Arrival of the Ionic.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXI, Issue 300, 28 September 1887, Page 2

Arrival of the lonic.

Wellington, September 28. The lonic, from London, ia Bignalled, and will arrive at 3 o'clock.

j The Wellington correspondent of the ! Lyttelton Times telegraphed on Saturday \ night.;— The strong feeling which the public , manifest againßt the Government here is, to a ! considerable extent, the outcome of the disiu clination of the Treasurer and Minister for Public Works to re-erect a clock tower upon the new Post Office until the money ia voted by Parliament. No doubt the new Post Office will look very squat and uninteresting without the tower, and the tower should bo erected for tho sake of oppearanca and publio convenience, But what aro politics comiug to when a Ministry is to be ruthlessly kicked out of office because it wishes to obtain tho sanction of Parliament, beforo spending £1000 or _£1500 upon a clock tower for a Post Offioe at a time when economy is tbe prevailing ur y *j -j*---foundation for the lower ia there, and aa tho ooming Ht-saiou aud another will be among the things whioh were boforo the new building can bo occupied, surely the Government committed no great sin iu asking tbe citizens to wait a month or so for the sanction of Parliament for a voce for tho tower. If Parliament rofuses to grant it, it will be clear that thc Government havo dono right in not incurring a liability which the Colony is not prepared to sanction. If, ou tbe other hand, the Elouse favors the proposal, as I hops aod believe they will, then the work can be proceeded with without any additional cost, and the House will recognise that the Government liave done what was right in first submitting the matter for their consideration. J have been led to refer particularly to this Post Office tower because it is really a large bone of contention between a considerable section of tho public and the Government, and will liave a good deal to do with the voting tomorrow. Wellington is really an unhappy community politically. On the one hand we have the rest of the colony envious of our position as the seat of Government, and alleging that we get all the pickings ; on Uie othor hand we fancy the Government ought to do more for us tlian for any other place, and that they do less instead, aud we grow morose and discontented when we hear of any distant district getting a share of public expenditure, Some partioulars aro to hand respecting the Umbna's encounter with a great wave in the Atlantic. When the wave was seen approaching the officer on the bridge, 40ft above the water hue, was unable to see over il. A ■ description of the ocourrenoe by an eye-wit-ness is sent by the New York correspondent of the Daily tfen-ti. " The lookout, "he says, " saw the wave coming, and the course of the vessel was altered so that she met it obliquely, while the speed of the engines was slackened. As I saw tho huge wave, it looked like a black mass of water with white waves