visit to Taranaki, Auckland, Te Aroha, Rotorua, Lakes Rotorua, Rotoiti, Rotoma, Rotoehu, OkataWa, Okarewa, Tarawera and Rotomahana, the Waitomo and Ruakuri Caves and Waiotapu and Wairakei, finally coming from Taumarunui down the Wanganui River. Mr Donne states that he found a very great improvement at To Aroha, where the Mayor and Council waited upon him and expressed appreciation of the work done by the Government in connection 'with the Domain. The electric light is now being laid on to the ( whole of the bath buildings and Government gardens. The system of baths is also being largely extended, and provision is being mado for massage, douches and electric baths at Rotorua. The contractor, Mr Hutcheson, has made a start with the new bath buildings. These are on a very extensive scale, and when completed null be of a most comprehensive description. The electric, mud and Aix baths recently installed at Rotorua are, reports Mr Donne, meeting with great favour from the public. The Government has purchased Mr Wrattan’e interest in the acoommodationiiouso at the Waitomo Caves, and it is now being ministered by the-Depart-ment. The tourist traffic in all parts of the colony is reported to be very heavy, and the season gives promise of being most successful. £>omo intending tourists have been made gloomy by the no-license result at InvercargilL One lady, however, in conversation, made light of it. She said: “ I was prepared by the expectations of th%, sio-liceixee party of victory everywhere to carry such a big flask, but, with only Invercargill and Oaraaru, it will not be so serious a matter ox freight.” A cheery optimist, this.

Another cheery optimist is Mr Isitt. Says ho to-night in the ‘‘ Post,” the . thing , that would inspire nolicenso advocates throughout the colony would bo to know _ that though the colonial returns aro still incomplete the figures at present show that the license vote totalled 181,738, the nolicense vote totalled 197,438. “ As 200,000 was the most sanguine expectation wo over indulged in we are not very far from our goal, especially seeing there are some figures still to come in,” commented Air Isitt, Ho is rough on what he considers carelessness in the conduct of the recant ©lection business, quoting as an illustration the case of Waikouaiti, one of many. The official figures telegraphed were:—Continuance 2500, reduction 2793, nolioense 3170. On Thursday Mr Clark wrote to him, saying: “The count was finished yesterday. The result was: — Continuance 1532, reduction 1992, nolicense 2318, informal 84, total valid votes 3867. No-license missed' by two votes and one-fifth.” H© referred to the counting of the invalid vote. “Very many returning officers included invalid votes in the total, and there bad been no record during all these years that could be relied upon, because there had been no uniformity in this matter, which had bean left to the sweet will of each returning" officer. Obviously we . -are wronged by that method, because if invalid votes are included the difficulty of obtaining a three-fifths majority is greatly increased.” Of course, also, the reverend champion has charges to make. On on© point he thus delivered himself ;—“ IV© are sorry to learn that there lias been a good deal of irregularity, that people have voted who were not of' age, that people were enrolled before they had been sufficiently long in' the country, that this, was done in some of the electorates where the fight was most critical, and it will

be for the executive of the Alliance to consider on Monday whether they shall not urge that under any circumstances, irrespective of sex or position, those who have committed breaches of the law shall be prosecuted.” About the Invercargill result Mr Isitt was very interesting. Invercargill, he said, reported that scores of people were enrolled on the supplementary roll, chiefly fiaxmill and sawmill hands, who 'really resided either in Mataura, Wallace or Awarua, and the leaders of the no-license movement there > believed that on a fair vote they would have had a clear surplus of 300 over the necessary three-fifths. Other impressive facts wore in regard to tho wins at Oamaru and Invercargill. Both of them were self-contained districts, each •with large agricultural surroundings, arid to have won these was an object lesson ■worth a dozen of such wins as Newtown would have been. Three years ago he would not have said as much about Newtown, bub it is true, nevertheless.