THE WELLINGTON HOME FOR THE

Otago Witness, Issue 2252, 29 April 1897, Page 36

THE WELLINGTON HOME FOR THE

AGEI>. Wellington, April 26. An inquiry commenced to-day into the charge against; Mr aud Mrs Short, master and matron of the Home for the Aged Needy. There are 13 charges, and include allegations of ill— treatment of the inmates both physically and in reference to their food, want oE respect; for the religious tenets of iumates, and generally of treating them as though inferiors. The Key. Van Sfcavern, who briDgs the chargee, conducts his cßae personally, and said the reaeon for the inquiry was that the homn was conducted as an ill-managed prison. Mr Eyre Kenny, S.M., is commissioner. I

Mr D. L. K. Walker, of the firm of Messrs Jobu Mill and Co., was presented on Thursday by the employees of the firm wife a handsome dressing caso on the eve of his departure on a visit to the old country. Mr J. C. Ponsonby, in making tho presentation, said he desired Mr Walker to accept tbe present as a souvenir of the goodwill of the staff, all of whom joined in wishing him sv pleasant and prosperous voyage Homo and a safe return to the colony. Mr | Walker feelingly and suitably replied. The Gisborne Chamber ol Commerce and tha Cook County County have warmly taken up the matter of the proposed light line of railway from that district to Rotoru*. Resolutions have been passed urging on the Government tbe necessity of giving effect to the scheme outlined by the Hon. J. Carroll in a memorandum to the Premier, and a public meeting will be called, at which a railway league will be formed thoroughly representative of all classes of the community and on strictly non-political grounds. The Great Eastern. —"Constant Reader" writes :—" In * The Week' of your last issue I notice you say of tbe abore steamer ' with her four pair of paddle boxes and her four screws.' I would like to correct this, as the Great Eastern sever had more than one pair of paddles and one screw. True, these were all very big, the paddles being 56ft and the screw 24ft in diameter. The screw had four blades. To move the paddles and screw, the horse-power nowadays seems quite ridiculous. The paddle engines were only 1200-h.p., the screw engine* 1700-b.p.—bothnominal, of course. Thesteamer was originally intended to steam over 20 miles an hour, but they never gob more than 16 out lot her. Her length was 692fr, breadth 83ffr. and depth 58ft, and her tonnage 23,000. She was lauoched sideways instead of ead-on, as is usually the case, and the monster lay stuck iast on the ways for three months before they could persuade her to take to the water. The first attempt to lauunh her was in the beginning of November 1857, and they were finally successful only on February 1, 1858. Brunei built; tho .'•hip in an extraordinary manner, as she was put together in sections, starting towards Low and stern from the centre, and thus not being laid down with keel and ribs like the ordinary vt-ssel. My authority for all the above is the Illustrated London News for 1856, 1857, and 1858."