WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9711, 5 January 1895, Page 5

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

[by TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Friday. GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.

Considerable; alterations are contemplated in the interior space in order to find accommodation for the railway offices, which will be on the second floor. The alterations will save from £600 to £800 a year in rent that would otherwise have to bo paid. Partitions will be removed and special entrances made so that the clerical and engineering staff may be connected with the Public Works offices. Outside workmen are busy strengthening the foundation with concrete made of Auckland cement. INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND

ARBITRATION ACT. The regulations under this acb just published divide the colony into six districts. For the purposes of the Act the Auckland district includes Taranaki. The Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court is to be tho Registrar and Clerk of Awards. Any Industrial Association may forward to tho Registrar of Friendly Societies a list of the " Industrial Unions," of which it is made. These unions vote for tho Board of Conciliation of their district. They may give separate votes to each candidate or plump at) tho Board election. Tho Registrar and Clerk of Awards is to have the custody of all industrial agreements, duplicates of which are to bo filed in the office of tho Supreme Court in the district. If any industrial union or party be dissatisfied with the report of the Conciliation Board the clerk may refer the matter in dispute to the Court of Arbitration. The following is the schedule of fees for filing : —lndustrial agreement, 5s ; for filing any other documents, 3s; for tho issue of a summons (including seal of the Court), 3a ; for affixing the seal of the Court, 3s ; report or recommendation of the Board, 10s ; certified copy thereof, 3s. In the procedure for obtaining ovidenco at a distance, the fees are those prescribed under the Magistrate's Court Act, 1893. Award of Court (including seal), 10a ; order of Court (including seal), 3s; notice of application to Court, 2a.

THE COLONIAL TREASURER.

The Hon. Mr. Ward is expected to arrive hero on Sunday. His contemplated visit to England is still a topio of general conversation. The Post has the following on that subject this evening : -" Under any circumstances the absence from the colony for several months of a Minister holding such important portfolios a Mr. Ward does would naturally excite comment, but Mr Ward's is, in more respects than one, an exceptional position. He is one of the ablest, as well as one of the most popular, members of the Ministry. He is the only member of it who has credit for possessing the slightest acquaintance with either the finances of the colony or the elements of financial science generally. There is naturally, therefore, considerable anxiety, mixed with the comments as to Mr. Ward's intention of being absent from tho colony for a considerable period at the present juncture. The colony is just now entering on the big financial schemes which were authorised last session, and it is a somewhat serious matter that the only Minister who probably possesses any intelligent conception of their nature and effect should be absent when they are being brought into operation. The position and operations of the Bank of New Zealand under the new regime are also matters which should require the constant personal supervision of the Minister of Finance for some time to come.