PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. "MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 1883.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1286, 20 August 1883, Page 2

PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. "MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 1883.

The question of the removal of the seat of Government from Wellington has been once more revived, and, as ■will be seen from our Parliamentary telegrams this morning, narrowly escaped being carried. The motion was brought on by Mr Bathgate, the member for Roslyn, and although there was an evident attempt to laugh it down, it was only lost by a majority of four. It was a thin House, it is true, but the result of the division is, nevertheless, significant, and was no doubt something of a surprise both to the House and the city. The subject .has been brought up at almost every session during the past six or seven years—indeed, ever since the abolition of Provincialism— but considered from the one point of view alone, as to whether Wellington was or was not the most convenient position from which' td administer the Government, it always failed, and possibly rightly so, before the argument that a change on the one ground of convenience "would not be worth the expense it 'Would entail. Of late years, however. considerations of much larger moment to the rest of the Colony than that of mere political convenience have be come involved in the question, the chief of which is the growing ascendancy of Wellington interest, not alone in the House, but in the actual administration of public affairs. Owing to a variety of circumstances a good deal of attention has been drawn of late to the centralisation of political power in Wellington, and the subject has received additional point from the interest which was manifested in the Empire City over the recent election for Inangahua. Provincial jealousies Lave however hitherto been the sheetanchor of Wellington in regard to its retention of the seat of Government. But there is some prospect of their now being her ruin, and it is becoming more and more clear that if Wellington is to retain its ascendancy, it will only be at the cost of insular separation. Nominally, Wellington returns 11 members, Otago, 24; Canterbury, 20; and Auckland, 19— the North Island, with a population of one-third, returning 86 representatives to Parliament, while the South Island, with the remaining two-thirds of the total population of the Colony, returns 5.> members. This inequality in the representation is, however, as nothing compared with that of Wellington itself. Though nominally returning only II members, nearly half as many more returned for other electorates are permanent residents of that city, as either having no other mission than that of politics, or as members or hangers-on of the Government. Nor does the inequality end here. In tlie Legislative Council Wellington interest has a still greater- ascendancy, and all these circumstances combined invest

the question of the removal of the scat of Government witli ever increasing importance. The division in the House on Friday last shows that the question has now gathered an interest of which it cannot be divested, as furnishing one substantial argument in favor of insular separation.

Mr W. H. Revell reached Reefton on Saturday last, and will sit in the Warden's Court this morning, at the usual hour. The entertainment on Thursday evening last, although not having realised sufficient to defray the liabilities of the City Band, will aid materially in that direction, and another performance, which it is intended to give at Capleston on Friday evening next, will probably make up the balance. Before the close of the performance on Thursday evening Mr Reid, when the audience on behalf of the Band, announced that the instruments had been vested in trustees, and when paid for would become the property of the townspeople. A very plesant social gathering was held in the United Methodist Free Church on Friday evening last, but the weather was again impropitious, and the attendence therefore fell short of expectation. The Rev. Mr Penny presided. The chief feature of the evening's entertainment was a temperance drama illustrating the evils of intemperance. The parts were all well sustained and the absence of all stagy surroundings gave an air of domestic reality to the representation which made it the more effective. The performance was interpersed with songs, readings and recitations by lady and gentleman members of the congregation, and altogether made up a very pleasant evening's amusement. In reference to the assassination of the arch-informer Carey, the " Tablet " writes : — " We have no sympathy whatever for this man's crime, and can only abhor it aa an atrocious act of vengeance. It may be true that the wretched Carey deserved no better fate. But no man or no emissary from any body of: men, could under any circumstances be justified in following him, as we may conclude O'Donnell did, with the design of killing him. The act has been niurder only, and deserves as such to be reprobated Nor can we say that we have no pity for the unhappy wretch killed. To say so would be to confess that we were noti Christian. None are deprived of their right to charity except the lost, and whom they are, God alone knows." We know Hop Bitters are above and beyond all as a nutritious tonic and curative. Read thoroughly the