ROUND ABOUT WELLINGTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 3713, 12 May 1925, Page 30

ROUND ABOUT WELLINGTON.

Pencarrow.

By

(Specially Written for the Witness.) Thursday, May 7. After several days of heavy rain, which was welcomed by gardeners, the weather has again become line though rather cold. The winter lias not set in early, and as yet there is no real bitterness in the air. To-day is bright and sunny. News of the Prime Minister is cheering. For a whole week the improved condition has been maintained. He is, of course, most seriously ill, but there is some relief in the severity of the symptoms, and for this the whole community is very thankful. News, too, of the Hon. Downie Stewart Is distinctly good. Further information should arrive this week. Wellington is as delighted as Dunedin should be, for as the Hon. Mr Anderson has said this week, the country cannot do without the services of this Minister, whose mentality is so very far above the ordinary man’s. During the last few days, Pcncarrow has noticed several members of our “House of Lords” and an ex-Minister in town, and has been wondering why they are here. This curiousity was yesterday appeased. It seems that 13 honourable, gentlemen reach the end of their section (so to speak), and probably some of them have come to sec what is going to be done about it. On dit that most of them will probably be re-appointed. The voices of two more councillors—alas! will be heard no more in Parliament—the Hon. Oliver Samuel and the Hon. John Grimmond, both universally respected men. Apart from the personal aspect the Hon. Mr Samuel will be sadly missed. With his keen intelligence, wide experience, his debating ability, and his boundless energy, he was probably—after the Leader—the most eminent man in the Legislative Council. A very useful member of the Council is the Hon. Edward Newman, chairman rf the N.Z. Shecpowncrs' Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund, the name of which explains itself. All the world knows, or ought to know, that part of thin fund was used for buying Flock House, tho training farm near Bulls, on which orphaned sons of British sailors are taught tholr business. The scheme provides for their more advanced education, when they are indentured to farmers for three years, after which they will be helped to start on land of their own. Tho chairman of the fund now announces that the trustees find themselves able to extend their help to some daughters of British seamen, who aro *"> be given the same opportunities as their brothers, if they are willing to do house work in the country. They will bo brought out, as the boys are, under careful supervision. Their work will be in the homes of fanners to whom their brothers are indentured. At the end of the boy's time, when he is ready to start on his own bit of land, the trustees hope to help both brother and sister, treating

them equally as dependents of a sailor who has died during the war. This excellent scheme for assisting the ohphaned children of British sailors may prove to have quite unexpected results, and cannot fail to be a lasting bene fit to the country as well as to the young people for whom it was originated. Thr immediate result may be that some of the farmers’ wives will get help they sorely need iu the house, for there must bt many girls in the Old Country, eligible for assistance under this scheme, who will joyfully respond to such a generous offer The New Zealand-born domestic worker 6eems to have followed the moa into extinction, and though among the immigrants who are arriving almost every fortnight there ore women who have undertaken to do domestic work, at least for a time, many of them have had remarkably little experience, and some of them show no grea* desire to gain any, though the wages they receive are very high. Girls brought out by the fund will have every inducement to learn the business and to perform their duties faithfully, for the more expert they become, the better it will be for them and their brothers a few years later. During the period of indenture, boys receive 15s per week for the first year, 20s during the second, 25s for the third, exclusive of board and lodging, and current wages thereafter. Certain approved sums are allowed for pocket money and clothing, and the rest placed in the bank in the names of the trustees and the lad concerned, to be used ultimately for his benefit. This fund is quite unique. It is the only fund in the Empire provided by one section of the people to make provision for w T ar sufferers as an expression of gratitude. After teaching the lads their business, and giving them the opportunity to ear a living off the land, the trustees hope to help them all their lives when and if required. They aim at taking the place of the fathers who are gone, and the boys will be encouraged to regard the trustees as their best friends. The scheme, so far, is working most successfully. The boys are well and happy, delighted with Flock House, and giving great satisfaction to the farmers in whose service they are working after leaving the training farm. It is not generally realised that Flock House, and the help given to the boys, is only one branch of the splendid work which is carried on by means of the fund. Hundreds of injured sailors have been helped, here and in the Old Country. Every Christmas a considerable sum of money is spent in providing presents for sailors’ little ones in New Zealand. To relieve cases of immediate distress in England, a sum of £30,000 was placed at the disposal of the London committee. The aim and object of the whole scheme is to express the gratitude which New Zealand farmers feel to officers and men of the Royal Navy and the Mercantile Marine. Widows and orphans and incapacitated men receive practical assistance and kindly sympathy. The sum originally subscribed was £214,000 —truly a practical proof of a sentiment which is not quite as much in evidence these days as it used to be. But in Wellington we are a fairly moral community, and the Chief Justice has congratulated us on the fact. The list for the criminal sessions which opened this week is light, which is more than can be said for some districts. And what is all this about Queen Mary being not at home to young things whose hair is shingled? Rather awkward if Government House, New Zealand, follows suit. However, on dit that only tho foolish maiden has disposed of her shorn tresses —in the form of a plait, it appears they can be pinned on in some mysterious way. Shingled girls will have to go out to grass in the country for a year or two when they desire to repair damages. And the Hon. Mr Coates is not going to be put off his advertising policy in connection with the railways. Good man. He has the courage of his own opinions. His critics should not claim the monopoly of ordinary common sense. He, too, may be assumed to have some, and it is hardly likely that he will ever permit the beauty spots of New Zealand to be spoilt by hoardings. The Government proposes to set about attracting American tourists. A publicity agent in the limited status may soon be appointed. The Hon. Mr Anderson has been speaking quite frankly about hotel accommodation in this Dominion, and pointed out that there is no reason why hotels should not be kept scrnpulousl r clean. Some hotels are not. Perhaps ’nuff ’sed, but I could a tale unfold to you about a motor party and an accommodation house up north (and the only place of refuge for travellers) ; not only rats gambolled merrily across the beds. These things do not appeal to tourists, as the Minister remarks, and it is up to those who run these places to see that they arc as clean and fresh as that little back country inn, in which Mr Anderson says is in his own electorate, and is so well run that anyone would be delighted to eat and sleep there. A tower and carillon is the memorial which the Evening Post and a certain section of the community favour for our War Memorial, which we decided some time ago is to be non-utilitarian. Nothing definite has yet been settled, and the form tho memorial is to take is still under consideration. As Canon Fielden Taylor said on Anzac Day, it is hoped that the. proposed memorial will be well on its way to completion a year hence. The site la there—at the foot of Parliament Grounds —central and suitable. A harassed housewife tells me she has been somewhat annoyed during tho past week by the offer of an unknown caller who rang the bell during a busy morning, and offered to come in and pray with her. She had no sooner got rid of this

person by suggesting she should run away and pray for her instead of with her, than a gentleman with a bag arrived, saying he had called with litcraturo for “the Church of Christ.” Him she told to go and sell the literature to people who had time to read it. She then returned to the cooking of the family dinner, but the front door bell again rang, and she found on the doorstep a lady who was agent for a patent vacuum cleaner. This lady she dismissed with a promise that she would gladly pay a large commission if she would go out and find instead a capable domestic worker. This is the state of things iu Wellington. The Mothers' Help Society docs what it can, but its efforts are like unto a drop in a bucket.