WELLINGTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 23

WELLINGTON.

At a meeting of the Benevolent Trustees at Wellington on the 20th " inst. G. Baylis, one of the member.?, resigned, after an animated discussion, taking that course as a method of protesting against the manner in which certain members of the board neglected their duties. He said that in the board's home there were 28 pensioners, who occupied quarters to the exclusion of indigents. • He objected to filling the institute with permanent . inmates. There have been very few applications in the Wellington volunteer district for places in the mounted contingent which, the Government have decided to send to Sydney in connection with the Commonwealth inauguration ceremonies. Eleven men are required from the district, but up to the present time there are only half a dozen applicants. By the Delphic there arrived at Wellington on the 21st inst. a consignment of three- ' pedigree • Shropshire rams and two Leicester - rams for Mr W. Grant, Timaru ; also a prize Lincoln ram for Mr J. Tombleson, of Wellington. A Olydesdals stallion also arrived for Mr Grant. ' The Government have decided to make another appointment of a stipendiary magistrate to relieve the present pressure on the bench. Ministers have ■ decided to invite applications for the construction of a schooner of 200 tons, siiitable for the Island trade, and fitted with 60 horse-power oil engines. An illuminated address, signed by 343 district officers of the Lands department throughout the colony, as well as a revolving bookcase, another bookcase, a large chimney deck, an easy chair, and an office chair, were presented to Mr Percy Smith, the retiring Hurveyor-general. The Minister of Lands made the presentation. The following industrial unions of workers have been registered since the passing of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act : — Federated Cooks and Stewards of New Zealand, Wellington Building Trades' Labourers, Wellington Timber Yards and Sawmills, Dunedin and Suburban Carters, Wellington Wharf Labourers, Otago Operative Plasterers, Otago Grocers' Assistants, Wellington Amalgamated Society of Cooks and Waiters, New Plymouth Painters, Blackball Miners, Taranaki Operative Bootmakers, Wellington- Coopers and Boxmakers, Palmerston North Painters and Decorators, Otago Ironworkers. Last session Parliament decided that a Royal Commission should be set up to inquire, into the general mode of working the whole of the coal mines of the colony, the system of hewing the coal, the provision made for the men's safety, and the means taken to prevent fires. Miners have often complained about the laxity in regard to inspection of mines, and this matter has been included in tho scope of the commission, which will consist of Messrs W. R. Haselden (stipendiary magistrate, Wellington), Joseph Proud (Wanganui), and E. Lomas (inspector of factories, Christchurch). Mr Haselden, formerly a barrister here, is our local magistrate. Mr Proud, who has been ten years in the colony, was a mine manager in England, and is living in retirement at Wanganui. He was a member of the Royal Commission set up to inquire into the Brunner mine disaster in 1896. Mr Lomas worked as a miner in the West Coast coal mines prior to his appointment to the Laboxir department. He will be remembered as a rather prominent labour delegate during the big strike. The Premier has received a cable message from the Imperial Government asking if New Zealand can supply a large quantity of jam, in cases of four dozen lib tins, for the army in South Africa. The matter has been referred the various manufacturers in the colony for information. The Masterton correspondent of the Post wires that Thomas Walsh, a rabbiter, who was fonnd dead on the 20th inst. in his whare on the Rev. J. C. Andrew's station, was in the 65th Regiment, and fought against Heke in the Maori war. He was

afterwards jvith Lord JRobcr -,s in the Kandahar campaign. \ A large number of applications are being received for the position of parliamentary librarian. Amongst those applying is Mr Charles Wilson, ex-M.H.R., of Wellington, journalist, who has been a book collector and reviewer for many years. Another applicant is a niece of Lord Kitchener. She is the clever daughter of Mrs Parker, of Kurow, and has just returned from England, after successfully passing her examinations at Newnham College. The Wellington Drivers' Union, in its case placed before the Conciliation Board, demands eight hours a day, or 44 hours per week ; £2 10s as a minimum wage for drivers of two-horse vehicles ; £2 ss, one horse ; Is 3d per hour casual drivers, when the minimum wage is £2 ss, with a proportionate increase m"case a higher wage is paid to drivers ; £2 10s per week for tram drivers and dust-cart 'drivers ; Sunday work to be only a work of necessity, and paid for at '2s 6d per hour ; preference to be given to unionists. The first consignment of lyddite shells and cordite for the big guns at the various forts in the colony came to hand by the Rakaia. The Post says : " Only two out of the party of 140 which comprised the ' Clarion -settlers ' failed to find work. The Labour department, which gave the party a considerable amount of assistance on" arrival, has received letters from several .of the men expressing their satisfaction with the colony and their employment, and thanking the department for what it had done for them. The majority of the party were found employment with private people. Servant girls are in great demand in all parts of the colony at the present time, so much so that were a consignment of a hundred to arrive in Wellington to-mor-row morning they would be ' placed ' before night. Four single young women who were among the last party of ' Clarion settlers ' to arrive in the colony were, it is seated, completely bewildered at the choice of places offered them for employment as domestic servants." It is stated here that the Holt line of steamers, which have often come to Australia, will in the course of three or four months inaugurate a regular monthly service with steamers fitted with refrigerators, and may come on to New Zealand. Seven Chinamen were charged at the Magistrate's Court on Friday with threatening and- attempting to murder two of their compatriots, on. account, it was alleged, of the latter' s assumed connection with the recent police raids on Chinese gaming houses. After a long hearing the justices dismissed the case as being simply a dispute between two tribes. In consequence of the agitation which has arisen through the treatment of Lillywhitc, now in gaol in connection with the Colchester murder, th& Justice departmenthas decided to frame regulations which shall provide • different treatment for persons awaiting trial from those under sentence. - Anxiety is being felt as to the safety of the ship Beacon Rock, now 55 days out" from Port -Pirie to Wellington. She left with 1150 tons of concentrates and lead ores as ballast, and has not been heard of since. Fine weather prevailed off the south coast of Australia foi some days after her departure, and since then strong westerly gales have been experienced. Latterly there has been ugly weather from the south and north, and it is possible she may have met with a mishap. On the 9th the Rotomahana sighted a ship off Cape Campbell, the identity of which is not yet established. It is suggested that the Government should despatch a steamer to search the' coasts and Chatham Islands. The claim of the Scottish Masonic Grand Lodge to the right to erect new lodges is likely to lead to a serious rupture. It was asserted some time ago in connection wiih the proposed opening of the new lodge at Dunedin, and on this subject a strong resolution was passed by the New Zealand Grand Lodge at their recent Nelson communication 'authorising the Board of General Purposes, in the event of the proposal being persisted in, to suspend fraternal relations with the Scottish Grand Lodge and appeal to the Grand Lodge of England and sister Grand Lodges. New Zealand Freemasons 1 ' claim that all that was conserved under the recognition were existing rights to the Scottish lodges, and not. rights thereafter to be created.