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A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



Buildings and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary. On the eastern side of 

 Lambton Quay the attention is riveted by a massive pile of wooden buildings, covering 

 two acres of ground, consisting of one hundred and fifty-two rooms, and containing no less 

 than twenty-two chimney-stacks. These are the General Government Offices, and they 

 are said to form the largest wooden building in the world. They possess .seven public 

 entrances, each approached by a flight of ten steps under Roman-Doric porticoes. The 

 elevations are Italian in style, plain in design, with projecting eaves and moclillions. The 



new Government Printing Offices a rather squat 

 pile of brick occupy the nearer corner of the 

 adjoining block. They are furnished with the 

 electric light, but are said to be imperfectly ven- 

 tilated, while great fault is found with the design. 

 On the opposite side of Lambton Quay from 

 the General Government Offices stands Govern- 

 ment House, amid grounds well planted with 

 trees. The building itself, which is of wood, 

 crowns a slight elevation, and is in the Italian 

 style of architecture. This is the residence of 

 the Governor while Parliament is in session, 

 and during the major portion of the year. 

 Sydney Street flanks the northern side of the 

 Government House Reserve, and divides it from 

 the Parliament Buildings. The latter form a 

 pile of wooden buildings in the Gothic style, 

 their numerous gables crowned by iron rods 

 carrying ornamental vanes, the effect of the 

 facade being enhanced by small steeples. Here 

 meet, during the winter months of the year, 

 the Legislative Council and the House of Re- 

 presentatives, the average duration of the session 

 being from three to four months. The Council 

 is a body whose Members are nominated for 

 life, and corresponding to the House of Lords 

 in the British Legislature. The popular Chamber 

 used to consist of ninety-one European and four 

 Maori representatives ; but a recent Act has re- 

 duced the number to seventy-five. The Members 

 receive an honorarium for their services, and 

 those of them who reside out of Wellington are 

 paid their travelling expenses from and to their 

 homes. Both Chambers are illuminated with the 

 electric light. The Parliamentary Library is said 



to be the best in the colony. It is especially rich in its legislative archives and works 

 of reference. In close propinquity to the Houses of Parliament stands the spacious wooden 



ST. ANDREWS I'RKSIlYTKkl A \ CHURCH. 



