WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 40

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

»{Ebom Oub Own Corbespondent.) WELLINGTON, December 13, Correspondence between various officers «f the Union Steam Ship Company in reference to improved methods of shipping cattle was laid before the Committee of tho ♦Wellington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals yesterday by the WelJington manager of the .company, who has expressed his willingness to show the -society's inspector over the steamers holds, -frnd also to receive suggestions for improving the method of transport. The •%riters agreed that nothing was wanting on 'the part of the company to ensure the safe -carriage of tho cattle. In their opinion, a mistake was made in placing too many ■ .animals in the railway trucks. The beasts arrived at a ship's side in an excited state, «md were frequently found to have sustained injury while coming by rail. The Inspec- - tor for the society said that he had seen *he manager of the Union Company s Wellington branch, and he was convinced, from ■what heiiad seen and heard, that thexopa--'jpany was not to blame for the injuries 4o th© cattle. He had arranged to inspect *He next lot of cattle for shipment, so as to ascertain how .they had fared prior to arrival at the ship's' side. He was satisfied that in many cases cattle were knocked -about in a disgraceful way when . they iwere in the trucks. The Chairman (Mr J. S. Jameson} thought . the "company might; to ship cattle that had been tbadly ■injured. The committee of the society expressed satisfaction at the care exercised by the shipping companies, but it thought 4haf something should be done to prevent in the cattle trucks. The owner of a paddock, in which an--jother man's horse was grazing," one oold jmd wet day, in a spirit of kindness, . let the horse into his stable, where, it ate largely of pollard and died. The owner )Df the horse thereupon sued- him for £25, .. laid recovered judgment- for £15, with

" -costs. ' ' Th© eight Kuesian thar presented to the fTourist Department - by the Duke of Bedford will be handed over to the "South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society for liberation at Glentanner, near I^tount Cook. Th© 'original intention of turning the animals --cut "'on Mount -Egmont was"; abandoned, owing to the fear of the settlers that the enimals would eat their- crops, though, from all accounts, there -is no danger of ,this. - ' 1 Miss G. E. Benhara has arrived in New Zealand for the purpose of climbing Mount Cook and some of the other peaks in th© . Southern Alps. She has climbed most of Lhe principal mountain^ in th© Swiss Alps, i «,nd has done some pioneer climbing with Swiss guides in the Canadian .Rockies. 13he* has brought an alpine equipment with ' fcer, and hopes to reach the -Mount Coolt district " towards the end. of January. - - " - . December . 14. So far w© have had scarcely any summer in this part of the North Island, and after «, few flitting gleams of warm sunshine the iweather. is once more -windy, wet, and wintry. The shipping has been a good deal delayed to-day. Th© Wellington Racing Club has obtained -fi loan, of £25,000 from an English Company doing business in Wellington. The loan is v for the purpose of purchasing land .at Trentham for a new course and build--angs. Payment of the first installment of '£10,000 is to be made to-morrow. Besides rthe titl© of th© land at Trentha-m, the comjpany holds as security the personal guarantee of £2000 each of 15 members of "the club for a period of five/ years. The "work of forming the- course is to_ be commenced at an early date. Architects are preparing plans for a grand stand, which is *o accommodate 2200 persons, the seating "<Qr 1200 to be>undar cover. There are about 3000 gallons of wine in "the cellars at the . Government viticulttiral -fetation at Wairenga. Tho Agricultural -De-partment-has decided to obtain its supply of for distribution throughout th© colony ifroni its station at Aratafci, near Napier. Only the best American stocks will be used _jat Arataki, as they have been found most l«uitabl© for thg New Zealand climate. The Wellington Girls' High School has insufficient accommodation.' Miss M'Lean, - the lady principal, in her report states that vthe school is an endowed school only in name, as it has practically no endowments. • .Nevjertheless she says the school more than meets the requirements of the act, as out- of - i]ts poverty it gives no fewer than 12 exhibitions and scholarships, six of these being those next- in order to the Education ißoard scholarship winners. She adds : "The pathetic position is that we have next ,*o" nothing ; give- nobly and in return toiily abuse. Th© question naturaly arises, tfhy are we so ; badly -endowed? Why^ should ,<w© have less than every other girls' school In .New Zealand? It seems altogether an Antiquated thing and not' at all in keeping vith modern progress fpr the higher education of our girls, in our capital city too, to \ta co badly provided for. It is impossible to grow, and apparently useless,' like Olive?, to ask for more. We are expected - to be happy and content and progressive on starvation rations. It is .surely about time something was done." When address--ang those present at the prize distribution 6ir Robert Stout also alluded to th© matter. 1 Be expressed a hope that the Government would keep its promise ma_de in 1897 to provide money in aid of the schools. He was surprised, h© continued, that th© citizens of Wellington had not pressed for the fulfilment of its moral obligations on the Eart of the Government, and expressed the op© that something would shortly b© don© in the matter. December 16. ' The voting in the recent election for femployers and employees' representatives on the Arbitration Courl was as follows: — JEmTjioyets*" permanent representatives: S. ■Brown. 58; J. EE. Garrow, 23. Employers' acting representative.: J. M. I/. Gjyrow, 3*; W. Scott," li; S. Brown, 7; 3S. Thomas Allan,. 2; A. W. Harrison, 1; A- J- Hum, 1. Workers' permanent representative:' R. Slater, 128; W. M. Hood, E6; J. A. Sooit, 3; A, H. Cooper, 1; SJonn Fawcus, 1; W. A. G-. Skinner, 1; A. Rosser, 1. Workers' •cting representative: J. A. "Scott, 59;,xW. M. Hood, 55}A. Rosser, 33 ; A. H. Cooper, 3 ; J. A. M'Culloek, 1; W-. H. Hampton, 1} W. NVarne, 1. Apropos of the tendency of people to torowl about the weather, the Rev. D. C. Bates, of the Wellington Meteorological Office, states that observations show that the effects of eolar radiation are usually

manifest about a month after they are astronomically du3. Thus midwinter is experienced in New Zealand in July, and tho month of November instead of being, as reckoned by some, the first of summer, is really the iast of spring. During the past month there has been som© reason for impatience, yet recognition of this would often save disappointment and dissatisfaction with the climate. Some persons look; into returns only to find) extremes, which i are often unreliable, and if they stive any idea at all of 4he rainfall Qjf a season or country it is generally misleading. Mr Alpers, of Christchurch, who examined the Wellington College pupils in history, says thac the boys are uncompromising Tories. He explains that one question set to two of the forms produced ! an interesting though unexpected result. J The boys were asked' to say who, in their ' opinion, was "the greatest, wisest, and best" of the rulers of England during the , period B.C. 55 to a.d. 1660. "I, of course," } says the examiner. " hoped a large number, ' if not a. majority, would give Oliver Cromwell. Alfred the Great found 26 sup- , porters, Elizabeth 19, and Oliver Cromwell ! ' only one' They advanced good reasons for I the faith that is in them." I