WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 382, 13 August 1880, Page 15

WELLINGTON.

(From our own Correspondent.) Wellington, August 9, 1880. Things are very dull here at present, little or no news of interest. Parliament will probably be prorogued by the end of the month, and up to the present the amount of work done is of the meagrest. A lot of peddling little bills— private hobbies — are hanging in the wind, and don't seem to make much progress. Most of the Ministers have private fads, and have bills about them. They are all dragging their alow length along, and blocking ths way. Mr. Dick' 6 bill on public amusements, the result of his careful study of the Loftus Troupe, is still innubibus. The long promised Re-distribution of Seats Bill has at length been presented, an£ we are promised some lively fighting over it. You will have already seen the re-adjustment scheme. The Railway Commission Report is, of course, as fiercely attacked as every other report recommending retrenchment. Its recommendations, however, are more likely to be carried out, for the best of all reason^, there is not the wherewithal to baulk them. Your Otago members are about holding a meeting to put on pressuie to have their new lines made. If they commence the scramble, others will follow their example. I should not be surprised if the report shake the Ministry. There is a good deal of talk over Sir H. Robinson's removal. Many people seem glad of it. He is certainly unpopular with a not inconsiderable class. The Rangitikei parliamentary Stiggins got a facer the other night from Mr. Levin. He was snuffling out his usual Pharisaism about popular amusements, and stating that his soul had always abhorred racing, when the senior Wellington representative shut him up by reading reports of race meetings where his horses had performed, and mentioned a case or two where he had ridden them himself. Stiggins was extinguished for the time. Our volunteer authorities here have commenced what they call " Sunday church parades." The men meet on Sunday mornings and marcli to some church, never a Catholic church. Now, if it were merely optional to go or not, it would be only outrageously bad taste to ignore the Catholic portion of the different companies ; but, by a late order, these '■ church parades" count as attendances at drill for efficiency, and the Catholics must either attend or lose so many chances of qualifying for the capitation grant. On what grounds can the gallant officers of our noble army justify this insolent attempt at religious intolerance. The report of the Select Committcs on Press telegrams, and the letting of a special wire to the Press Association, have caused a considerable amount of dissatisfaction to the parties interested in the Association. They hoped by getting a fresh lease for the next two years to be able to consolidate a monopoly, and, by a high entrance fee,, virtually to prevent the issue of any new morning paper. Should the House iollow the lines of the report, this bit of jobbery will be

J™S?;i, Th f, Committee recommend that a special wire be leased, S «£5 SS a K r ? be^ ™ ornin S P a P ers may join at an entrance fee not w ff *150, and that equal facilities be given to any Press Agency hereafter started. Naturally the monopolists are in a state of exceeding anguish, and the voice of lamentation is loud in the lobbies No less than thirty-eight bills are now down for second reading. Not one-fourth of them hare the slightest chance of passing. Her Majesty's ships Raleigh and Danae, at present in the harbor, nave attracted thousands of visitors. The former is the most powerful war vessel ever in Port Nicholson. During their stay here the men hare conducted themselves very well