OUR WELLINGTON LETTER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 5, 2 February 1910, Page 4

OUR WELLINGTON LETTER.

January 29. The Financial Speech. THIS week we have got most of our politics from without, and not very much of them at that- The big sensation has come from Hastings, where the Prime Minister gave out his text financial in three keys, one for each quarter of the year that is gone. But if anyone expected to hear a prophecy for the quarter that is coining, h«- was disappointed. Every man may do as he pleases in the matter of that. Only lie must not open his mouth too wide in estimating the surplus for the end of the current year. The politicians are making much of the big sensation, but there is nothing in it at all. Nobody ever expected anything startling when it was announced that Sir Joseph went out to Hastings. The fact is. we arc gone to the opposite extreme of old days. Then, if a Minister said a word about the year’s result, possible or probable. he was regarded as reckless and feckless. There is a tradition of a famous Treasurer nearly giving up the ghost because some journalist of the Ministerial persuasion made an optimistic forecast of the position at the end of the year which turned out to be perfectly correct. Since then Treasurers have learned that the things that matter in finance are not affairs of book-keeping, but the things that make the money come in without troubling the financial equilibrium. We have substituted statesmanship for book-keeping. But it will be well when the public understands the thing properly. Then it will not burst its boiler to discover something tremendous whenever the Finance Minister makes .the usual book-keeping speech. However, only the quidnuncs suffer, because they persist in imagining that there is something tremendous in the announcement which in former days was never made until the night of the Financial Statement. Blowing the Trumpet of Hastings. Thus it has come to pass that the speech at Hastings has been invested with portentous importance. It gave the figures for the three quarters remarkably well, and it gave, also, verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and dreary tale by blowing the trumpet of Hastings. According to these figures hurled at the expectant ciyzens of that fast-rising borough there is much prosperity in the place, and ir %ill bo a great place entirely some day. How great may be readily computed by anyone reading the speech delivered by the Prime Minister the other night. Which means that the spofs h was for the Hastings folk very absorbing. But to the rest of the country it was not intended to appeal, and it did not appeal. Railways in Evidence. The railways are in evidence somewhat. It is because their Minister goes about the country listening to people who talk fl*bont time tables as if they were things to be altered without any sense of ros|K»nsibilily, or thought of trouble. To such it seems that whenever a Minister •ays he will see how things can lx* arranged, the thing is done. But a timetable is a scientific thing—like a Chinese puzzle, not to lightly altered on pain of disastrous dislocation. You may please men in one spot by giving them what they want. But how many others you are going to offend into loud protest only those know who know anything about the difficulties of time-fables. When, therefore, the Minister gets among his experts, and says he wants a little change here and there, just a small thing, for which no one will l»c one bit the worse, and a great many people very much the better. he is apt to hear things that are not too good for his peace of mind, and before he has done with the subject ho sees occasion for bitterly regrvtting that he was not fashioned like a chess champion, who can play seventeen genres blindfold and win all. The Critics Take a Sommanit. Things have actually come to a strange pass in the world of the critics •f this Minister. Time was when these Judges of all things necessary insisted that the Minister was making presents

of their fares to all passengers, and one thought, consequently, that the only way of managing railways is to have a high level of passenger fares. When one quoted comparative figures of railway travel, the answer used always to be that the passengers were being carried for too lit lie. But all this is ehanged. Since the Minister announced his intention of raising the long distance rates the critics have protested that it is a solecism to interfere with the perfectly unique and absolutely splendid passenger system we are so fortunate as to possess. Such of them as are learned in the subject go back to the days of the Consul Llaneus—the days when Provincial Government having been abolished, Llaneus was read as Hall, and quote the case of the Canterbury railway rates, which were accompanied by a splendid passenger traffic. The Hal! Government raised the rates with avidity, and the passenger traffic disappeared utterly. Hence it is wrong, we are told, to interfere with the rates of to-day. Well! If it is wrong to alter the rates, and if it is wrong to leave things as they are, what is the unhappy management to do? But perhaps it will be as well to wait for results before condemning. The Harbour Board's Problem. Loeal government- here in the person of the Harbour Board has- a bad attack of something like gout—something painful and bad for the temper. It was suspected when the wharf at Petone collapsed and the cement in the dock would not set. Later on, further symptoms left no doubt about the malady. The feeling of uselessness has spread to a- small wharf at Miramar, whereby the complainants declare that £6OOO has been wasted. .But- the taint- does not stop there, and the biggest and' newest of the wharves, the King's wharf, the pride of the city, is now declared to be as useless a collection of wood and iron as anybody could possibly put together. And the army of hydraulic- Cranes there, once the wonder of all the world, has been "scrapped.” Nor is that the worst symptom. The charges are said to be rising to such an extent, that very soon Wellington will be the dearest port in the Dominion. The Mayor was •‘horrified,” and several members of the Board came near to falling down in fits—nothing kept them up but the power of good solid oratory. In the midst of all this racket of the Board, the ordinary plain man knows exactly what to say- and to say it with fiendish glee. It is that the Board has now proved the truth of what every man of sense has believed for many years, namely, that the Board ought to be elected on popular franchise and compelled to do its work in the open with the most spare allowance of committee work. But as the Board is responsible to nobody in particular, and does most of ite business with closed doors, this kind of protest is natural enough. It is healthy enough, of course. But that it wants the salutary check of publicity ami public control is the rooted conviction of the whole district. The Newcastle Martyrs. Labour circles are lamenting the defeat of the Newcastle leaders and their suppression with durance vile. The lesson is a grand one against breaking the law, ami defying public opinion by the selfish tactics which apply hardships and privations to innocent people, who are in no way connected with strife. The rest of the world is much struck l.v the sueress of Mr. Wade’s prognostication of the approaching failure of t-he big strike. Those men who prophesied in the beginning of the Newcastle trouble that the war would be extended to all parts of Australasia, and beyond, are not in evidence now. On the whole. the way in which the situation lias been tackled by onr neighbours over the sea is proving the most striking lesson of the strike. A Multitude in Black. The city wears a strange garb. There is a multitude abroad in black. We are lint permitted to forget that the General Synod of the Anglican t'hnreh is among ns. Clerical garb pervades the streets, comes together in great patches at the afternoon receptions of fashionable hostesses, parades in the illustrated Press, and speaks in the reports of Synod proceedings, morning and evening. The men who know the great part the

Church played in the early settlement of the country, and remember to have read of the splendid strength and common sense with which the Churchmen established the Church under new and strange conditions, have been somewhat etruck by the debates on the "fundamentals” so keen and so amply reported in the newspapers. .Most outsiders imagined after reading the history—so admirably set forth by the late Dean Jacobs, of Christchurch—that the "fundamentals” ■were just the thing that could not be altered by the New Zealand branch of the Church. These have been somewhat astonished by the arguments employed in the discussions by the party of reform, who argue that the sixth clause which barred out any change in these really was never intended to do anything so drastic. When they hear the other side asking what is to become of the Book of Common Prayer, and demanding to know what security there is for the continuance of union with the Mother Church, they hark back in sympathy to the story —one of the best in the history of the settlement of these islands—of the men who insisted in those early days on keeping touch, and devised the sixth clause after much discussion and many heartburnings as the best safeguard. The end was what Bishop Selwyn, who was responsible for the sixth clause, would probably have liked had he been among us to-day. But the state of the voting would probably have astonished him. The motion for autonomy was supported by the overwhelming majority of the bishops—five to one—the laity were for it by eleven to nine, and the clergy against by the same figures, namely, eleven to nine. As the statute requires majorities of all three o-rders, it is clear that the clergy vote saved the present state of things by a very close shave, but that the feeling is so finely balanced throughout that- the time is nol far off when the Church will go strongly with the motion which Bishop Julius moved so forcibly in his opening address, and. supported so ably and warmly in his speech in reply. It is noteworthy that the sole bishop against the proposed change spoke with a warmth which the Primate thought it necessary to rebuke. At any rate, the occasion is historic, as the one on which the attempt to obtain autonomy failed by a merely technical majority. The actual majority were with the Bishop of Christchurch in regarding the fear of untoward consequences as unlikely, agreeing that the object of the motion was rather the freedom from unnecessary and objectionable Parliamentary control than the change of anything dear to the hearts ■of any of the members of the Church. But in a matter so important as to be considered fundamental, the prime need is for a larger majority, not for unanimity, but for greater strength in favour of change. After this result the usual discussion of the education question falls dead, especially if it concerns a dead subject. I say “dead,” not because it is unimportant, and not because it is not alive in many earnest hearts, but because in the present state of opinion it has no more chanee of practical result than any attempt to revive the moa would have at the hands of the scientific world. The National Pastime. From the sacred temple to the temple of Saint Hippo is but a step in the history of the week. The latter is not a temple which attracts crowds that may be called vast on this occasion—they varied between some seven thousand of the first day and not over four of the last. But the people who do go there take money with them. This time they played with fifty thousand pounds. It is six thousand less than last year, and this was a disappointment, for the first day the attendance and the tote investments were bigger appreciably than those of the opening day of the summer meeting of 1909. The bookie was in evidence, and in less proportion also, but he made the day just as hideous with his clamour. The most charming thing about the meeting was the big attendance of the ladies. They always are in force, and this time was no exception: charmingly dressed, of course, in the big hats of the time, which fail to lessen the charm of the sex—and becomingly interested in the events. Never has there been better racing, and there were two records—Bobrikoff’s 1.39 for the mile in the Summer Handicap, and Ringdove’s 2.64 l-sth in the Club Handicap. The favourite, Crucinclla, won the Cup, delighting the world, but falling short of the record—Ropa's, 1906—by a trifle over a second. Add fine weather,

the fair division of the prize money, that consistent sportsman, Sir George Clifford, in top place with £975, and a good sale of the Waikanae yearlings—£3,l3o for the fourteen lots—and the record of the meeting is complete. It is further noteworthy as the last at which the English bred filly of those popular owners who have inherited a good name and are keeping it up, and the meeting at which the horse which goes to Australia to make a piled-up reputation, it is hoped, carried 19 stone and a pound when he made that mile record. The Racecourse and the Gambling Den. It seemed a trifle strange during tiiese festivities to read of the raid on the paka-poo people in Haining-street—-a great act of generalship, by the way, on the part of the police in catching the slipperiest of “no-savee” Chows — but there was a set off in the tremendous fines inflicted at Christchurch on tbe bookies caught betting in the street no doubt on these very events. Justice in the gaming world is queer, but sometimes n gets a good balance. Just Recognition. Polities come across us again after the events of the non-political world with the meeting at the Town Hall last night, whereat a very deserving friend of the Liberal cause, received just recognition. Mr. Gallichan did more than any other single man last general election to organise the electorates of the North Island, and did therefore a service of- incalculable advantage at a time when the fortunes of the party looked hopeless for want of the very thing he brought, namely, organisation, which seemed to be not only difficult of application but impossible. No wonder the Liberal chief spoke warmly of his services. It is a good way Sir Joseph has with him. It was not the only good thing he had to say. We have been listening for signs of the new policy in the acquirement of land inaugurated last session. It was one of the best and most important measures in the opinion of all advanced Liberals; It was scouted by the other side as impracticable, and some of the hard-headed sons of the. soil who support the Liberal party with no ordinary zeal, echoed, I was sorry to hear, the counsels of pessimism in this respect. Waiting though we all have been for some sign of the working of the Land Finance Act, we were not impatient, because we have not yet had time to develop such feelings. Nevertheless, it was a genuine delight to learn that the first transaction under the Act has come off, and will be completed by the transfer of the land to the company of buyers under the Act so early as Monday next. The place is in the Geraldine district of Canterbury, one of tha very best that could be selected for tha opening of the Act—and, curiously, the seat of some of the Liberal pessimism towards the measure. When the experts are thus confuted by results the world can indulge hopes. For the pessimists, who are not experts and are pessimists because they are politicians, there is no time to further consider their case. The N.S.W. Premier. Mr. Wade had a chance to speak at the New Zealand Club yesterday, and he embraced it with effect. Somewhat humorous he was at the start, declaring; with rueful face, that it was not good to be there: Wil] Crooks and Foster Fraser had been there, and where were they now ’ Getting serious, he took position on the ground that the people of New, South Wales understood that the Government, in the matter of the big strike, were appealing to the majority of the people against a tyrannical minority for justice and right. He has been taken to task, being told that the real issue is the expediency or otherwise of applying a drastic remedy suddenly and with a high hand. But to these critics the only possible answer is that they seem to have forgotten the lawlessness of the strike, and to ignore the necessity for general obedience to any law. No one denies that the owners in the present case, as in many other possible cases, are far from immaculate in either intention or performance. At the same time no one is so shallow as to forget that the bulk of the people cannot be coerced and put to lose and hardship in any quarrel whatever. In this case, the sternest critics of the New South Wales policy, are those who wore loudest in condemnation of the strikers. They belong ta that class of timid soul who denonnoa wrong until wrong is punished, and the* Cura round to assail the puniahatw-

Autocracy ' The last meeting of the Governors of Wellington College was remarkable for two things —(1) the proposal to re-elect Jlr. Brandon to the position Of chairman; (2) the imposition of a condition precedent by the chairman-elect that in all things financial he must have the absolute veto. The Board was aghast. It was ready to forgive his indiscretion of last year in the matter of free places, which had made the Board the laughing stock of the whole Dominion, but to pile the reward of absolutism on his head seemed decidedly too much. Good old Mt. Lee gently opined that the chairman was asking too much, and the Mayor —- not present as mayor, of course, but as governor—wondered, as gently, what use there would be for a Board at all under such conditions. The whole meeting looked as if it would rather not face extinction. But the chairman-elect did not swerve. He saw his duty plainly. He could not help the consequences of his resolution of absolute independence. There it was, and there it must remain. The Board agreed to let the matter come up again later on, but later on separated without doing anything. The chiirtnaneleet remains in the same mind that he will net face the possibility of administering the business in which he may be in a minority. He even knows that the condition he asks is against' the law. But it makes no difference. He must be Caesar or nobody. It is the most curious spectacle ever afforded by the business of any Board. It may be mentioned incidentally, that Mr. Brandon is not what any one might call a fanatical democrat. Kitchener's Coming. The preparations for the reception of the great marshal have advanced some degrees, for the camps have been selected and several arrangements made, among the rest the cadets and the boy scouts are t'O be together at the Hutt Park. iA proposal is made by one of the veterans of the contingent that fought at Bothasberg to get up a splendid reception by the contingent so that once more they may shake hands with the marshal, who was very complimentary indeed, on the occasion of the grand stand they made against a superior Boer force at the place whose name made the members of the House of Commons rise and applaud the exploit of the brave New Zealanders. Everybody would like to see this brought about. Dr. Chapple's Victory. The friends of Dr. Chapple are jubilant over his victory at Stirling. He was not a brilliant Parliamentarian here. But he was only holding the seat for a final session of a Parliament, an occasion on which there is usually nothing for anybody to do. and nobody ever attempts to do it. It is ziot to he wondered at therefore that he did not cover 'hiinself with glory by any act of witching statecraft or sensational eloquence. His win at Tuapeka was very remarkable. too remarkable to be repeated, for he lost the seat to his opponent the second time of contesting. He seems to have learnt a good deal in the two contests and the one session uneventful as it was. Otherwise he would not have faced the Stirlingshire contest as one to the manner born. When here the doctor, besides attending to a large practice, read very deeply of all books pertaining to the Liberal side of polities. When he made his fortune in that investment of his, the Makerua swamp, he had become an advanced Socialist of the Fabian order (more or less), and found himself a little out of touch in local politics, which are more practical than the Fabians. He will be quite practical enough for the Old Country, which has some distance to go before it comes level with the Dominion. Another New Zealander has got into the House of Commons, but. no one seems to have remembered him here. He is the St. George Hammersley who once had a good practice as a solicitor at Timaru, back in the seventies and eighties, was a stalwart colonel of volun-teers—artillery—-a great athlete, and married Miss Snow, of Wellington, daughter of the well-known and highlyrespected old identity—altogether a remarkable figure in his day. From Timaru he went to Vancouver, and there, I Understand, acquired a very substantial practice indeed, and jn the end made something very like a fortune, which scorns probable, for no one can stand an election and undertake seven years* service unless he has at least enough to live comfortably on in London, which in

such a public position is far from cheaply. Farewells to Dr. McArtliur. The Bar and the officers of the Court and the Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society have all farewelled Dr. McArthur with great emphasis and much cordiality. We have all known him for ten years past as a magistrate of rare parts; of rapid correct decision, much shrewdness, with the necessary severity for overawing the wrong-doer, combined with the tenderest consideration for the victims of various sorts who begin the descent into the criminal hell. Impartial withal and clear we have known him besides. But one thing was made public about him which but few of his friends at this celebration knew anything about. The severe magistrate is the kindest of men towards the prisoners who have served their sentences, and are about to try to retrieve themselves. No man’s hand goes oftener into his pocket, and no man spends more time on the effort to find work. The Doctor carries the wishes of all into his holiday and their hope that he may return soon cured of his broken health. A Sulphurous Experience. Passengers by the race train from Wairarapa had a mt her exciting experience on the Rimutaka incline last week. The train was packed with excursionists, and the long line of carriages put a big tax on the engines. Two Fell engines were utilised, and fought their way up the incline, belching forth black clouds of fire and smoke, but when t'he second tunnel, with a gradient of one in 15, was reached, the engines came to a dead stop. The carriages became permeated with sulphurous smoke, and a number of the passengers opened the doors and rushed choking to the nearest exit from the tunnel. Eventually the train was backed out, but if was then found that some of the drivers and firemen were completely prostrated. They were taken from the engines and laid alongside the line until they recovered. The train was then uncoupled and taken through in sections, a delay of an hour being so occasioned. Breaking of Street Lamps. The electric lighting department of the Wellington City Council is carrying out experiments with a view to preventing the wholesale breaking of metallic filament lamps in the city streets caused by Wellington's boisterous weather. It has been found that a good deal of the trouble is attributable to the looseness of the lamps in the holders, and these are now being tightened up by means of chocks. This method is calculated to remove a great deal of the vibration, leaving only the actual vibration of the poles themselves, which cannot very well be obviated. The 500 candle-power metallic filament lamps which are to be tried in lieu of the large arc lamps will be suspended by springs, a contrivance known as an antivibrator having been brought under the notice of the authorities. The first of these lamps will be placed near the Te Aro railway station, and if it proves a success, their use will become general. The great drawback to arc lamps is the heavy cost of maintenance, the carbons having to be removed continually. New Zealand institute. The annual meeting of the New Zealand Institute was held on 22nd inst. The president (Mr A. Hamilton, Director of the Dominion Museum), gave an address on the origin and history of the institute. The annual report stated that it had been found advisable to change the London agents. A tender was accepted for the preparation of an index to the transactions of the institute. The Public Trustee reported that the balance on credit of the Hatton memorial fund, held on behalf of the institute, was £595 4/11. It was recorded that if £9O additional subscriptions were received for the Hector memorial the full amount of the (rovemment subsidy would be earned, and £lOOO would then bo available for earning interest for some research prize or scholarship. The Governor's Tour of the Dominion. • The Governor has arranged a programme of his movements almost to the date when he expects to leave the Dominion. lie remains in Wellington till Feb.

14, then visits Nelson and district, and returns to Wellington to meet Lord Kitchener. On March 2 he visits Napier and Hastings, and on March 5 leave* tor the West Coast of the South Island, returning to Wellington March 20. A tour oi three weeks will probably follow throng.i Canterbury. Otago and Southland, visiting the principal towns and some ot the branch lines- His Excellency h i* not yet decided whether he will include Dun edin in the tour, as he hopes to pay a farewell visit to that city later. His final visit to Christchurch will also be postponed until shortly b'fore hi- departure from New Zealand. He will then spend a fortnight at Tokaanu, fishing, anl on May 9 will visit Rotorua, T.uiranga and Waihi, reaching Auckland on the 14th. Thence he goes by sea to New Plymouth, and visits the towns en route to Wellington, reaching here about the 23rd. Detailed arrangements of the later trip are not settled, but dates will be published when definitely fixed. Fire in Wellington. A fire occurred this morning in premises in Hopper-street, occupied by Hanson, plumber, and by t. and A. Odlin, timber and hardware merchants, as a stable. The lire had a strong hold when the brigade airived. Four valuable draught horses perished. The building was gutted and a dray was damaged beyond repair and a quantity of harness destroyed. The horses lost are worth over £l2O. Hanson’s shop including tools was completely burned. The contents were not insured. Odlin had a policy in the Alliance office for £lOO. Hanson’s loss is estimated at £250. A fire also broke out in a six-roomed house in Newtown, owned and occupied by James launders. Considerable damage was done in the kitchen, scullery, bathroom, and dining-room. The front portion of the house was affected by the heat, smoke, and water. The house was insured for £4OO, and the furniture for £250. The Fort of Wellington. There was a time when Wellington people were proud to boast of the local Harbour Board being one of the most efficiently administered public Indies in Australasia, but of late a small army of critics have sprung up to decry its virtues. Reviewing the harbour management. at the monthly meeting of the Board held last Thursday. Mr. Fletcher (who came into frequent collision wiia Mr. Ferguson when that gentlemen occupied the position of Engineer of the Board) remarked that, though the revenue had fallen away, the expenditure had been kept up. The removal of the Falcon Shoal, he said, was the only good work done by the Board during the year, but he admitted that some of the works which lip disapproved of wore legacies from the past. He described the new King’s wharf as absolutely useless, and as for the Clyde Quay wharf, now being constructed in ferro-concrete form, he said he did not know what it was for, and nobody in Wellington could tell him what it was for. He held that there had been wasteful expenditure and bad management in the past. Wellington was a natural harbour, he added, but on present appearances it was going to be the dearest port south of the line. Dr. A. Newman (Mayor of the city) said the more he learned of the Harbour Board's business, the more he was horrified. ‘‘There has,” he -aid. “been extravagant expenditure of the deepest dye. It is idle to disguise the ‘fact that when the works now in hand are finished there will be large taxat’on on -hipping. destroying the life blood of the shipping.” He characterised the Pet-one wharf, which is to cost £ll,OOO, as useless/’ and stated that thousands of pounds had been wasted on “useless cranes lying about the wharves.” Then there was “the large amount expended and authorised for the useless dock, which can never pay its way. and the still more extravagant expenditure on Miramar a sheer waste of money.” Dr. Newman submitted that the effect of the charges that would have to be levied to cover the cost of these various entvrpri-e- would be to drive away -hipping, and Wellington depended on the shipping. He contended that in various respects, especially the working of cargoes, the op‘rations were not as economical as possible. There were too many heads of

departments. The present Engineer (Mr. Marchbanks), who had beefl brought up in a good school, should be made general manager. Reduction of Building; Grants. The recently announced reduction in building grants by the Education Department to Education Boards was the subject of some remarks by- the Hon. G. Fowlds to a “Post” reporter. “Nome Boards.” he said, “talk as if these grants that are being cut were grants for new buildings. It has absolutely nothing to do with the question of new buildings in newly-set t led dis tricts, or with additions to buildings, necessitated by increased attendance. Grants are still made directly from the Department to make provision for cases of this kind. Grants for mainten a nee and repair of schools remain ex actly where they were before. What Las been cut down is simply an allowance that has been paid for a number of years on a given basis for the purpose of rebuilding old schools. In the last five or six years specific grants for this purpose amounted to about L‘89,000 mare than the board* to whom the grants were made spent for that purpose. “1 do not.” added Mr. FowLls, “think there is one hoard in New Zealand that could show that it has spent more on rebuilding worn-out schools than has been paid to it by the Department for tint purpose. The fact is that a good many boards have been using a considerable portion of this money in general work, a purpose for which they did not get it.” Kitchener’s Visit. A general order issued last Thursday by the Council of Defence sets Ixnd Kitchener's New Zealand programme out as follows: A general, order issued to-day by the Council o f Defence sets Lord Kitchener’s New Zealand programme out as follows: Thursday, February 17. arrive at the I’hiff and proceed to'Dunedin by tram; I’iiday, February 18. inspection of harbour defences and garrison artillery, inspection of senior and junior cadets, defence force of district to be brought into camp near Dunedin; Saturday. February 19, inspection of field exercises of the forces in camp: Sunday. February 20, forces return to their homes when inspections are completed; Monday. February 21, en route to Christchurch by train; Tuesday. February 22, inspection of harbour defences and garrison artillery, inspection of senior and junior cadets, defence forces ot district brought into camp near Christchurch ; Wednesday. February 23, inspection of field exercises of the forces in camp, forces returning to their homes when inspection eompletcil. leave for Wellington-. Thursday. I’ebruury 24, arrive at Wellington, meeting- with tiic Governor, Cabinet conference, <•(. .; Fri day. February 25. inspect ion of harbour defences and garrison artillery, inspt-ction of senior and junior cadets, defence forces of the district brought into camp near Wellington; Saturday. February 26. in spedion of field exercises of the force- in camp, forces returning to their home when inspect ions completed; Sunday, February 27. Monday. February 28. en route by train to Auckland; liu'-day, March I. inspection of harbour defences and garrison artillery, senior and junior cadets, and also ammunition factory, defence forces of district brought into camp n ar Auckland; Wednesday. March 2. inspection of field exorcises of the forces in eamp, forces returning to their homes when inspections completed ; 1 Tim -day. March 3. Lord Kitchener leave- Auckland. (■amps, under the direction of the olli cers commanding districts, will be e-tab lished at Ablmtsford. near Dunedin ; Hag ley Park, near Christchurch: Johnson ville, near Wellington; and near \u<*k land (locality not fixed). Transport by rail, pay. and allowances for rations and forage will be on the same scale as autho 1 isi‘d for the last Easter manoeuvre- Pay and allowances will be paid only for attendance for each 24 hours, reckoned as a day. counting from entraining to detraining on return. Authority mu.-t first Im‘ obtained before agreement- are entered into for costly conveyance by land and sea to convey far outlying companies to the railway. The horsing of gun- and all first line trail-port is hereby uuHioriscd. Officers commanding districts are to requisition for authority for any second lines of transport that they consider neee.-<a ry. Attendance at the-o parade- may count a- day- in camp, or each day may count as two capitation earning d ‘y light

parades for the current year. Field serviee uniform and marching order kit only are to be used. These camps will take the place of the usual manoeuvres during Easter. The defence cadets (senior cadets) are to parade for inspection and review at the same places and dates. The public (junior) school cadets companies remaining overnight will receive a ration allowance of 2/ per officer and cadet per 24 hours. A ration allowance of 6d per meal will be made for each officer and eadet of local companies. Troops arc to return to their homes at the earliest possible time after the conclusion of inspection. A Gov< rnment steamer will be available to convey troops from the Nelson district. Rations only will be provided while en route to and from Wellington by steamer. After making a final inspection of the different sites suggested for the Kitchener encampment, the Auckland Domain has been finally decided upon as the best point for the centralisation of the troops on the occasion of Lord Kitchener's arrival and inspection- Last night Lieut.-Colonel Wolfe and Captain Carpenter returned to Auckland after visiting Papakura and Manurewa, and although it was found that both these places offered many natural facilities, it was decided that the Domain was the best point for the concentration of the forces. The district field force will therefore go into camp on the Domain on March Ist, and remain there until after the manoeuvres on March 2nd, breaking up camp on the evening of March 2nd, or the morning of March 3rd. Victoria Park will be used for the inspection of the senior and junior cadets on March Ist.