I read that ecarcely had the Queon and her retinue entered the main building wheD, "as suddenly and aa mysteriously ne it they had sprung out of the earth, three labouring men appeared, walking along the pavement and in front of the scarlet steps, which had been crowded a moment before with the most gorgeouß and dis tinguished company. They were of the pooreßt class of bricklayera' labourers— old, bent with toil, in very stained and worn clothing, their ancient corduroys tied up with a string, their clogs caked with mud, their fshovela under one arm and their bat tored tea-cans swinging in the other hand." The chronicler declares that these three toilers posed the vital question of the whole ceremony, and recalled what Lowis Morris m the dedicatory ode had written— ■ Dl '°thee :i ! l ' iUCe ' dl ' eam deal " t0 tb >' sire aud Puini l it Futo ! Here let tlw toiler conic And find sure guidance to Iris waiting home And honest work, and rear in days to be New Bntiuus over sea. Will the Institute help the toilers in any way to better their condition ? Will the Empire give an easier and better life to the masses ? These are the questions that the writer puts, on the answers to which, he says, will depend the permanence of both institutions. BWKiTINa IN WELLINGTON. Mr E. S'ater writes to the Olago Daily Times denying the correctness of the state ment that the existence of sweating in Wellington had been diaproved, and says : —"In Wednesday's paper you have a paragraph Btating that the Wellington Benevolent Trustees have discovered that the charge of sweating in connection with the shirt-making trade is unfounded, and

uney give ngures which, to my mind, dearly prove that sweating does exist. For instance, 6a 6d per dozen is paid to the contractor by the warehouses. The con tractor pays 2s 6d for sewing and Is 9d for' buttonholing, leaving the contractor 2a 3d per dozen to find cotton and buttons, folding, &c.» which will all be done for Is per dozen, leaving la 3d profit. It is then stated that? the average earn ings of the shirtmakera is from 25a to 303 per week. 