WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 17 April 1901, Page 18

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, April 11. It was stated at a meeting of the Milk Suppliers' Union last evening that 4000 gallons of milk were consumed daily m Wellington. The local Opera EL>use Company have had a record season, and will pay a dividend of 7 per cent Ihe theatre, however, is b>dly in need of cleansing and lenoYction, ond the dress aide is infested with flea'-. Mr Ward «tates tiiat instead of a deficit in the postal revenue for the last quarlei of the year ended 31bt March theie will be an impiovemcnt of £50.000. The police have ane^ed a man ranud Edward Coopei, su^pec* m j, that ha is of Ui'sound mind It is stated by his nit mis that Cooper a member ot Kiti.henei's Horse, and vhile in action lecened a bullet 'behind h;& ear. It -\\as, however, extracted and his life saved The Royal Commission re ten. I,' is' salaries will be composed aXa X folious. — Education Board iepic«piitativer — Mi Lnk", a member of the AuckL.nd Kdvcatioii Board; Mr A., W. Hogs', M H.R., of the Wellington Education Bond; Mr T. Mackenzie, M.H.R., Otago Education Board; Mr T. S. Weston, Canterbury Education Boaid; Mr P. Y. Lethbridge, 11H1, Wanganui Education Bo.u-d. Inspectors' representatives — Mr H. Hill, inspector of schools, Hawke's B.iy ; Mr John Smith, inspector of schools, Marlbnrou^h Teachers' representative* — Mr M. Gilfedder, M.H R. for Wallace ; Mr Davidson, president of the Institute of Teachers, Dunedin. The first meeting of the commission will bo held in Wellington next Monday, the 22nd inst. The six soldier* -who were left behind when the Imperial contingent sailed fioin Auckland are among the passenger booked for the old country by tlie Kumam, w hich sails to-morrow. The Postmaster-general (the Hon. J G. Ward) has received communiCj.tions from the Marquis of Salisbury, the Right Hon. J. Chamberlain, and a large number of other notable personages in Great Britain, to whom he had forwarded a card announcing that Xew Zealand had adopted the penny postage system. Amongst the replies is one fiom Lord Plunkett, private secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland (Earl Cadogan), who earnestly trusts that the new system may be productive of every happiness and prosperity for New Zealand and its inhabitants, and especially for Mr Ward a,nd his family. The number of cards which Mr Ward sent out to people in New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Europe, and Ameuea was 1000. Apiil 12. A BIG Ail V CASE. Michael Brennan was to-day charged with having committed bigamy at Wellington on the 28th November, 1900, by marrying Agnes Wright. Henry George Wright. of Clyde, Otago, gave evidence that he was married to Annie Garden Campbell in Melbourne in March or April or 1689. He .subsequently lived with her m othei parts of Victoria and in Dunedin. jiul separated from her in May, 1898. Af^er that he did not see her again till he niet h«r in court. There was one child, a pil. the issue of the marriage Tie wen! to Clyde after leaving his wife, life w ith whom he found to be "■hell upon earth."' In the meantime he had her money at intervals—perhaps £20 to £25 altogether. Asked by defendant's counsel why he left his wife and child to <-tarve, the witness stated that he had no money himself at the time, and she hid to pull along as best she could, the same a« he did He hnd leceived the letter*-, put in. as evidence, alleged to have been written by accused. They purported to come from one M'Gregor, who represented himself to be connected with a society for the protectiou of women, and who asked Wright to forward money to Wellington for his wife's support. Accused stated that when, on being first charged, he pleaded guilty, it was not to bigamy, but simply to the act of mairymg the woman. Accused v, ,<s committed for tna!. April 13. The difficulty of procuring cheap enough labour will probably lpilitate against the success of tobacco-growing m the Noith Inland. Mr Sutherland, the expert engaged by tha Agricultural department to report upon the suitability of the north*" n paits of the colony for tobacco culture, siys t'vit -wuieties of leaf suitable Igi tke iUAuoUviU^e <?i plug

tobacco can be profitably grown provided labour is not too deal.

S'liee Mi ('adman's letirement it ha-, been amply puned, as I haM> often stated dunng the paj-t tw.j ycais, that our railways were bcin^ Cancel. Ihis was denied o\er and o\ or Jjram Ly M meters, but tl.e fact', were agum&t their aa.-ertion--, and Mr Ward's eneigetic inanagciiient of the department has put quite a diffeieiit complexion on affairs. We. all know that it had become a matter of uigcncy to impoit both engines and railway carriages from Ametica, and row, to meet tlu urgent demands for additional rollingstock, there are under construction in the lp.ilway workshops: I s - locomotives, 54^ carriage-, 14 brakc\ans 21 double bogie good 5 ! waggons, 622 four wheel goods waggons, aiid 800 tarpaulins. There aie also under order in oatsidc shops : 42 locomotnes, 33 car-i-iaqcb, ond 1200 four-wheeled goods wagpon'~. Of the 622 waggons 200 are of double oidm.iry rapacity, while the 1200 waggons nio all of double ordinary capacity. The fact of the matter is. and it has been openly acknowledged to me by responsible officers of tWe rlepaitmerit. that while Mr Cadrnan worried himself and occupied his time with trivial detail*, matters of greater importance and pressing urgency were allowed to go by tV Loard. Mr Ward, on th-e other hand, h'-ts a greater breadth of vision, and is content to let Ms departmental officers deal with matters of unimportant detail.

It is pos=ible that a pigeon match for £100 a side will be arranged shortly between two -well known sliotf— Mr Eecles (of Blenheim) and Mr Mackersey 'of Waipuknrau). Mr Maekeisey has won a championship m Wellington, and Mr Eecles has been lunner-up on two occasion*.

Mr Justice Cooper will take Arbitration Court business in Christchurch on April 22, an 1 at Dunedin on May 7.

The man Cooper, who was shot in the head in the Boer war, and who had been behaving in a somewhat eccentric manner lately, has been committed to a lunatic asylnm. This case is a very sad one.

The recent doings of the Urewera Native Land Commisf-ioners should comince Sir George O'Brien that the Maoris have not yet had the whole of their lands stolen front them. The commissioners have ju.it settled the titles to the Hikurangi blcck of 65,000 acres, and ha-\e adjourned the eouit to Te Whaiti to hear the clainn to the block Rawiri at Te Whaitirmiatoi, containing 96 000 acres.