WELLINGTON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XX, Issue 2, 3 January 1885, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

[From our own Correspondent. J TBy Tei/ugravh. ! Friday night. The acceptance of the tender of a colonial firm for the supply of stationery ior the Telegraph Department deserves notice, as it is the first order for stationery manufactured in the colony at a smaller price thau hitherto paid for the imported article. Messrs Whitcombe & Tombs, of Christchurch, are the successful tenderers.

Messrs Wales and Bell, with the Secretary of the Waimea Plains Railway Company, waited on the Minister of Public "Works a few days ago in regard to' tho negotiations Which are proceeding in connection with the terms of the District Railways Act- of last session.. The interview was of a satisfactory character, but at the present-state of the negotiations, publicity is denied. For some time past the draughtsmen of tbe Public Works Department have been busily engaged with the plans in connection wifch the tenders now advertised for the local manufacture of locomotives. These plans are now finished and bave been forwarded to tho sub offices of the Department throughout the colony for the inspection of possible tenderers. They are of very elaborate finish, full sized drawings of every part of the locomotive having beeu prepared in order that tenderers may have the fullest opportunity of obtaining every information necessary in Bending in their tender. Sir Julius and Lady Vogel left in the Hinemoa this evening for Waiwer'a. The Colonial Secretary and party, pursuing their inspection of the charitable institutions, were also passengers, but will be droj>ped at Napier. It ig rumored that. the Hinemoa is provisioned for a two months' voyage but the rumor is authoritively denied.

Nothing has yet been allowed to transpire in regard to the mysterious actions of the Ministers and His Excellency the Governor, but I feel confident, and have reasons for the etatement, that something important is on the tapis, about which we shall know more in the course of a few days. His Excellency returns to Christchurch on Monday next.

The Colonial Treasurer is disinclined to accept the truth of the published statement I thnt the Stock Exchange protest against the i alienation of the sinking fund, 'as no advice has been received by the Government on tbe Bubjecfc. Considering the fta'e of the English market, the Government have decided to withdraw the million and a half loan authorised last session for a more seasonable time, and at present pimply to invite tenders for the last million of the three million loan. This matter haa been under consideration for eome days, and when I last wired to you the Governmeut Beemed fixed in their intention to place the Whole amount, notwithstanding the warning conveyed in Reuter's message the other day which the Government refused to believe contained tjie truth. Instructions have beeu forwarded to London by cable, and the loan will be advertised to-morrow. Retrenchment appears to be the watch word of the Minister for Lands and Mines. At the close of the current financial period wholesale retrenchment is to take place in tbe Survey Department, wbicb, as a department, will then no longer h&ye any existence. At the same time the burden of collecting the gold revenue will fail upou the local bodies, and receivers of gold revenue in the different districts will be discharged. Intimation to that effect has already been eent to the officers in question. N. JAv Smythe, the recently appoiuted torpedo instructor, is engaged in overhauling the Wellington boat and torpedo fittings. Some of the firing apparatus is missing, and until it is supplied from England little instruction in tbe use of the torpedo can be given. Mr Smythe will shortly visit the different stations svbejre Kaval Brigades are in existence.

„^e whalers on the East Coast are very busy _; present. The Wairoa Guardian, of ! a reeentjlate, says :— " We learn that there is consio^ble excitement and activity pmong the vhalers ab theMahia, consequent on the appearance of large numbers of whales in the hay, as many as 16 boats being oub at a _^ne. Three Scamperdown whales wero caught, last week.' : Sirty-nine oi the inhabitants of the east and west Northdowu B_mlets situated near Margate, bave been poisoned by eating shrimps. The hamlets coin^ripe 23 houses, ab 18 of which shrimps were Aoliyered, and 14 out of these 18 families bave suffered, Ifc appears that the shrimps eaten by £h,e four families who were nob affected wer* boiled eeparately, therefore it is supposed thet the vessel in which the others were boiled had been tainted in some way. It is sfcuted however, tbat the pan was perfectly clean. One woman stateß that she saw souief ungus npon the shrimps. One of the persons poisoned has since died ; and ii is the opinion of Dr Bobinson that death was accelerated. by eating the uhrimps, if this did not actually cause it. A labor agent named Henalord thus writes to the Auckland Star ; - " Sr, — Wheu I put an advertisement into the Star that I wanted an English girl to wed a Maori chief jt evoked a very tempest of derisive laughter. Innumerable were the inquiries | maae of rno anent it in the Aree.t, Well, ! sir, he laughs best who lauj'hs last, and I am the tail-end laughter. Nob only fas I have proved to you) lave I found a pakeha bride for my Maori client, but I have five respectable damsels open to Bimilar engagements with eligible native rangabiras. If I have not solved the knotty question re fusion of the raoes, I'm a Dutchroan. You were, sir, good enough Bome time ago to prophecy a shower of orange blossoms over my remains when laid beneath fche " daisy quilt." Nov I think you will oob deem me extravagant in my expectations

<srhep. I say that I fully expect the floral tributes of my pakeha clients will be sup* grtemented by #, series of tangis from my jUaori ones.

The Marlbdmß^^Htress says : —Mr C. de V. TescehnSHHrals now in England, sent out} by th'|^H|^^H| a consignment of 100 apple treeflHKHbcb kinds, for his manager, Mr (flßfSj^Rfr "° trees were procured from a !§EHHK> Crawley, Sussex, and are all-of ySfijBBESb varieties. They were unpackeHJJß|«»f afternoon and found to be qB^^HB order after the voyage.. Britil^ffi9B clinging to the roots, from whij9flH|^Here in some cases making their aiaHHraßfttid the tops of the young 1 anu fresh as There are novraHH 800 subscribers to the Aucld . au( 3|jßHMßt Exchange, and ! Express) have be^9|^Bfat the Blenheim soldiers; of the SafflpHMWhy are to discard their jewellery anSKfteflr^They are forbidden absolutely to war them, and are urged to throw them into the coffers of the Army to aid the expenses of the campaign. Great is the consternation ifl consequence, and it is not unlikely that a few faint-hearted waverers may abandon the colors, and return to the pleasures of a world that revels in smart bonnets and brummageni ornaments. The rule is a pretty severe oiie. Brooches, earrings, chains, lockets, brass pins in head dresses, shoe buckles, ornamental hair-combs, greenstone, and rings of all kinds must be given up; and family heir-looms meet with no more favor at the hands. of the Army than does a threepenny piece wifch a hole in it. An exception is made in faror of watches; but if the soldiers wish to make sure of salvation, they are enjoined to invest in "Salvation tickers," with "blood and fire dial plates," of which a choice assor tment (from 30s upwards, can be procured at head quarters. All this is exceedingly edifying but it will sorely try the faith of some of the Army. The Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says ifc bas been proposed to refer the dispute in tbe boot trade to arbitration. Some idea of the mischief this imbroglio is causing may be gleaned from the fact that orders to the amount of £27.000 tbat would have come to Melbourne have goue to Sydney. Io is also not very satisfactory that a largo 'numbrr of workmen who bave been in the hnbit of receiving £3 a week have to ask their wives to manage upon 25s a week during this festive season. If there were an established court of conciliation to which all trade disputes could be referred, this unfortunate collision between masters and men over the "sweating " system would never have occurred.

A feeling of general uneasiness, we should imagine, must exist in bhe Government insurance Department, if, as bhe Post says, the new Board's " first and most important functions will be the re-organisation of the staff. Full power is given to remove officers already appointed, make appointments, fix salaries, and define duties. The Board will require to enquire very closely into the appointment; and duties of the present officers, and if ib does this, we have little doubt thab ib will be found possible to provide for the efficient performance of all neoessary business ah a much less cost than is at present involved, and with a less numerous staff. Especially will ib be the duty of tho directors elected by the policyholders, who have to p:y tbe cost of management, to look into this mabter, and particularly to scrutiniso closely all appointments which have been made in the department withiu the last few month?, for, if wc are correctly informed, more than ono appointment of a totally unnecessary character has been made in the department without reference to tbe wishes of its permanent officers, and despite their protests that the appointments were quite unnecessary Tho policy holders will look to thtir representatives, whoever they Bre, to seo that the A'sociati.m is not burdened with tho support of unnecessary officcra, in orJer ro relieve the ordinary Civil Service of

the task of maintaining those whom Ministers feel bound io proviile for. Tbe

in'iividuaT3<rtuties.p4iid to the officers of the department are by no means too high, but a very general opinion exists that the number of hands engaged is out of proportion to the am >unt of work to bu done.'*

The London Telegraph speaking" of the death recently of Professor Fawcett, Her Majesty's Postmaster-General, says : — The manner in which the sad tidings were received in Parliament testified of itself to

the deep respect, the almost affectionate regard, in whieh the late Postmaster-General was held. The advant of the intelligence created a marked effect of depression in the Lower Chamber. In the Upper House Earl Granville paid to the memory of the departed Minister the sad but signal compliment ol interrupting the debate on Lord Dunraven's motion, in orderto perform the duty of publicly expressing the sorrow felt by the Cabinet. " I did nob know," he said, " any man whose intellectual qualities more entitled him to the respect of everybody who knew him ; and bhab, too, under greab physical infirmity." The Marqnis of Salisbury, in the best spirit of English political feeling, vied with his opponent in praising the departed Minister " There are few public men," he said, " whose loss at this time must be received •with go much geueral regret. Mr Fawcett was a man who, while holding the strongest political opinions, excited the liveliest sympathy and admiration equally amongst his antagonists and his friends." Referring to his work as Postmaster General, the same paper says : — " He has left a lasting record and a noble example of the fortitude and the resources of the human soul. As a matter of fact the deprivation of sight did not in the least dimipish either his enjoyment of life or his capacity for public useful-

ness. He rode, he travelled, he fished, he walked, and drove with all the zeal of those who see and enjoy this fair visible world; while, with enhanced delicacy of ear and touch, he showed also a power of intellectual concentration most remarkable, and due, beyond doubt, to the quiet twilight in which his powerful mind dwelt. Stainless and incorruptible in political affairs; gentle, generous, 'and affectionate in private; a true lover of his country, and a devoted servant ©f it — the departed Minister has left a proud and enviable record, and may be succeeded, but can never be replaced, in his important office."

Overworked Children. — In concluding a letter to the London Times, of October 13th, Dr J. Orichton Browne writes:—" I am asked ' If bhe starved children would be better fed if they worse educated ! Aud the answer to that irrelevancy is that they would suffer less than they do from tbe effects of starvation if they were exempt from enforced

brain activity. To a starving animal or a starving human being work of any kind is detrimental, and almost certain to hasten death, and the way in which half-starved children in London schools are stirred up and goaded on to pass examinations is both, I think, harsh and haaardous. Let anyone who doubts this try tho experiment of abstaining from food two or three days, and then applying himself to mental labor.

The pain and wretchedness which tho effort will induce, the headache and giddiness by wbich it will be followed, to say nothing of its futility, wdl speedily convince him that it is not good for the brain to work when the blood is impoverished. And in children whose brains are growing tho deleterious efept of forced cerebral activity in states of innutrition is far more serious than it is in adults. The shelter and warmth provided Hv half-starved children in schools are, of Qtmrsc, eminently protective, but it may be Questioned whether the benefits' that accrue irom them are not more than counterbalanced when they can only be obtained at the price of much brain work and brain worry. Education is an excellent thing, but feeding comes beforo it. Exercise in the open air is an excellent thing, bub clothing comes before it, and it would seen), as reasonable in a climate like ours to turn crowds of children out of doors in winter weather in a state of nudity, in order that they might have the benefit of exercise in tho open air, as to drive troops of breakfastless and dinnerless children into schools, where they arc, while pinched by hunger, taught a great variety of subjects in order that they may have the beneht of education. It is under such circumstauces that that partial chronic congestion of the grey matter of the hemispheres of the braiu, which was described by Dr, Rjellberg, of Upsala, at the International Mtdical Congress ia August, a3 due to excessive school work, is particularly apt to be induced — a chropic congest ion that is expressed by headaches, insomnia, spasmodic movements, hallucinations, aud intellectual aud physical torpor, and that is most pernicious in its effects on development."