Wellington Items.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5551, 24 February 1886, Page 4

Wellington Items.

* OVERBURDENED WITH TEMPERANCE ADVOCATES. TREATMENT OF ARRESTED PERSONS. DURABILITY OF TOTARA. ,[B? Teleobafh.J [FKOM OUB OWN COR&SHrONDENT.] WELLINGTON, Feb. 28. Wellington iB at present being deluged with temperance advocates, and the water of temperance iB being poured upon U3 to .such an extent, as to bid fair to wash all the Bpirit out of us. Mr Glover, Sir William Fox, Messrs Frascr and Shannon, have flung their water-bottles at onr heads, For the past fortnight they have told us •v&ate Bota, that our doctors are deatroyers •if body and soul, that our hospital coffins are filled with men killed by alcoholic prescriptions. They have denounced our -publicans, and pledged themselves to shut up all our public houses (when they get the chance). They have gained one quarter of the city in the licensing elections, and nil the gentlemen named above are still endeavouring to further dilute our already over-weak whiskey. In addition to thesa .advocates, we have a Woman's

j Temperance Conference going on, •with j Mrs Dudley- Ward at its head; then we j:have Hori Rophia here, the Maori who accompanied the Native delegates Home, , aud came out a rabid teetotal advocate. On j Monday next the Rechabites are to hold , a big representative meeting, and on the j same day the Temperance Conference commences its sittings in the city. Amongst the delegates to be present will be — Sir William Fox, Messrs Glover and Speight (Auckland), Jago and F. Fulton (Dunedin), and J. T. Smith (Christchurch). By the time the Conference is over, we ought to be a much better community than we are now, but I am afraid we won't be able to swallow so much water at one dose. The Post to-night again comments on . j the unsatisfactory condition of the railway administration, which drives men like Allison Smith and Back to seek employ- ' ment in other countries. A prisoner who was wrongly accused of theft complained to the Magistrate to-day , of being locked up in a cell with two p filthy drunkards. The Magistrate made some strong comments upon the way persons, who were presumably innocent until convicted, were treated in the matter of accommodation, not only in Wellington, ' but also in other parts of the Colony. The police, he said, appeared to think a man guilty the moment he came under their hands, and treated him accordingly. I Katipo spiders are very numerous just now on Island Bay beach, where pic- • j nickers are wont to take a temporary ; abode at holiday time. A shop-keeper t • hero is exhibiting a number in his r shop window. He has only been able to preserve two alive out of about twenty, the rest having fought with each other till 1 they died. George DarreH's "Sunny South" is L drawing large and enthusiastic audiences. The scenic effects are unusually complete, and the acting of the principal artists is i greatly admired. The value of totara for the construction of warves and bridges has been strikingly ', illustrated here. A wharf pile which was ' driven on April 21, 1862, has just been drawn out, and it is as sound as on the 1 day it was driven. There is no sign of decay or of its being touched by the teredo or any other marine insect.