WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, May 2.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 81

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, May 2.

Mr G. F. Campbell, valuer-genera', admits that property values in Wellington are high, but people have to recognise that there has been an enormous advance in land values here. The causes of this advance are the prosperity ol the colony, the fact that Wellington is the chief seaport, and that a great part of the business of the colony is being concentrated here. Moreover, the business portion of Wellington is confined to a small area, and there is no room for expansion. The consequence is that properties favourably situated for business purposes command a ready sale at prices in excess of the valuation now placed upon them. Complaints are frequently heard against the increase in the amount of rates exacted by municipalities as the result of increased valuations. Mr Campbell pointed out that if the rates were excessive the percentage (or rate) at which the rates were levied could be decreased, so that the amount exacted might be equitable. For instance. if a municipaJity could g«t sufficient income from a rate of Id in the pound when a, property was valued at £10 a foot, then, when the valuation was increased to £10 a foot, it should be able to get sufficient by striking a rate of £d in the pound. The higher the value of the property the lower should be the rate required to provide the necessary income. The Meteorological Department has received from England a number of instru meats with, a view to carryinc out more

effectively the work of climatic observation. There are half a dozen =unshine recorders. 50 ram gauges, and. a number of earth thermometers, which will be distributed in different parts of the colony. The function of the la;t-namtd instruments is to record the variation io the temperature of the oarth some distance bslow the surface. The study of climatology will be rendered more j complete and accurate by means of the ' new Hicks standard barometers which have been received. They will be sent to different parts of New Zealand and the outlying islands, probably the Campbells and Ohathams.

The Railway Department is calling for ', alternative tenders for the supply of 20 | locomotives. They will be of the- larger size, and capable of doing either express or j freight work. J The Taihane Post states that the diffi-

culty of getting supplies through to the I labourers on the Main Trunk line will j probably necessitate closing down most of ; tho works for the winter. Already coach traffic is impossible in some parts, i The Holmes-Allen trolley-head for electric tramways promises to be a gold mine for the youthful inventors. The Wellington City Coundll has . acquired the rights for this city, and negotiations are now in progress for the sale of rights to the . Now 1 South '-Wales 'Government, and the Christchurch and Auckland Gitf Corporations. A trial of the new invention will shortly be t made on the Christchurch tramways. An 1 experienced engineer who arrived from London the other day has expressed the t opinion that the* new invention must be j universally adopted, and within the last i few idays a communication has been received from Kosmoids (Ltd.).' of Glasgow, asking t,he irventprs to sell the .. patent ( rights, or to assist them in exploiting th-e [ markets of the world. This company is one with almost unlimited capita!, Lord j Kelvin being its chairman, and the famous ( firm of Donny Bros, being interested in it. ■ The company has recently disposed of ' one j patent connected with steamer boilers for ! £90.000 and a 10 per -ent. royalty. I Dr and Mrs Chappie will shortly leave on a round-the-world tour of between nine and 12 months' duration. WELLINGTON, May 7. The Hon. Mr Carroll informs me that ths census returns. already show that there has been a considerable increase in the Maori population of the Hutt Country and that the children are healthy and strong. The Maoris generally ha\e suffered severe loss through the potato blight. Mr Davis, of the Native Department, mentions that sheep-farming occupies the attention of some of the Natives, who find the business a profitable one. One Maori, who is j farming at Pukeiua, is running 300 sheep, and rscently disposed of wethers at 15s each and sold his wool for £100. He has adopted European methods, and" is working his farm In ~a systematic manner. A growing number of Natives in various parts of the colony axe now engaged in fanning their lands, and -arc proving very fair settlers.

Mr H. J. H. Elliott, ex-Under-sacretary for Mines, has been appointed 'to the vacant position on the Royal Commission set «p to inquire into the Te Aute College. Mr R. A. Loughnan has been appointed secretary.

It is not considered likely in military circles here that Colonel Kitchener has been asked to take the command of the New Zealand Forces, or that he will succeed General Babington. A circular has been sent out' to heads of Government departments asking the position in each case in regard to an " understudy," no doubt with a view to suitable officers being available to take charge of the department in case of necessity. The Rev. Mr North, in the course of a sermon yesterday, argued, that high patronage had a good deal to do with tho sudden spread of the gambling habit. He pointed out that a century ago Newmarket races drew 500 gentlemen on horseback to witness them. To-day it took half a regiment to keep order among the rascals and the gentlefolk who assemble. Colonial life was penetrated by the evil. The president of the Science Congress told how he returned to Australia at the height of the African war crisis, and as they neared the pilot steamer all were on edge to know how it fared with the Empire. The first message bellowed through the speaking trumpet was, *' The Australians won the first test match." What could be honed of a nation if a game so supplanted Imperial affairs and life's sober duties? Mr North, after outlining the universal condemnation of gambling by civilised States, discussed the totalisator question. Ho averred ,that it existed in this country under false pretences. It was introduced in order to destroy the bookmaker. The Hall Govero--ment was explicit on this." If was -argued ' that it would not only blow the -"bookie" | away from every course ' in tha land, * but that the tax of 2s in the pound would deter gambling, since tho public would not be fools enough to invest in a machine- which » would absorb every. £1 in the course, of afew days' racing. The totalisator .had failed every way. Investments had leaped up from £500.000 to £1.500.000 in 15 years, and the '" bookies " still existed. A racing authority in this town had interviewed Mr j North daring the "week, and had told him * that at a Hutt meeting where the " tote " had £700 on it one " bookie " had shown him £800 on his book alone, and there were 102 of the fraternity on the course that day. What could be said for a . machine which had failed to keep every j promise made on its behalf, which had popularised gambling, which had multi- j plied the bookmaker, and made entry on t that business simplicity" itself? Mr North averred that Sir William Fox estimated the situation rightly when he said that, the legalising of^ the machine was an attempt to exterminate cats by encouraging the breed of kittens. The Hon. T. Dick, who introduced the bill into the Lower House, afterwards declared that he would rather have lost his right hand than done that deed had he knowri the misery the machine would work. Mr Seddon had figured as an antagonist to the bijl in 1891, He would prove, his humanity and serve the nation" by abolishing it in 1906.

There is considerable controversy here regarding Holman Hunt's picture, "The Light of th« World." . The New Zealand Times, in a. leading article the other day headed "Poster Evangelism," maintained that the symbolism of the picture would no£ be understood by the multitude; that it was from every aspect exclusively artistic in its value and in its effect, and could noj hope to make a strictly evangelicaL appeal They were therefore afraid that Mr Booth's pious zeal had been completely thrown away. To this Mr Mackjos, the custodian of the picture, replied that the work of art referred to was not a missionary pig-

' ture. but had been sent out with a viei* to- showing the general public a work of art that otherwise they would never have seen. Nevertheless he claim-eel that the pietetie yffect of th© picture had been con- | siderablo. Last evening the Rev. Dr Gibb referred to the subject from the pulpit, and ventured to express the hope that all of his congregation would go to see I Holman Hunt's great picture. He trusted ! that they would appreciate it, not only as J a masterpiece of the pictorial art, but also as an aid to faith and religious feeling. | He was sorry that in a leading article in | the morning paper on Saturday the religious significance of the great painting had been rather slightingly referred to. To-day the New Zealand Times deals further with the matter and says that.^no picture of the character of " The Light of the World " can, when exhibited as that painting is being exhibited, have any positive spiritual effect at all. But we persist that the tour of the picture has been everywhere accepted as being of a i " missionary " character. In that character ; it was received by the mess and rushed by the public, and nobody has ever endeavoured to show that its main purpose was anything but evangelistic. Some time ago a returned disciple ot Dowie's -from Zion Gity gave :H out h-^te that Mr MtirrcU. formerly well-known in shipping circles as New Zealand- manager for Messrs Huddart, Parker, and Qo., Vas dying of consumption. The e&tenrent appears to have been absolutely without foundation. Mrs Murrell. writing to her brother in Australia, now states that her husband it> quite well; indeed, to use her own words, he was never better in his lifeStrolling through the museum to-day I «ame upon the Maori c>arvers at work .with adz© and chisel upon some huge slabs of kauri pine that are being carved into grotesque figures for the Maori village that is to form one of the attractions at the Christchurch Exhibition. The two carvers, father and son, have been imported from Rotorua, and they. seem very expert at their work. The son. a strong,- athletic young man, drew my attention to come carved tobacco pipes that he was willing to sell me for 17s od each. Last week, I believe,. they were 255, but that is a detail. -The young fellow told me they would be engag-ed in carving at the Exhibition. He said they would carve pipes and sticks and model canoes "one foot long." I asked him how much they got a day for their work, and he replied "Half a quid a day each." There is every likelihood that the Maori village will be one of the chief attractions of thp Exhibition.

One woman to evcrv 10 men worked foi wages 50 years ago, but now the ratio ii one to four.