WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8424, 27 November 1890, Page 5

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

[BY TELKGKAriI. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Wednesday. WHITAKKR V. lIUTCHISOX. Tiik preliminary proceedings in this case are attracting considerable interest owing to the circumstances that the defendant denies he gave any authority to his solicitor 01* agent to ask for a postponement of the trial until February. The Times this morning i.«i very severe upon Mr. Hutchison in a subleader in the following terms : —" Mr. Hutchison began by professing the utmost readiness to go to trial early. He went on to refuse the opportunities offered him to do so. He has ended by asking for an adjournment till February. During his canvass he has repeated the charges as if they had been proved. Mr. Hutchison prefers his election canvass to the duty of sheeting homo important charges which ho ought not to refer to at all until they are proved. He has by his conduct deprived himself of the advantages of his position. A man who comments on his own case while it is sub judicf , for the purpose of making political capital, must take the consequences. The chief consequence is a grave suspicion that ho cannot sustain bis charges. The Premier's memorandum sent him reeling to the electors, who must now reflect that a man who is not prompt in coming to the legal proof of the serious charges he has made is not a proper person to send to a place where people are allowed to make charges of all kinds with impunity. The election convenience of Mr. Hutchison is nothing to the purpose. If ho had gone to trial early, and sheeted his charges home, his election would have been absolutely safe. Ho ventured to take the chances of the election without proving his charges. The inference is obvious." PRECOCIOUS THINGS. For some timo past the police have received complaints that the children's desks in the Te Aro Infant School were being constantly rifled, those that had been left locked being forcibly opened. The police put a detective on the watch, and during the night the detective caught two young girls and a boy in the school robbing the desks. These children are from 10 to 12 vears of age. The chairman of the Wellington Board of Education, referring to this case, says there aro no less than 100 "street arabs" in Wellington who cannot bo got to attend the school. He recommends that a truantotficershall beappointed to gather in the street, waifs and compel them to attend school. Many people think that children who act us these young thieves have acted are not street arabs, but children who have learned too much rather than too little. The To Aro Infant School is the chief of the largest schools in the colony. KKTIRKMKXT OF SIR GEORGE GREY. A sixpenny subscription is being started here for the purpose of raising a testimonial commendative of Sir George Drey's services to the colony. At the conclusion of Mr. Fisher's meeting last night the following resolution was passed —''That this meeting of Wellington citizens desires to place on record its deep sympathy with Sir George Grey, and its great regret that ill health should have compelled his retirement from the field of politics in New Zealand, and its earnest nope that his life may yet be spared for many years." Throe very hearty cheers were given for Sir George.