News of the Dominion.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 19, 11 May 1910, Page 4

News of the Dominion.

OUR WELLINGTON LETTER. WELLINGTON, May 7. The New Government House. yESTEKDAY 1 had an opportunity of going through the new ViceRegal residence at Mt. View, Newtown. This up-to-date Government House is a much more handgome structure than the first published plans indicated. Some modifications and alterations have been made, much to the advantage of the house from an artistic point of view. From Kelbume and the surrounding elevated positions of the city the building is a conspicuous and very sightly one, its white front and shapely Ilag tower showing out well against the dark background of pines. Wellington has no beautiful setting for a Government House such as Auckland possesses; funereal-looking pines are about the only trees that Wellington seems to eiYoournge. Nevertheless, our site can be made a very beautiful one in time. Though in Newtown, and directly overlooking the least picturesque section of our city, it stands at a considerable elevation above the “mean streets’’ of the suburb, and the sombre pines, if serving no other purpose, will at least help to conceal the inartistic suburb from the fastidious eyes of Vice-Royalty. The house itself is pretty well finished as far as the outside is concerned, but another good month’s work is required before the carpenters and plasterers arc out of the interior. The northern aspect, that which wo see from the city, is a very fine one—a long two-storeyed structure, in white, or nearly white, distemper, relieved by dark oiled jarrah timber, a combination pleasing to the eye. The front is over three hundred feet long. It is higher than one would imagine from its great length; the flag tower is 80 feet above the ground. The first glimpse of his new home should somewhat remind Baron Islington of Old England, for that portion which is not timbered is “rough-cast,’’ as builders call it, with concrete and shingle (on a backing of boarding and iron), in imitation of the construction of old fashioned’ manor houses and cottages in England, and in certainly an improvement on much of the public architecture one sei’s here and in other towns. The main entrance to the house is not, however, on this northern side, but on the southern side, where seine of the present old mental hospital buildings are to be cleared away in order to make mom for a fine sweeping drive leading up to th*' pillared main doorway. The interior is just now in an incomplete state, but one can see enough to judge that the future Governors will be very handsomely and comfortably Iwusi'd, certainly much more so than at the old Government House. The ballroom measures 40 feet by 29 feet, which T think, is about the size of that in the Auckland Government House. The total cost of the new house will be between £25,04)0 and £26.000. Lord Islington will, I believe, stay at. the Wellington Club for two or three months after his arrival, until the new house is ready for him. ’1 he. grounds will be still very raw-looking and new, but very hamlsome lawns ami flower gardens are t‘> be laid down, and by next summer the place should be in trim for v i ce-rega 1 entertain i ng. Our Citizen Army. The announcement by the Premier that the Government has adopted Lord Kitchener’s military training proposals in their entirely seems to bo pretty universally approved of in Wellington. A new feeling in the matter of compulsory training is coming over the people. It will now. I U'liovo. become a point of honour ami of pi ide with our young fellows to do their share of sold : erly work in the th*l<l. A youth who manages to g< t exempted, on whatever ground, is not to be envied. I lonk forward to seeing military training .taking the place to some extent of the football, which occupies SO large a>l re of the thoughts ami the spare time of young New Zealand* rs, am! forms the topic of popular conversation to a wearisome extent. Here in .Wellington th*' defence scheme is at trading pait*M*ular attention. There te here prolwtbly a larger proportion of eligible recruits than in the other centre*, for a great many of the younger Civil

servants eoine within the age of service. It will be some few years before the full beuetit of the scheme is apparent, but in tea years’ time I believe the New Zealander will be a very much better set-up man than he is to-day, and far less "slack” and slouching. If military training will do nothing else, it will put some “ginger” into his walk and teach him to keep his hands out of his pockets. An Austrian friend of mine tells me that he has always been grateful to his country for having compelled him to do a year’s soldiering. It "set him up” for life, made him smart and active and wellpoised, and incidentally taught him how to use his rifle. It was hard at the time —far, far harder than anything the New Zealand youth will ever be called upon to undergo—but it did him lasting good. Comet Parties. The latest popular diversion takes the form of "comet parties.” Out at Kelbirnie some up-to-date persons have lat»Ty organised excursions by taxi-cab to the top of the hills to see Halley's eomet, etc., etc. In other parts of the city similar expeditions are all the go, and at all unearthly hours of the night and morning you may hear the far-away voices of the amateur astronomers, male and female, after their kind, taking the most roundabout of ways, one would imagine, to see the eomet rise. Certainly, it is a good excuse for a ramble “down the flowery dell,’’ as the old song says; but I have heard that some wise mothers are coming to the conclusion that it is carrying scientific enthusiasm rather too far when the "young men” call at 11 p.m. or so in order to take the daughters of the family out to see the comet rise. All the same, it was worth getting up this morning to see that glorious triangle in the north-eastern sky, bright Venus as the apex, the comet at the left, and the crescent moon—Marama, “goddess excellently bright”—on the right forming the base of the triangle. I wontiered as I looked on it what the old Maori tohnngas would have prophesied after gazing at such an amazing celestial combination—a "tohu” of vast import, surely! “A Hundred Years is a Very Long Time.” So says the old sailors’ chantey about the girls in London town, when Jack and Poll walked up and down “a hundred years ago.” But there is a wonderful old gentleman dawn this way whose memory goes back more than a hundred years. this is Mr Henry Burling, of Waikanae, who celebrated his one hundred and-ninth birthday last Sunday. Mr Burling is still hale and sturdy, and bids fair to sec a few more years of this good old world. When he came out to New Zealand in the early "forties,” he was already about forty years old. Think of a man still living who was born before Nelson fought at Trafalgar, and who can well remember hearing, as a schoolboy, the news of the battle of Waterloo! Not. long ago the veteran "kicked off” in a game of football at Waikanae in order to show that there was "life in the old dog yet.” He has a promising-looking son, too, a chirpy young fellow of between Seventy ami eighty, who can kick a ball just as well as his dad can. Dr. Bell and the Antarctic Expedition. It was thought some time ago that New Zealand would have the credit of sending out at least one of the. members <t Captain Scott’s forthcoming Antarctic expedition. Dr. James M. Bell, the energetic young Director of the New Zealand Geological Survey, volunteered to join Captain Scott's party as geologist, but it was lately announced that he could not go. It is understood that the reason is that the Minister for Mines, the Hon. Roderick McKenzie, did not look with approval on the idea, and that he VftiH'il it with emphasis. The Hon. Mr. McKinzie prides himself on being what he calls a "practical” man above all things, ami has no time” for science, it is popularly reported, and such like fallals. All of which is rather rough on Dr. Bell, who is one of the smartest young scientists we have in New Zealand, and who, I am certain, would acquit himself with credit in such an expedition. He should be inured to cold, for he comes from Canada, and has done a good deal of exploring in the great frozen wastes of the Far North West,