WELLINGTON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 186, 10 August 1867, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(PROM OUR OWN" CORRESPONDENT.) August 7th, 1867.You have of course received intelligence of the terrific gale that created such havoc here last week, although the newspaper accounts would give you but a very small idea of its severity; for instance, they speak of the vessels in harbor riding out the gale securely, and take the opportunity of praising the excellent anchorage ground, but they omit to mention that a brig dragged her anchors for half a mile and was with the greatest difficulty prevented from going ashore; that the Ladybird was careering wildly about the harbor, and that H.M. s. Charybdis was for 24 hours steaming up to her anchors. Signs of the gale were to be seen everywhere. One gentleman who rather prided himself upon a neat paling fence that surrounded his property was greatly mortified on rising in the morning to find a considerable portion of the palings lodged in one of hisapple trees; unfinished buildings were laid low, chimneys that had defied the earthquake shock were compelled to succumb to the stormking, whilst it was positively unsafe to walk in the neighborhood of the Government Buildings on account of the slates that were flyiug about. Add to all thi s tremendous floods and inuumerable landslips, and you may form some idea of the result of a Wellington storm. If the weather was tempestuous outside the house, within those sacred walls the atmosphere has been equally stormy. Night after night the powers that be aud the powers that want to be have been squabbling furiously ; the former would certainly have shared the fate of many a noble tree in the late gale had they not, instead of breasting the hurricane, bent to the storm, and thus allowed it to pass harmlessly over their heads. A great debate is taking place just now on the Local Government Bill. On this point it was thought that Ministers would make a stand, but no ; just as the opposition were anticipating an easy victory, up rose the Colonial Treasurer and with a few words utterly confounded the policy of his adversaries by stating that the Government merely wished to take the opinion of the House on the bill, and were willing to adopt any suggestions they might choose to make. And so this debate will drag its weary length along for certainly two, possibly three, nights, aud will, I suspect, produce no results, except perhaps an extra fat number of Hansard for the week. The greatest anomaly observable in our New Zealand legislators is the immense stress that they appear to lay upon the theory of economy, whilst they show the most sublime disregard for the practice of that virtue: the particular instance to which I am just now alluding is the great waste of public time. There is an hoc. member of the name of Reynolds, who feels it his duty to speak (mind you I use the word advisedly for I do not wish you to be under the impression that he says anv thing) on every question. He takes a fiendish delight iu listening to his own unmusical Scotch accents, utterly ignoring the wry faces that are to be seen on all sides when he gets on to his legs, and there he drones away to the intense disgust of his hearers, and what do you suppose is his favorite theme ? The saving of the public funds. I have made a calculation on the accuracy of which you may rely, that if he could be persuaded to stay at home and a dummy were placed in his seat, a saving of at least £500 per session would be effected without entailing the slightest loss or inconvenience upon his constituents. A question that to my mind is one of the most importaut of this session, that of establishing university scholarships for young New Zealand, has been brought

before the House and referred to a select committee, who, I understand, have taken the matter up most warmly and have sent a series of questions to all those gentlemen in the colony who are likely to take an interest in or to give any useful information on the subject. When the replies are received the committee will make their report, which, I trust, may be favorable to an undertaking which must ioevitably have a most beneficial effect on the future of tbe colony. August 8. The debate was continued last night without any results; it is likely I fancy to last for two more evenings. Mr Vogel spoke for an hour aud a half and made, for him, an unusually bad speed:. An amusing little scene was enacted in the House yesterday afternoon, the hero of which was Mr Dillon Bell. This gentleman asked the Postmaster-General for some returns, to which demand Mr Hall retorted by saying that he was unable to lay them on the table, and accused the hon. member of wishing to embarrass the the Government. Thereupon Mr Bell rose iu an exceeding great fury and denied that he could be capable of such dirty, low, mean, uugentlemanly conduct, amidst shouts of "shame." Mr Speaker interfered in the most dignified manner, expressing his conviction that the hon. member for Mataura would in his cooler moments see the error of his ways and regret that he had allowed his "wicked passions" to rise. It is but fair to say that t!:e hon. gentleman had been suffering from a severe cold, and as a remedy had applied a blister to the back of his neck, the counter-irritant had done its work, but unfortunately had transferred the inflammation from his neck to his temper.