OUR WELLINGTON LETTEU.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 13, 8 October 1878, Page 2

OUR WELLINGTON LETTER.

(From our own Correspondent.)

OJR DEFENCES

On Wednesday nest Mr Slanders is to " call the attention of the House to the position tho Colony holds to the mother countiy in the case of war being declared by her, and to the defensive power of the Colony to resist aggressive attacks." Doubtless, when war is declared, Mr Man-dei-3 will be equal to the occasion. His special'powers would be brought to bear, by his being., appointed to superintend the transport of the female section of the community to i snug quarters in the interior. MR BARTON AND TUB JUDGES. • The Bill to appoint a Commission to enquire into this matter, which was dignified by the high sounding ! title of the " Judicial Commission | Bill," and of which Mr De Lautour j was the champion, has happily been j consigned to the waste paper basket. Ministers hardly seemed to know which side to take; the Attorney i General made a capital speech, and appealed to the members to support law and order, and allow the Judges the means of preserving proper decorum in the Court ; whilst Sir George | Grey upheld the cause of the op- ! pressed Barton most valliantly, and vehemently suggested that if this state of things were allowed to continue, the " thumb screw and the boot" era might soon be revived. The Times characterises tho Premier's speech as a most Pickwickian exhi* . bition, just a counterpart of the world renowned oration of {Serjeant Buzfuz. ! privilege. Your contemporary the Eangitikei ! Advocate, has published a letter from its Wellington correspondent, reflectjiug on the conduct of some M. H. jR.s, and this matter occupied the attention of the House for some considerable time a few evenings since. The letter was by some attributed to Mr Fox, and as he did not deny the authorship, this impression preI va'led ; much good advice was teni dorod to this veteran statesman for j his future guidance. j GOOD THINGS TO COME. I hear a rumour — strictly confidential, youknow: — that Mr Bunny, vho was not provided for during the last recess, is to be suitably rewarded after the present session ; probably a Land Tax Commissionerahip will be created for him. OUR LUNATIC ASYLUM. A case of suicide recently occurred at the Mount View Asylum, a female patient having succeed in hanging j herself ; of course a Coroner's inquest , was held, whon the over-crowded state of the Asylum was drawn atteni tion to, and the Jury added a rider to their verdict commenting on the small accommodation.

A large and handsome now brick hospital is in course of erection, almost within a stone's throw of the Asylum, and some of our prominent citizens are endeavouring to get the Government to use it as Lunatic Asylum No. 2, und erect a new hospital on the site of the present one. Certainly the present hospital site boiug about equi-distant ihoin the wharf and the railway station, and tolerably easy_ of access fvom all the busy parts of the town, sterns tho most suitable position for a Hospital ; and as Asylum extension is most urgently required, this extension might well be adopted.

EXTKAORDINAttY AFFAIR

While touching on Coroner's In* quests though, I must not omit to mention a most remarkable affair which has recently happened here. A lad named Lyeil had the misfortune to be severely hurt by a kick J from a horse, and after he had been lying in a precarious state for a, day or two, a rumour obtained circulation tint the lad was deadj there upon, without further enquiry apparently, the Police called a Coroner's Inquest, and on the Coroner arid his twelve men arriving to sit on the body, they found the boy alive, and in a fair way to recover. Were we but Yankees, this little circuinstauco; mignt perhaps have been of too dommon occurrence to be worthy of notice, but our British feelings werf> shocked at the thought of the evil that might arise from the shook the family would thus unnecessarily sustain. The Chronicle says that perhaps.. the only parallel this ' fact has in history, is that of a Coroner's inquest once beiitaj^Lim the leg of a horse, in liendi^^Hßß^^^. time back. DISASTBOUS Sl^^^^^^^^^fl No doubt tho news of^^^^^^^^H floods in the South reached you. Sever^^^^^^^^^^f bridges, and mites of r< fl^^^^^^^B destroyed, and many^|^^^^^^^| pounds lost to the sett^^^^^^^^^H only floods, but frigl^^H^^^^H wind have been exp^^^^^^^^^H Lincoln, in Cauterbury^^^^H^^HH terian Church, and the^H^^^^H Woods Shod were bothl^^^^^^^H and throughout the distncT^^^^^^| houses were unroofed; chimnies oould be couuted i^^^^^^| In the vicinity of some of t&m^^^H ships the wreckage lay so thickl^m^^ the railway, that the trains had 16^H stop while the line was jleared. i Windy Wellington! how often' Jbaa this expression been tauntingly used by our boasting Southernersi It never blows in peaceful Canterbury— Oh no!