LATEST WELLINGTON NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6329, 1 March 1882, Page 5

LATEST WELLINGTON NEWS.

LBY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Tuesday.

OFFICIAL CHANGES. The Department of Justice is abolished from to-night as a separate department. I telegraphed last week that this change was in contemplation, but it was only late this afternoon that the decision was finally arrived at. On and after to-morrow all Justice business will be conducted in the Colonial Secretary's office under Mr. G. S. Cooper, Under-Secretary for the colony, as permanent hea4. When I say "permanent" I only use the term in its official sense, because he will only take charge of the justice division temporarily at first until he finds whether he can continue to manage it without detriment to his other duties. No difficulty is, however, anticipated in this respect, and the arrangement will probably be a lasting one. Mr. R. G. Fountain, Under-Secretary for Justice, retires to-night from office after being twenty-two years in the Government service. He will receive full compensation allowance, but not pension, as notwithstanding the length of his service he has not attained the age at ■which a pension could be legally awarded him. I am in a position to s.".y that the Government greatly regret to lose his services, as he is admittedly an able and valuable officer, who has worked well and efficiently, but under the rearrangement there remains little for him to do as highlypaid chief officer, and I understand he prefers retiring on his allowance to taking any subordinate position. Other changes will be made in the personnel of that branch of the service, and the' cost generally will be materially reduced, although of course not to the extent of £30,000, as reported, which I pointed out at the time was an obvious exaggeration. I hear that the other departments of the service 'will come under review when Ministers reassemble, in order to ascertain whether any further retrenchment is practicable, and some is tolerably certain to be carried out just now.

MINISTERS. '^ Mr. Dick is regularly running the Government, being Governor an I Minister all in one, every man of his colleagues, as well as the Queen's representative, being absent from the seat of Government. This, however, will not last long. The Premier is now on his way overland to Napier, and will come on thence to Wellington by the s.s. Rotomahana, arriving here on Sunday next. INSPECTOR OF ASYLUMS. I understand that an attempt was made to obtain in Australia a successor to Dr. Skae as Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, it being believed that a suitable man could be secured there. This, however, proved not to be the case, and I believe a new Inspector will shortly be imported from Home. THE PROPERTY TAX. The property tax is coining in well. The total amount of ttie first instalment of the property tax received at the various offices throughout the colony up to last night was £55,000. The penalty of 10 per cent, will be only enforced in regard to all first instalments not paid by to-morrow, when the second instalment becomes due. THE TRANSFERENCE OF CONSTABULARY TO WAIKATO.

As some surprise has been created by the announcement that 200 of the Armed Constabulary were about to be removed from Opunake to Waikato, I may explain that these men ara to be transferred to Waikato because there is no longer anything for them to do on the West Coast, while in the North much needs doing in the way of opening up the Lap country by road; It was decided yesterday, therefore, to send up 200 A.C.'s., and they will leave Opunake tomorrow evening if the Government steamer can be here in time. It was at first intended to send up the Hinemoa, but it appears her steam pipes are out of order, and would take a week to repair ; so the Stella, which is somewhere up North, has been telegraphed for, and ordered to go at once to Opunake. It is expected that the telegram will catch her to-night either at the Manukau Heads or Kaipara, and that she will be able to make Opunake to-morrow evening. She will have to make two trips with the constabulary, as she cannot accommodate more than 100 at one time. They will be landed at Onehunga, and conveyed thence by rail to the Waikato, together with all their tents and camp equipage. They will then be set to work immediately at the Rotorua-road, in order to provide easy means of access to the new colonial sanatorium, which is already being visited by numbers of tourists.