WELLINGTON.

Colonist, Issue 77, 16 July 1858, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

THE SUPERINTENDENCE

(From the Spectator, July 7.) The following is the result ofthe polling according to the returns received:— St. Hill. Featheeston. Keturns previously published 516 791 Returns from Hawke's Bay District 55 58 Castle Point 9 6 580 - 858 The returns from "the polling places at Flat Point, Te Awaiti, and one or two other polling places, have yet to be received. The subjoined description of Wellington, and the scene on the nomination of candidates for Superintendent, is from a correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, of June 30 :—- Wellington harbor, as we enter it is smothered in mist; a strong soiith-east wind brings up from the ocean column after column of cloud charged with rain, and hides the wellknow beauty of the place. But most people in Canterbury are acquainted with the place, either by description or actual observation, so that I need not attempt to describe what I did not see. Suffice it that the picture presented recalls vividly one's earliest impressions of New Zealand. When we touched the shore these recollections were rapidly removed, and in their place came suggestions of American life as reported by Martin Chuzzlewit. The first address of the boatman alongside was an opinion of his own on the case just decided between Dr. Featherston and the Speaker as to the deputy-Superiatendency. We had tumbled upon a most exciting time—in fact, a battle day, in the " seat of war," as this city may be termed. The day before our arrival a decision had been pronounced by the Supreme Court that, the Supreintendent having resigned, by the I Deputy-Superintendent Act, the duties of the j office devolved upon the Speaker ofthe Council, at present Mr. Ludlam, a leader of the Reform party. This is a great triumph for that party. * Moreover, the acting Treasurer of the Featherston Government had taken the liberty to transfer .=£sooo, a portion of the fuuds belonging to the Province^ from the bank whose solicitor is a reformer, to the other, where the opposite influence is exerted. This, and all other moneys of the State, have been handed, over to the Treasurer of the new Government amid the exultations of its partizans.

But the great event of all, for which we had arrived just in time, was the nomination of candidates for the Superintendency, now vacant by Dr. Featberston's resignation. The ceremony took place the day after our arrival, and proved a wonderful spectacle. The weather had become worse and worse, the south-east wind bad risen to a furious gale, and the bitter cold rain swept almost horisontally over land and sea. Against the bare wall of the police office, in the most exposed spot which could be discovered in Ihe town, a little platform was raised for a hustings. Before this, with the privilege of turning their backs to the wind,, about two hundred people, covered in every conceivable species -of foul-weather wrapping, were gathered together about noon. On the little stage, just so high as to be unsheltered by the crowd, under the cave drop from the roof, and forced, for fear of offending, to turn their faces to the blast, were seven individuals-—two candidates, a proposer and seconder of each, and the returning officer. Besides the seven waterproof envelopes of this devoted band, all I could see was — two very jolly red faces under hats, one ditto' under a wide awake, one dismal face behind a good deal of hair, one thin and one commonplace ditto. The seventh must have been very thin too, for not only the face, but, nearly "the person was concealed behind a closed umbrella held vertically to the storm. - You may imagine that to people of such violent prejudices as now distinguish the citizens of Wellington, the greatest portion of a hustings speech would be drowned either in the cheers of one party or the hoots of the other; but when you add a south-east blast driving torrents of rain into the orator and carrying his; words at the rate of sixty miles an hour to leeward, over a high roof, you will not be surprised when I tell you that of the addresses on this momentous occasion scarcely fifty words were heard in the whole—certainly not a whole consecutive sentence anywhere. Hence the speeches had a remarkable sameness. A verbatim report of one of them will serve as a specimen of all. Perhaps it is the jolly face under the wide-awake who comes forward to the rail of the little platform. The wide-awake is

slouched, and the head bent forward to stop as much rain as possible, white the cloak is held forcibly togeiher with both hands. His oration sounds somewhat in this way:—"Gentlemen, I"—(cheers and groans)—"propose a fit and proper person,"—(gust of wind) —"known to all of you that. the merits " —(stronger blast) — "constant exertions have been directed"—(loud cheers) —"prosperity of the colony is due"—(indiscriminate shouts)-^" he will be returned, I am' sure." —(We will—we will! groans, hurrahing, and vehement groans) amid which the remainder of the oration was swept over the police office, and a demonstration with the speaker's hand towards an individual at one -end of the platform terminated the address, drawing down more applause and more indignation. No one in the crowd, however interested, could have gathered much more than this from the three gentlemen who spoke at length. The others were very short. For instance, the thin gentleman who hid himself to leeward of the faded umbrella, when it came to his turn, stepped to the rail. This was the signal for an outburst of the crowd. The orator's mouth opened, and his,open hand wandered forward. Then nods of the head, symptoms of articulation about the mouth, and then thumps of the right fist into the air follow. The mouth opens and shuts rapidly, the umbrella is transferred to the right hand, and the left waves and thumps vigorously. The head nods insanely, the jaws work incessantly, and the .umbrella is .got into play; head shakes, jaw .jerks, umbrella wddes; —shake, jerk, jerk; 'shake, wave; shake,slash; shake,jerk ; shake, poke,. slash ; jerk, jerk, jerk; shake, shake, shake; poke, poke, poke, poke ;—and tho speaker winds up with maniacal thrusts with the umbrella point perpendicularly down beneath the stage, as if he imagined that his particular enemy was about to be dislodged from beneath the boards, Words can convey but a faint idea of the whole scene, and had I not felt great pity for those who exposed themselves to the elements, with a little regret for the coldness and wet from which my -own proper person was suffering, I could have been heartily amused. The show of hands was declared to be in favor of Dr. Featherston. I don't think either this decision or the opposite could be cavilled at by any one not in so advantageous a position for observation as the returning officer, for the number of hands held up was nearly as could be seen by one on a level with the crowd, equal on both sides. So also when the crowd divided —to the right for Featherston and to the left for St. Hill, the number of both bodies was within very little alike. One of the newspapers here reports that 178 appeared for the latter and 179 for the former: the other intimates that there were 400 or 500 people present. The whole crowd did not in fact number more than 200 ; few or more were children,' but several on both sides held up both hands. As to the conduct of the respective parties. I was surprised, having heard much of the. rowdyism of the Radicals, to find that while Dr. Featherston's friends were heard in tolerable quiet, the opposite party were hooted, shouted at and clamoured down; and this was not of course an expression of the ge-neral-opinion of the crowd, for there were as many on one side as the other. Though not really of importance, the shew of hands is held to be a guide for the waverers, and consequently the most is being made of it by the victorious side.

The town of Wellington has been much improved during the last four or five years by the reclamation'of the shallow shore along Lambton Quay, the construction of a number of commercial and private buildings, and above all the erection of the Government buildings, bank and gaol. The form of these buildings is a really handsome and an extensive pile, shewing well from the sea. The general design is plaiu and simple: if there is a fault it is in the application of some trivial ornamentation to the front. The back, or west elevation, presenting the same features without the ornament is to my mind the handsomer of the two. Inside, the rooms of all sorts, from the legislative chamber to the closet, are all well constructed, tastily ornamented, and as well as I can judge without exactly knowing -the uses of each chamber, cleverly arranged. The room set apart for the Chamber of Representatives, is undeniably handsome, in all respects, and is most creditable to Wellington. There is here a tolerably good full-length portrait of Dr. Featherston, the first and late Superintendent ofthe province. The bank (Union of Australia) I bad not an opportunity of going through, but it is outwardly a very-presentable structure, and adds much to the view of Wellington from the water.

We sail immediately for Nelson, weather permitting; and my next communication will therefore probably be from that town. Wellington, June 16, 1858.