NOTES FROM WELLINGTON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XX, Issue 141, 15 June 1886, Page 3

NOTES FROM WELLINGTON.

[From our own Correspond nt.J [By Telegraph.] Monday night. The first Monday's sitting this Besßion has proved a total fiasco. Not a particle of business wsb transacted, and the House adjourned directly after ib had mob. The special object of the adjournment was 10 enable members to attend the annual meeting of the policy-holders m the Government Insurance Association, but ts ib was known weeks ago that the meeting would be held to night it is not easy to see why the idle form was gone through of pretending to hold a silting this evening. As a matter of fact no advantngo will be gained by taking Mondays at so early a period of the session, but I suppose it looks well, and seems to be an eager desire to pusL on the business, so if the public will only obligingly take that view the object will be attained. PARCELS "POST. Sir J. Voxel's Parcels Post Bill circulated to-night entitles any person to send a parcelby the Post office subject to the provisions of the Act and regulations made thereunder, and also sulject to the terms and conditions of any convention or agreement made by the Postmaster Gencr.il. Clause 4 authorises the Postmaster General ( 1) to enter into nny contract for ths conveyance and delivery of parcels; (2) To pay such remunera'ion for conveyance as the Governor in Council thinks fair and reasonable; (3) With or without contract -to requite the master of auy vessel to convey parcels and to require any person who has entered into a contract for the carriage of mails to carry parcels; (4) To inserc conditions and terms as he mny think necessary); {Jo) To employ officers, clerks, and servants to carry out this Act; (6) To sue or be sued iv rssprcc of any Biich contract, provided that the Postmaster General shall not be 'personally liable. The . Governor ia Council may moke, alter, and revoke regulatiors for the following purposes: — Prescribing wbat parcels may not be carried, and providing for the sole disposal or destruction of any prohibited p&reel; prescribing the rates for carriage and that such rates shall be prepaid in postage stamps; providing for the forfeiture and sale, or forfei uro and destruction, of undelivered or unclaimed parcels, and the manner iv which the same shall be carried into effect; limiting the liability of the Post office in respect of any such parcel; providing that the Post office shall be so liable upon payment by the sender of auy parcel of such additional or further postage as may be prescrib. d, and generally all regulations necessary to give full effect to this Act. The Governor in Council may make, levy, and vary rates of postage on any packet that may be sent by post. j

THE OTAGO CENTRAL AND THE UNEM-

PLOYED,

A meeting of Ou»go members was held today 10 receive the Premier's reply to ibo application relative 10 tho Oiago Central railway. The Premier offered that the coatract should be put in band at once, and the work pushed ou at such a rate that it shall be completed to Taiori in three years from now. A desultory discussion ensued, and the general opinion seemed to be that this was uofc satisfac.ory, bufi tbac no better terms were likely to be obtained ; accordingly, the meeniog virtually decided to let „ matters take their course. Some intcrestiug and instructive iuformatiou will probably bo elicited respecting the work done by tbe " unemployed " on this line. It is stated that out of £144,000 expended on the line in about four years, less than £60,000 went to the regular contractors, leaving £84,000 either paid to the unemployed or otherwise disposed of, and the value of work done by the •* unemployed " may ba gained from the fact that in one instance, when an unfinished section on which the " unemployed" bad done work for which £15,000 was paid had to be transferred to a regular contractor, the value of this work was independently estimated at £200 only. I understand that Mr Pyke intends to bring out this and other peculiar matters connected with the line at the earliest convenient occasion. REPRESENTATION. The Ministerial journal to-night earnestly advises that no distribution of representation should take place, but that the North Island should submit to the present electorates and "let sleeping dogs lie." This is generally associated with the fact that Canterbury would have to Buffer a larger loss of representation in the event of readjustment, and that Sir J. Yogel ia a Canterbury member. The suggestion is not at all popular among the North Island members. DISTRICT RAILWAYS. The District Railways Purchases Committee sat again to-day and took further evidence. Some curious disclosures are expected when all the evidence is printed. MINING COMPANIES BILL. The Goldfields' Committee met to day and considered the -Mining Companies Bill, which was finally passed through with only a few alterations in minor details. THE LOAN. It is now stated posi ively in the lobbies that Mr Bryce will move the reduction of the loan by half a million, but that he will not do so as the mouth-piece of the OPP OB * l i° a party, some of whom will vote again t him' He will contend, I understand, that a million is quite enough to vote for one year, and that if the loan ia to be for a million and a half all would be used in the first year, leaving another loan of similar amount to be provided next year.