NEVIS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 185, 27 May 1873, Page 5

NEVIS.

(from OUR OWN corkespondent.)

May 21, 1873.

The weather for the last week, although showery, has been genial, and all of us are thankful that we are permitted to pursue our labours without material interruption so far into the season.

In raining affairs there is nothing new to report. Sturdy toil holds on his steady course, while success and contentment smile upon his efforts.

The petition to his Honor the Superintendent is being numerously signed, and will be transmitted to him per the next mail. ]t is to be hoped that it will receive that favourable consideration which its merit demands. It is with satisfaction that I announce the fact that the miners here have received a 'favourable answer to the petition addressed by them to the Superintendent, praying that a Warden or Warden's clerk should visit this place on the first Monday of every month. This promptitude is highly commendable, and we accept the ready compliance with our wishes in this matter as an indication that government is becoming alive to the necessity of treating us with some justice and consideration. It nowremains to be seen how the gentleman to whom is allotted the duty of visit-. frig this place will perform his part. 1 sinfeeTy trust that he will do it well, and leave no ground for complaint, and if I might offir a suggestion to'him I would advise him to ask the.->?evia. Library Committee for the use wherein to transact his business, as I think he would rind it a much more convenient' and agreeable place for that purpose 'th air a hotel or store.

VK { ; happy Cromwell ! Eden that ought to Ve f '' Capital of the Smith that is to be! How I envy your " citizens" ! For have they not Within a few short weeks listened to the fervid eloquence of a Macandrew, and sat at the feet- of a Gamaliel in the proper person of a Shepherd ! These were privileges indeed, and reserved only for the blessed ; but I am happy too, for have I not read their utterances ! Before I read the speech of our unparalleled Superintendent, I was dull, downeast, and my soul was sad within me when I thought of the future of this magnificent Colony. But after I had read that speech, and taken a large dose of Hollo way's pills, hope returned, and since then the triumphant shriek of the Iron Horse as he careers madly over the cliffs and precipices of the Molyneux on his road to Blind Bay, has been resounding in mine ears, and visions of the Capital of the South that is to be have ravished my senses. I behold the Rialto where the merchants most do congregate, the busy marts of trade, the palatial residences of the merchant princes ; all of them situated " right bang" in the heart of a new E>len. My heart sings p.-eons of joy, and in my rapture I exclaim : Oh,! blessings on our Superintendent! Oh! wonderful are the powers of " blathersky te"! My cup of happiness was full; but it has been overflowing since I read that wonderful speech which T. L. Shepherd, M.H.R., M.P.0., delivered himself of in the presence of the good folks of Cromwell, in public meeting assembled.

Honour is like a vnrlow, won With brisk attempt and putting on,

says Eudibras ; and our gold-fields star is evidently of the same opinion, and is quite as unscrupulous as that hero was as to howhe wins it. For instance, the most of us would have inferred from what we read in the newspaper reports of the proceedings in the General Assembly last session, that it was the vote of one of the Maori members that ousted the Stafford Ministry. And most of us would have continued in this absurd belief, if Mr Shepherd had not set us right by telling us that it was he who condescended to hold the balance of power, and that, in fact, he held the future destinies of this great Colony in his grasp, but that, with a magnanimous abnegation of self that only men gifted with the most sublime sort of souls can exhibit, he handed them over—he kicked the beam In fa'v bur of Mr Vdgei. We all of us

must be thankful to Mr Shepherd for setting us right in the matter, for had he not done so a historical fact of the first magnitude might have gone down to posterity distorted, and the- brightest star in- the constellation of his patriotic deeds would have blazed on the brow of Pai-ata's fame. Poor Parata (or whatever his name may be) will take it sadly to heart when he finds himself denuded of the glory appertaining to this deed, and I should not wonder to see him fall foul of Mr Shepherd. But let him beware : for he will find (that is, if we can believe the half of what Mr Shepherd says about himself to be true ) a foeman every way worthy of his greenstone.