Wellington.

Otago Witness, Issue 1585, 8 April 1882, Page 22

Wellington.

, (FBOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) March 30th-. At a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Wellington Diocese held this evening, a. decision was arrived at that the Church work of the Diocese could no longer be carried on under existing,, financial arrangements, . the General Church Fund started two years; ago having practically broken down owing to the. apathy of country parishes, so that a large proportion of clergy stipends remain unpaid, causing serious inconvenience and even-dis-tress in some cases. It was therefore resolved that a special session of the Diocesan. £>ynod should be convened for the 18th proximo for I the purpose of initiating a better system -of ' finance, and of making arrangements for clearing off the present arrears and liabilities. ( , . ,_ Wellington, April 2nd.' The complete revenue returns f or the fina'n-' cial year will not be, ready for at least 10 days, and probably a week. longer will elapse before the expenditure returns are in so as to enable an acqurate balance-sheet to be prepared. However, some of the chief items are already known with a close approximation to { correctness. You will remember that s baling my calculations on the 11 months results,, I estimated ,the total Customs fpr the year at. £1,470,000 ; but the actuaj yield,, is even .better, amounting to . £1271 more, viz., £1,471,271, .exclusive of the jKaipara .return, which has not yet been received, but is expected to be between one,andtw,b hundred pounds., Consequently the^ customs have exceeded Major Atkinson's estimate by £126,271. The return for stamps can only be approximately given, as, owing to the system of accounts between the .Treasury, and; the Stamp Office,, it does ,not' t always that the payments.for any particular periofl are identical. The stamp .revenue for the year as collected by the .Stamp Office amounts to 1 £174,103, or, £24,103 above the .estimate. (The postal and telegraph revenue is also open to possible slight .correction. It is in rpurid numbers £220,000 .for, the combined department, which is exactly the; amount, estinlated by the Treasurer, .Taking the, sub,divisipns • separately,, 'however,,, the, ,J?bstal has yielded £153,000,, which is,£3,flQo' , short. Thus onj two items alone the jTi^asjiry.is £150,000 't<| the' good. as '.against the, J?stjmates ; andjthe other departments, so far as is known,,are fully; up ,tp},the , mark,, excepting! , the railways, which, however, arenot expected to be far behmej. Wellington, April 3rd. The Hinemoa left suddenly yesterday nWning before 'daylight for Manukau, to fetch <Jown the absent Ministers in hot haste. She fe ex-, pecte,d.tp arrive here earlyto-mqrrow afteriioon. Thereis of course much specu ation here as,,to the reason of this sudden movement,; but Ministers have kept their own counsel ; and nothing has been allowed to transpire. There is a vague rumour afloat that a difference .between the Governor and Ministers is the rpal caused but this is mere conjecture. J' ; , Mr , Hall is ,a little better to-day, butj still confined to his room. 'Dr Grace is in attendance. Mr Hall' hopes to be well enough to carry out his intention of being present, at Christchurch Exhibition. \ _ ', J•■ 1 No more financial returns are yet in, b'up the beer duty is understood to be within £1500 pf the estimate. ' ] Wellington, April 4th. , ' A paragraph from the Auckland Evening' Star, which was tolegraphed to Wellingtpn and appears in the Post this' evening, calls for feoine remark. It runs thus:— "We are now in a position to indicate definitely the causes- of tho recent mysterious movements of Ministers. The stir is' due to serious "dissensions in the, Cabinet with reference to. Native affairs, j The differences have gone so far that the Premier's resignation is threatened. It is still, possible, ' however, that a complete rupture may be avoided. The conjecture that the Governor was the cause, which has been hazarded by some newspapers, is altogether wide ' of the mark, although there may be a connection in this way— that the Premier is supported by his Excellency in the view he has taken." • I believe I am warranted in asserting J that with one single exception, to which I .shall further allude directly, all these allegations are utterly' inaccurate. They are evidently i based upon the recent unfounded rumours as to the Ministerial intentions regarding Native affairs in the country, on which fallacious premises this elaborate theory has been constructed. I tliink I do not go beyond the mark in saying that there is no "difference"" or " dissension " in the Cabinet in the scii&c above indicated.

The only particle of fact in this paragraph is that intimating the possibility of the Piemior's retirement, but the reasons given are very wide of the mark. I have reason to believe the true state of the case to l)o as follows :— For a long tiino past it lias been no secret that the Premiers health was in a vory unsatisfactory condition, owing to the effects of the hcadwork and worry of tho last two ami a-half years, and tint he was very anxious to bo relieved of the cares of State so soon as in the public interests he cnuJd conveniently be spared. It has beon equally notorious that his colleagues and tho Ministerial party generally were strenuously opposed to his retirement, and it was hoped that tho idea had blown over. Latterly, however, Mr Halls health has become much worse, and on Saturday last he experienced so

-»severe»« T aM*^-tittac^^or^Hhwes^**^igt # it appears to have brought matters to something like a crisis. He has been confined to his bed ever since Saturday afternoon under medical treatment, and his condition has been such as to demand the greatest care. I understand that he feels so unfit physically to encounter the unavoidably severe fatigue and harass of the parliamentary leadership in the approaching session that he is very desirous to retire at once, but that his colleagues are still more desirous to.dissuade him from this step. lam glad, to learn that he is much better to-night, and. that hopes .are entertained of his feeling himself sufficiently recovered in a day or two to accede to the earnest wish of his colleagues ,that he should retain the premiership for some time longer. .It is understood that every effort will be made. to induce him to consent to this oourse, and.. that ,hisi friends are sanguine of succeeding in ,this attempt if only his. health continues to .improve; ■> It ..will, of course, be, understood that this is riot "official," but I have every reason to .think it is a strictly accurate, account of the situation,! and the true solution of certain recent occurrences : which have puzzled people in the absence of any feasible explanation.