LATEST WELLINGTON NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6271, 22 December 1881, Page 5

LATEST WELLINGTON NEWS.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL COKRF.SPOSDENT.] Welungto.v, Wednesday. AVHUX PARLIAMENT WILL MEET. It is practically certain that Parliament will not be called together before May. No valid reason exists for inconveniencing the country by an earlier meeting, and the precedents laid down by May and other authorities are conclusively against any necessity existing for the premature assembling of Parliament after a general election, especially when 110 political question is at issue, or has been submitted to the country. SALE OF WEST COAST LANDS. A telegram received by the Government from Captain Wray, Commissioner of Crown Lands at Patea, to' the effect that 61 applications had been received yesterday—lU at £1 los, 22 at £2, and 20 at £2 ss. Every scction applied for yesterday, except section 30, block 14, was applied for to-day. There were only 14 sections opened on deferred payments, for which there were 02 applications. The upset prices of the deferred payment lands ranged from £1 13s to £2 os per acre. FUGITIVE OFFENDERS' ACT. It will be remembered that it was found impossible to legislate for the extradition of certain oll'enders between various Australian colonies without an Imperial Act being passed empowering'sucli course, which, in the absence of that authorization, would have been ultra virc-i and therefore void. However, the Governor has now received from the Secretary of State a copy of the "Fugitive Offenders Act," passed by the Imperial Parliament last session. This Act removes the difficulty hitherto exsting in the way of extradition of offenders as between the various Australian colonies, by enabling their respective legislatures to authorise such extraditions. MOVEMENTS OF SIR A. GORDON. Various reports are afloat regarding the future movements of Sir Arthur Gordon. Possibly he may elcar up all uncertainty in his speech at to-night's banquet, bntl may mention that according to rumours which have freely radiated from Government House, His Excellency after his present visit to Canterbury will be conveyed by H.M.s. Emerald to Fiji, with the object of concluding his association with that colony; and subsequently His lixcellcncy will proceed to England, starting early in the coming year. It is further rumoured that Sir Arthur Gordon will not return to New Zealand, but will be appointed to another sphere of employment in the service of his country. One story goes so far as to allege that it has been decided by the Imperial Government in deference to the strong opiuion at Home, to j separate the High Cominissionership from the Governorship of New Zealand, and that | Sir Arthur Gordon declined to retain the latter apart from the former. I cannot vouch for I the truth of this report, but give it quantum \ v.deat, as it possesses considerable semblance of truth. THE GILCHRIST SCHOLARSHIP: j A communication has been received here from the trustees of the Gilchrist scholarship, to the effect that the next examination will be held in June, ISS2, and thenceforward every two years. It is also intimated that the examinations must not be under the management of the New Zealand University, or under any public body of the kind, as it will be recollected was proposed to be arranged, but that the examination must be under the supervision of some independent person appointed by the Governor.