WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2265, 29 July 1897, Page 19

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, July 20. A SEVjKRE NIGHT. The weather was very severe last night, and this* morning the streets and footpaths were covered with frozen hail. - In some places the roads were so .bad that there was a block in the traffic, and horses' feet had to be incased in ■sacking. A temperature of 30deg in the shade and 21 on the grass was registered last night. To-day, however, it is bright and sunny. DEDUCTIONS ON WOOL FREIGHTS. It is mentioned in commeroinl circles to-day that the Wool Freight Reduction Committee has been able to arrange for freights en wool from New Zealand to London at rates substantially below those now offered by the present shipping companies. A SERVICEABLE EEL. When the Wainui was put on the slip if was found that on, the starboard^ side a rivet had broken off, and a blind eel, 18in long, had become jammed in the hole, thus stopping an inrush ot water, which would have beea at the rate of 700 or 800 gallons per hour. July 22. CHINESE TOLL TAX. The revenue has been increased to the extent ! of £200 from the coffers of two Chinese who | came over in the Monow&i. Four other China- ■ men who were passengers in the same steamer t j were naturalised, and so were able to claim j I that they were "allee samee colonial." They thus avoided the payment of the poll tax. One !of those who bad to pay was a woman. This is I the first occasion on which the provisions of the recently-passed Asiatic Restriction Bill have come into operation. * AN AMUSING INTERVIEW. Some of the Home papers to hand by the last mail contain rather amusing interviews with Mr Seddon. Such an one appears in the ' London Evening News, which has been sent ,meby a correspondent. Mr Seddon was . just "hurrying off to give God-speed to Lord Ranfurly" when the Evening News inter- j viewer appeared on the scene. At Mr Seddon's j invitation he jumped into the cab along j {"with Mrs Seddon and Mr Crow, private \ secretary. Mr Seddon laughed as they got in, and said to the London scribe,. 11 We are 25 years ahead of you in Nsw Z .aland. That (pointing to the roof of the cab) would not do for us. We like to ride about iv landaus breathing the pure air all the time." " Oh yes," broka in Mrs Seddon, "You really have too little air in London. Ido so love the open. I am a colonial born and bred." Mr Seddon gave some ; interesting particulars of his career from his ', digging days to his election as Premier, stating \ that in the early digging days there ware few, 1 if any, of his superiors at wrestling or running. j " Were you an adept at the fine art of boxing ? " s I was a question he answered with laughter, and ' would not be drawn. " The tremendous antiquity 'of London " was what impresses our Premier . most, and he went on to tell that there was not a | pauper in New Zealand. With £50 of capital an industrious settler was, he said, a made man in New Zealand. The Government would warmly take him by the hand, and tha rest depended solely on himself. SHIPPING FREIGHTS. A somewhat sultry newspaper controversy is being waged here on the question oi shipping freights. Mr Buchanan, on behtlf of the proi ducer, taking one side, and the agents of the direct shipping companies the other. Side matters connected with shipping nowadays are. so intricate and change so quickly that landsmen are apt to get "a littlo bit at sea" in regard to them, and if what I hear is true tha Freight Redaction Committee have acted not wisely bub too well in this matter. I wired ; you the otber night that the committee had ! secured a further reduction in freights. This | they have apparently done by chartering or arranging to charter steamers and sailers from | wheat ports outside New Zealand. The result j j will probably be thab these vessels will bring ] down cargoes of whe&t and underiell the local i producer by about 6d a bushel. This, at 2s a l sack, will mean a loss to the farmer of 20s a | j ton, which is rather a high price to pay for the j ( flight extra reduction in wool freights the com- j mittee has arranged for. Already some farmers j . are becoming alarmed at the prospect, and I hear j that one southern co-operative society ia in- | clined now to back cut of the jjuarantee. ! MR SEDDON'S FIGURES. While on shipping matters I might mention that our Premier w»s somewhat wide of the j mark when, at his fitst colonial dinner in Lon- > don, he stated that the 'Frisco liners took 21 \ days from New Zealand to America, and that it I took 5£ days to get from Australia to New Zea- | land. As a matter of fact, the 'Frisco contract, j made by Mr Seddon'* owu Government, provides j for 20 days from Auckland, and is more often ! than not done in 19 days. Indeed, Mr Seddon j himself went up within the 20 days. Then the i voyage from Australia to New Zealand is ! frequently done under four day*. The sloweat | boats do uot take mure than live. July 26. L&dy Ranfurly's pet dog, brought out on the Gothic, has been consigned to quarantine, and will not be allowed ashore for six months. I learn thab the Government also insist on the ■ payment of full duty on the wines aud spirit 3 , and all other dutiable goods landed by the Governors of the colony. Lord Glasgow had to , pay some hundreds of pounds in duties, and no > allowance was made, even though some articles, such -as the wines, were used for public hospitality. Lord Ranfurly will no doubt also have the extreme felicity of adding oonsider- | ably to our customs revenue. j There appears every indication from the last gazetted returns that the Government are running things rather fine in the matter of ! stock 3 for railway and other purposes held ia J the colony. I know, as a matter of fact, that ifc i was only by chance that there was enough suitj able timber ia Wellington to meet the exigencies caused by the Hawke's Bay floods. This is an | ingenious method of keeping down expenditure, j bub if the Ministry were by any chance turned j oub of office their &u:ces<ors would suffer. It • will be a case of the cupboard being bare.