WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9261, 15 January 1889, Page 5

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

[BY TELEGRAPH. OWN CORRESPONDENT,] Wellington, Monday. MINISTERIAL MOVEMENTS. Tee Hon. Mr. Stevens went South this afternoon, and Sir Frederick Whitaker will, I understand, go North about the end of the week. The Cabinet has been sitting almost constantly for a week. THE VACANT JUDGESHIP. I am informed that the decision of the Cabinet in appointing the new Judge of the Supreme Court has been deferred for a few days. I have heard on the very best authority that Mr. H. D. Bell has declined the dignity for the reason given in my last. Hence, it is said that the Government would use its influence with the House of Representatives to increase the salary of Judges by £500 a-ye&r. The form in which this is put suggests that it is a "feeler," if it has any nieahiug whatever. Ministers may use " their influence," but the practical question is will they put £2000 on the Estimates to increase the pay of the Judges. Time alone can tell. VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS. It is understood that at the Cabinet Council held to-day the subject under discussion was the nature and extent to which encouragement shall be given to the various methods of land settlement. I had a conversation with the Minister of Lands on the general subject, but I gathered nothing from him of a specific character beyond this, that his visit to Auckland has made upon him an impression that the capacity ot that part of the colony is manifold, and far greater than it had been supposed to be. It should be recollected that the Hon. Mr. Richardson (the present Minister of Lands) is one of the most experienced judges of land in the colony. He evidently wishes it to be understood that he will encourage in every possible way legitimate settlers. My attention was called this morning to the remarkable coincidence there is in the two facte, that while the Premier and the Hon. Mr. Mitchelson were "doing" the centre of Otago, the Hon. Mr. Richardson was "doing" the north of Auckland, the two last-named Ministers pointing simultaneously to that part of the colony as most richly endowed by nature, and with the greatest capacity for future development. I did not presume to ask the Minister of Lands what took place in Cabinet, but I have reason to believe that the result has been to lift the whole question of village settlement out of the slough of despond in which it had long been immersed. THE NEW RAILWAY BOARD. The duties of the newly-appointed Commissioners will commence on the Ist of February. The current four-weekly period, on which results of railway operations are calculated, will terminate with the last day of tho present month. AN OLD COLONIST. Mr. James Farmer, one of the oldest Auckland settlers, ie at present in Wellington. He was one of the proprietors of the Golden Crown claim at the Thames, out of which, it is said, he took a pot of money. He is still a speculator in mineral enterprises. He is going tomorrow with Sir W. Fitzherbert and a select party to visit the antimony mine at Endeavour Inlet. RARjE aves. The Government steamer Stella (Captain Fairchild) arrived in Wellington this morning from her visit to the Southern lighthouses. She has brought several kakapo parrots and kiwis from the Sounds. These birds will be sent to the Zoological Society of London.