News of the Dominion.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 19, 9 November 1910, Page 4

News of the Dominion.

OUR WELLINGTON LETTER. November 5. The Final Rush. THE end of the session now seems within cooey, in spite of the Government's alarming programme of bills to be gone on with. The debate on the second reading of the new Licensing Bill was unexpectedly tame, for the only speakers were the Premier and Mr Massey. The real tussle, however, will come in committee next week. The most interesting point stressed by the Premier in his speech was the effect which national prohibition would have on the revenue of tire country. The Customs revenue from the duties on liquor and the beer excise duties amount to something over three-quarters of a million sterling per annum. Adding to this the railway revenue from the carriage of liquor, the total revenue derived from the liquor trade is about £BOO,OOO per annum. ITow is this going to be made up if prohibition is carried? That is the problem ? When the Licensing Bill is out of the road, and' settled one way or the other, the next big measure, the Land Bill, will be taken. There are a host of smaller bills which the Government talk of putting through, but if the session ends in a fortnight or less, as Sir Joseph Ward seems to expect, a lot of them will have to go overboard, following, those which have already been jettisoned for the session. The Publie Works Statement will be laid before the House early next week, and the volume of resultant talk will not be smaller than usual, so that some late sittings may, be expected. “ Noxious Weeds.” Canterbury doesn’t grow noxious weed's. So said Mr Witty, M.P. for Riccarton, in the House the other night. Mr Massey couldn’t let this pass. “The honourable gentleman is a proof to the contrary,” he said. It was a joke. Mr Tommy Parata, M.P. for the Southern Maori District, was responsible for something humorous about weeds a little later on. Through his interpreter—he doesn’t need one, but he prefers to talk Maori, and be interpreted!, because it seems to amuse members-—he remarked that there were “two kinds of weeds—• firstly rabbits, secondly, other weeds.” The rabbits, he thought, should be poisoned twice a year. Mr Wilford queried, “The same rabbits?” But Tommy only blinked peacefully, andl would not enlighten the House any more. The Newcomers. Between four and five hundred passengers landed from the direct liner Arawa, from London, at the Wellington wharf this week. Out of these there were 346 third-class passengers—the real immigrant. Amongst these were men and women from all parts of the United Kingdom and of all trades. There were some obviously unsuitable colonists amongst them, but the majority, from all accounts, seem a very good lot, hardworking people, who give promise of getting on well. “There are a good many practical farmers, with some considerable capital, and these won't go astray in coming to New Zealand; Of the workmen, there are carpenters, coalminers, bricklayers, and other skilled men. And there are a number of farm-labourers and domestic servants, and none of them need he many hours out of a iirllet-. The Boobies' A donation of forty guineas, it is announced, has been handed to the treasurer of Mother Mary Joseph Aubert's Golden Jubilee Fund by the Wellington bookmakers. Yes, the bookmakers, the abueed, vilified, chevied-on bookmakers, whose doom is just about to be sealed by Parliament. The donation, it is stated, was a “spontaneous” one. What could have touched the bookies’ hearts to the tune of forty good sovs.? Have Ikey Mo and his mates all been to see "The Passing of the Third Floor Back”? Did the Mysterious Stranger touch their hearts, or were they moved to tears and charity by that beautiful and affected character, Joey Wright, the bookie who lost his voice? It seems so. Another example of the Divine Influence of Harry Dimmer and the rest of the “Stage.”

Trouble Amongst the Bunds. Three brass bands which help to supply Sunday music to the people, deputationised the Finance Committee of the Wellington City Council this week about another band’s ehortcomings. The other band is the Central Mission Band, ami it won’t do its share on Sunday, on account of its members’ religious scruples. The bands are subsidised by the Councilto give free public performances, and the City Council, in scheduling the performances for this summer, exempted the Mission Band from Sunday concerts, but has allocated ten Sunday performances to the Tramways Band; Thia is regarded as unfair—hence the deputation. One or other of the bands has to play at Lyall Bay each Sunday, but the Central Mission isn’t going to break its Sabbath in that way. The Rev. Mr. Blamiree, representing the Mission, told the Finance Committee that it would be impossible to secure its services for Lyall Bay on Sundays; it was against the principles of the members. It didn’t mind playing in the Hospital Grounds, because there it was practically a religious service. The Tramways Band, and other bands, including the Pipe Band, urged the Committee to make the Mission people do their little bit at Lyall Bay. And the Committee said it would think ft over.

That Swimming Costume. The swimmers who frequent Lyall Bay and other seaside resorts had an easy victory over the City Council in the matter of the regulation costume for bathing. The Council was waited upon by a large deputation this week, and asked to rescind its previous resolution making the using of the Canadian costume compulsory. Mr. G. S. Ilill spoke on behalf of the Wellington Centre of the New Zealand Swimming Association, saying that the Canadian costume was objected to on account of its weight. It was suitable, perhaps, for women and stout men, but it was ridiculous for swimming purposes. The old neck-to-knee costume was quite sufficient. The Council discussed the matter long and gravely, and some members pleaded hard for Propriety ; one pictured in solemn tones the horrible possibilities of buttercloth costumes on the beach. He said nothing about mosquito net bathing suits; he hadn't thought of that shocking possibility. Mayor Wilford supported the neck-to-knee costume, and it was decided by ten votes to fire to rescind the resolution passed on October 6 enforcing the Canadian costume. The Mayor said he proposed to get the Council’s caretaker at Lyall Bay invested with the powers of a special constable, and that any offenders against decency would be prosecuted. So all ends well. The merry bather has taken another fall out of Mother Grundy, and is happy. Dr. Henry’s Mission. The astute and vituperative Dr. Henry, the Yankee professional evangelist, who recently made himself so popular at Waihi by talking some plain language, has evidently got the Press Association man of Wanganui “ by the wool.” An extraordinary puff par, couched in the usual cant phraseology of evangelists, appeared! in the local papers this week, sent from Wanganui by the Press Association, in eulogy of the Henry-Potts’ mission. These are some extracts: —

“Great throngs have attended', and the meetings have been characterised by marked enthusiasm and profound earnestness. The mission has made a distinct impression on the religious life of tho community. Dr. Henry himself is delighted with the campaign. In an interview he said he regarded the mission as one of the very best he had' held in tho Dominion, and he had visited no community which had been more deeply stirred! or richly blessed.” Sweet are the uses of advertisement. Dr. Henry is a wise old bird, evidently, with ns keen an eye to publicity as any theatrical advance agent. But it doesn’t say much for the common sense of the Press Association that it could be made the medium of publishing such a palpable advertisement throughout the Dominion. To talk about Wanganui being “richly blessed” as the result of Dr. Henry’s blood-and-fire oratory is more nauseating than amusing. I wonder what the Waihi heathens thought when they read that P.A. telegram.

Wellington's Pet S.M. Dr. McArthur, our trusty and wellbeloved magistrate, of the happy face and the fair round figwre, is baek from London, with Mrs McArthur, after a pleasant and health-giving holiday. The Doctor looks very well and “fit,” and he will get a warm -welcome back when he makes his re appearance on the bench next week. Like the sailor who loved his officer because he could “damn his eyes” —the sailor's eyes—“in such a gentlemanly way,” the petty criminal likes tho Doctor because when the Bench deals him out his 5/- or seven days, or one month’s hard, or so, he does it in such a genial, pleasant, joking fashion that no one could possibly take offence, least of all the prisoner in the dock. Obituary. Amongst the Old New Zealanders whom Death reaped this week in Wellington was Mrs. Lelia Burton Nicholas, widow of the late Mr. E. O. Nicholas, South Sea Island trader, aged sixty-five. Mrs. Nicholas, who was an old resident of Auckland, was a lady with some interesting points in her career. She was born at Kororareka, Bay of Islands, in 1845, just a fortnight before Hone Heke’s warriors cut down the historic flagstaff and sacked and burned the little town. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Watson, had to come to Auckland with the other refugees after Kororareka was abandoned to the Maoris. In 1861 she married Mr. E. O. Nicholas, son of an Indian Mutiny veteran, Captain Nicholas, of South Wales. For many years she lived on Niue, or Savage Island, in the South Pacific, where her husband started as a trader in the severities, and she had some perilous experiences voyaging to and from Auckland in various small trading craft and schooners of the old-time Island service. Mr. Louis Becke, in one of his adventure books (“Wild Life in Southern Seas”), in describing his first landing on Niue Island amidst a scene of great excitement amongst the natives, tells how he and his little daughter were met and welcomed by “Nikolasi” and his wife —“Nikolasi fifine,” as the natives called her—“a pretty, pale-faeed English' lady.” Mr. Nicholas died some years ago. Two daughters live in Wellington —Mrs. F. J. Kirby and Mrs. A. Murrell. The eldest daughter (Mrs. J. Cowan) died here last year. Of the sons, there are two in the South Sea Islands.