WELLINGTON AND WELLINGTON PEOPLE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XL, Issue 9237, 24 November 1891, Page 2

WELLINGTON AND WELLINGTON PEOPLE.

NO. S.— THE INFLUENZA— THE AGRICULTURAL SHOW— PLIMMERTON.

A lively state of things prevails in this city — " the wealthiest in the colony, sir !" — so its admirers declare. To say nothing of tho seldom, if ever, absent visitor typhoid fever, with variations of that mysterious and charming guest diphtheria in the 'tween whiles, about half the population here is now down with influenza in the worst form yet known in the colony. The suddenness of its attack is one of the most remarkable, and far from agreeable, features of the existing epidemic. A man may b* apparently in full health one hour, tho next completely prosti'ato beneath the blow. A Bad case came under the notice of your correspondent less than a week ago. A young woman who, in common with other members of her family, had been laid up with tho complaint, died in a few minutes one night of syncope. An inquest was held in my very hotel next day, the landlord occupying the cheerful post of foreman of the jury ! At this end of Wellington, in fact, influenza is simply raging everywhere. The very sight of the doctors tearing round corners | in those high-wheeled buggies drawn by swift trotting steeds, bo fearsomely familiar in this city at all times, is enough to make a nervous man take to his heels and shake off the dust of this emporium of stinks, sewerage, and smoke. . . Tho longer one's abode here the more grows one's astonishment at the choice of Wellington as a residence, apart from its undoubted advantages for moneymaking, especially just now for doctors and undertakers. Now, can the citizens ot Wellington plead tho excuse of a Corporation too ignorant and self-sufficient to deal with this disastrous state of sanitary matters ; they have no one but themselves to thank for its continuance, spite of repeated warnings of tho growing danger which will one day not improbably result in somo terrible calamity. Meanwhile, tho doctors and thoir horses are all worked off their legs, and coffin-making goes merrily on at night to prepare for the morrow's funeral. No doubt, should those statements be read by any of the Wellington newspapers they will bo angrily denied by those omniscient organs. Nevertheless, they are true in substance and in fact. To turn to ploasantor subjects. Tho agricultural and pastoral show of yesterday was a grand success. Tho day was simply perfect ; clear, cloudless, sunshine, and, wondor of wonders on a fine day hereabouts, no wind, and no dust; a slight shower or two, early in the morning, having effectually layed the dust. About eight thousand persons are stated to have visited the show or tho Hutt racecourse, the larger number by rail, many by the road winding along the once lovely, now defaced, shore of the harbour, and past tho once beautiful but now polluted localities — Kaiwarra and Ngauranga —to Potone. Among the most successful competitors, carrying off no fewer than seven prizes tor his celebratod Ayrshires. was our friend Mr Edward Olson, of whom all Taranakians must feel more than ever proud. To those in search of a cool, sequestered spot, one of tho prettiest round Wellington, may be commended Plimmerton, at tiio entrance to tho picturesque estuary of Porirua — an hour's ride from tho city on tho Manawatu railway. The shore ie a iino hard sand ; on a bold bluff above, clothed with as yet mercifully spared beautiful native bush, is grass soft as velvet, on which to recline and gaze on as lovely a prospect by sea and land as can well meet the eye even in New Zealand. There is abundant water and delightful shade. For a quiet picnic Pliuimorton is j truly an ideal spot. Egmont.