THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 169, 18 July 1908, Page 3

THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

THE CAPITAL FARCE.—SOME GRAVER CONSIDERATIONS.— THE COUNTRY'S DEBTv—MISMANAGING THE, TRAMS. -■ MUDDLING THE MAILS. — EXIT, DAN BARRY

A week of beastly weather, clearing up on Saturday, and blossoming into a perfect Sunday. On the whole, we nave no reason to complain of the weather this season. It has been what you call (in Wellington) a fine winter. There has been, little cold, •\ and comparatively few* wet days. Dunedin has a better climate at any time, •and Christchurch an incomparably better, and a travelled man told me the other day that Nelson (where the jam comes from) has a climate only second to that of , San , Francisco. Wellington, v at ahy rate; is far better than second-worst; so that we've still got something to be .thankful for. • * * ; •

I" am moved to recur to this matter of climate by the fact that Parliament- has again been perfunctorily dis-^, cussing the desirableness of moving th 6 seat of Government to a better, site. Mi* Tom Mackenzie solemnly suggested Waikouaiti, and so rather spoiled the debate by introducing the , eleriient of farce. Waikouaiti is near 'Waitati, and Waitati is the place to which the cobwebs of Dunedin repairs occasionally on pleasant Saturday'] afternoons to- sun their secret sins and get stimulus for the next week's flycatching. For the site of-a capital of this Dominion, Waikouaiti is about as suitable as- tho Kerguelens or Invercargill might be. Personally; if there were any t idea».of removing the seat of Government, it seems to me that the weight of evidence would lead one to"' favour either" Port Underwood, Nelson or Palmerston North. Wellington is probably the . natural commercial, centre of New Zealand.; but it was never suited for a seat of Government. It is too stuffy, to start with-^— stuffy, I mean, in-the sense thatostifle,s, ■intellectual keenness. From iJhat standpoint, Dunedin would be infinitely more suitable."

In any case, it- is better that Parliament should not sit in the chief commercial centre, or in any commercial centre. That was abundantly proved in the early days of the United States. It is being abundantly proved in Australia now. To start with, commercial centres are i^oo full of sordid'wirepuller^: legislators move among too many pitfalls and distractions. During session, ' legislators—especially when they are^ paid legislators — should give the whole of their time and attention to their legislative duties, arid they can't do that in any great commercial centres. For that reason., and to that extent, Kawhau or Kapiti would be ideal sites, for a seat of^Goyernment during session. Of course, teing islands, they would not <36. Some of the /legislators would be dreadfully sick every time they had to come into town to get the^r hair cut. In tune of war, if such arose, some of the legislators might even be blown to" bits—which would be woe unthinkable tor observers at the other end of the world.

?:■ *,'*■* •■'■ ", * .-■ ■ I'm not. at all sure just why, an •'.^enemy's ships should desire to blow Parliament House or the Government Offices to pieces. Certainly, if it. <3ame to levying tribute, the commercial centres would be more in their line. That' is to say, it is probable, that the seat of Government is much s more exposed to the accidents of war '• when it forms part of a big commercial centre than it would be if it were fucked away in some quiet little place all on its own. A capital site owned entirely by the Government, and only disposed of by leasehold, would certainly be a very payable property in time. So that the talk,of .expense is sadly overdone. We have to build new .Government Offices soon, even if we don't wait for the fire, and a newParliament House has to be built almost at once. It would cost no more to build them on another site than it •would, to. build them in Wellington. The value of the land to be used in Wellington would more than suffice to 'build them anywhere.

Unhappily, this matter seems to lie •guites Outside the pale of the diverting labyrinth that is by'astonishing paradox called , practical politics. Otherwise, I should live 711 joyful .nope. I should greatly rejoice to see a capitol at Palmerston North, for instance The altitude is good, and all the outlook spacious. The air is invigorating and clean. If not Palmer■ston North, possibly Wanganui might vpt-'-i +«? not een to Wanganui jet, but the name sounds good, and the people are apparently very kind seat goT Go" CaS6 ' ***«? seat ot Government should have a .river near at hand. Not a toy rfver with deckled edges, like the one at

Christchurch; but a real, big, inspiring, reasonable river. All the history of the world, has been made in,places that have rivers, and the rivers have had great effect on all the history. But why worry? Let us cease 'these foolish dreamings. ( * * - * ' * * * <*

J. don't think there is any other special news by way of introduction. Except, indeed, that certain of the bakers on strike are'said actually, to have started' a co-operative bakery Now "we shall see. '' --

* / *'"' *

You've' had the Budget ad nauseam by this time, one way and another; and I'm not going to bore you aboi^t it now. There is ho doubt—l neversuggested that -there oould be a.ny doubt-—that New Zealand is prosperous just now, as concerns'its present income and its immediate needs. Only a very blind fool or a very stupid liar would deny.that. But any man with nerve and sufficient - lack of scruple can pledge his credit and heap up embarrassments for his future, in order that he may live .like a prince for a week. I have simply contended, and 1 do- most seriously contend, that New Zealand's, public debt i>s an'ominous menace to the future of this'country. If iwe are always as prosperous as we seem to be now, the debt may be wiped out in time without any grave hardship to anybody. But if the tide turns, if prosperity gives place to slump, that debt may speedily become au abominable an<|-' suffocating incubus. It grows from year to year Xear -after year, Ministers o f the Crown, ignoring their twelve months' borrowings, talk glibly about their surpluses. How shall it profit a man he dishonestly saves £50 from his income \ and adds £100 to his accumulated debts? Permanent happiness and security were never yet found in any fools paradise. It must, be \ obvious l" n| t man who takes time, to think tha^ New Zealand, prosperous as it may be irT this July of 1908, has a terrible burden of debt to1 complicate the problems of the future, - ' ♦( * n * «-- ♦ » * If you should hear of any city town village or mining camp that has any idea of laying down a tramway system send the responsible pioneers s to Wellington. There may be seen a fairly convenient system, that is the worst managed in the world. The citizens of Wellington put up a record lor meekness and resignation, and even the newspapers seldom dare or care to protest against the* incompetent performances of local bigwigs. Ihe trams are* a disgrace. No provision is made to meet the public convenience dunngvhours of pressure, and the crowding that results is a dangerous as it- is disgraceful. On wet days the nuisance /becomes -abominably acute. I have seen delicate women waiting on a damp street corner for an hour, unable to get footing on a tram. In the trams, the\ discomfort is scandalous. If any proper provision were made for short-distance passengers on the,city Sections, a vast improvement of conditions would at once .result; but it appears that no such idea- has ever entered the head of anyone concerned. There is a reasonably well-managed system at Christchurch and a very well-managed syswSr aV Dun- edln ', but the system at Wellington is a farce of mismanagement, and at some points a very ignoble farce indeed. We have sporadic outbursts of interest in the governSo $ <>?tt h 6 but the government of the crty is apparently beneath our notice We boast of the perfections we do not possess; but with lea^r; d£ fects disgrace us ™»-EvS learned to be content. * * * •; ■■.■.•'■« If any of you, being electors, desire now to pull a wire to some useful end, you might get your Member to ventilate the matter of niail communication from the north, Sunday after Anlldf y'^ Auf ralia»' mails reach Auckland, and generally ~an English mail comes by the same route. Those

Oh A3 ought lo catch the, express at N*3W Plymouth on Monday mornings; 'mfc they very seldom do. They are generally delivered on Wednesday, the day>ot: arrival of direct mails that leave Sydney three days later than the Auckland boat. I am unable to dis--over any .colourable reason why sevoral such Snails recently should not ,have caught the Monday train. Last weok the New Plymouth steamer sailed out of Onehunga while the Australian' steamer was actually sailing up Auckland Harbour. Had the New Plymouth steamer been delayed for che mail, the express would still have .been caught. As these mails are of -^reat importance to many -people in' '.he south, 'there seems to be a genuine ground of \ grievance-' here. While talking of mails, let me note thjat I saw a statement in a New Zealand newspaper the other day to the'effect that the first Australasian mail via jS'.iezi came onr such and such a date, niter the opening of- the Suez Canal." That is quite erroneous. The first Australasian mail via Suez left Southampton per steamship Ripon on Decemberv 20, 1852. The mails were transferred at Suez, taken "across the isthmus, and shipped in the Chusan, reaching Sydney on March 19. This route was interrupted for a time, owing to; the large number of P.'and O. steamers that were retained for transport service during the Crimean War ; but the system of overland mails was re-commenced ,on February 24, 1857, when- the screw-steamer Etna left Southampton with mails that were transferred at Suez across the isthmus to the steamship. Oneida. For year,s many- .passengers travelled by this route. Permib me to say a word regarding Dan Barry, decease^ the champion barn-stormer of the world. Dan was a great institution, and the Australian back-blocks were his goldfield. Dan played -in places in which no other company would dream of pjaying. He was the most original actor-manager I ever met or heard of. /I saw him playing in "The Kelly Gang 53 at the Collmgwood Town Hall, the night of the Federal Referendum in Victoria. \\hen the final result of the poll reached the hall. Dan was dynio.weirdly -as Ned Kelly. The glad news was whispered to him from the wings, and Dan promptly interpolated a flaming speech in i'avor of "Fideration into the dying remarks of the bushranger. Never before was Ned' such an unconscionable time a-dying and surely never since. Dan had his own way ojr doing things. The salaries he paid were meagre to the last limit of the possible. I asked him once to explain to me the slander 01 this statement. He assured -me ™at he paid his people well; and added that his leading ladies were especially/well satisfied with his management, because of "me sympat'y with jtHeir ar-rtistic ambitions." He was a great believer in the power of names. He would bill his fearful and> wonderful dramas,» alleging alarming authorships. ' "The Pool of Blood,'" by Charles Stewart'ParnellA "The Di§tracted Mother," by William Etrart Gladstone, * and others. He had a tongue all treacle for the remote rustics. He always made a speech. (Here is a characteristic speech, as reported by an Australian newspaper at th& time. N "Ladies an\3 Gintle-m^n: I cannot let dis auspicious opportunity gafis without comin forward to ixpress my gratitood fo^-,youf gracious pathronage' dis evenm'. f I hay travelled faran'wide, but niver, ladies and gintle-men (here Pan strikes nis stomach) htev I met so much youth, jbeauty, intelligence, an' wor-rth as amongst the good people of biilyville. In the near future^ I will be in the vicinity, and-';T do hope I may again rely on your gracious pathronage. Some day I hope to end my days on Life's fitful shtage at billyville, but my mission to raise the drama to the glorious pinnacle of my ideals still needs ~m£ talents; but with the gracious encouragement you Hey given me to-night I go for-rth solaced_ in my mighty endeavours. Uear, kind : fr-rieiids, once more goodnight,and thanks!": And jiof old i>an has gone over. I suppose he died what you call well off, for'he had the knack of making money. HeVas

a\ great hoax of a man, but he had good qualities, and there are many men who could have been better spared from the Australian stage that made a jest of him. For" all his quaintness, he was pure human; for all his long experience in Australian wilds, he was pure Irish. His bulls were wonderful and characteristic. He scoffed at the unities: even if he can be said ever ,to have suspected their existence. The book of his life, if it ever could be written, would be a book abundantly worth reading. There was more genuine humour in Dan than in any ten tons of our modern comedies of arrangement. Rest his soul!