NEVIS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 168, 28 January 1873, Page 6

NEVIS.

( Prom a Correspondent. ) January 25, 1872. Work is the order of the clay : the festal 'season is among tire things of the past. The last reveller has suffered a recovery, and now industriously plies the pick and shovel: perchance he also " whips the cat" with equal vigour. This is the season when "pegs" are put in, and good intentions for the future are formed,—intentions which, if we judge from past experience, in many instances are doomed to go towards the paving of the infernal regions. Alas ! for the weakness of hu nan resolves.

in taking a retrospective glance at the year that has expired, so far as this district is con • corned there is much reason for satisfaction. I + is true that we have gone on quietly, but still our progress has not been the less real. Work went on steadily. The only intermission of consequence occurred during the winter months ; and as we weie prepared for a spell of idleness during that season, there was but little inconvenience felt. Nearly all have been tolerably well remunerated for their labour ; in fact, it would be hard to point out a gold-field where the average earnings are so high as they are here : but let it be understood that the money earned here is the reward of sore toil and untiring industry; for here are no pile claims, no lucky strikt s. Our progress hi social and domestic matters has also been satisfactory. The habits of dissipation, once so prevalent here, are rapidly dying out. A great improvement in the construction of our dwellings is now noticeable ; the dank and unhealthy sod wall, the calico roof, are giving way to iron and timber. (i.irdens, for the cultivation of useful vegetables, are to be seen here and there. We have also during the past year built a Library, and the stock of books it contains, though few in number, are judiciously selected, and cannot fail to be a source of enjoyment and solace to many during the weary winter evenings. From the commencement of the present year, a weekly mail supersedes the old fortnightly arrangement : this is a change which ought to have been effected years ago, but better late than never.

When we consider our prospects for the future, there is much reason for hope and confidence. Besides the ground already wrought and that at present occupied, there is an immense extent of country awaiting the labours of the prospector. We are also possessed of a water supply, the like of which no other gold-field in Ofcago can boast of. It is rumoured that a thorough search for quart/, reefs is about to bo commenced, and there is every reason to believe that the search will be rewarded with success. I will conclude this portion of my epistle by saying that we have during the past year enjoyed an almost total immunity from crime, and if it were not for one unfortunate instance which can be traced to our Mongolian neighbouis, wo might, in this respect, compare with the inhabitants of " Arcadia, the home of t. : e happy."

As to political matters here, there is a strange and an unaccountable calm. Whether it is the apathy of despair, or sheer and culpable indi'l'erence, it is hard to discern We are consc'ous that we form a part of the most important wealth-producing portion of the com mini by ; we are conscious that we are the worst-represented and the most misrepresented class in Parliament ; we are conscious that the Colony is being rushed into debt at a rate unprecedented in the histoiy of na-

tions ; and we are conscious that in a short time we will be taxed to such an extent that even the ingenuity of Mr Vogel will fail to discover a parallel: yet amidst all this insane speculation and ruinous mismanagement, we look calmly on, uttering no word of warning, and recording no protest. Already we behold the inducements to the overtaxed inhabitants of old Europe to come here swept away ; and the estate over which Providence has made us stewards threatens to descend to posterity resembling nothing so much as the estates which find their way into the Encumbered Estates Court in Ireland, not worth the having. If we wish to correct present abuses and avert future evil, it is high time we were up and doing.