NEVIS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 191, 8 July 1873, Page 6

NEVIS.

(FROM OUR OWN" CORRESPONDENT.) “ Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, The seasons’ difference ; as the icy fang And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind, Which when it bites and blows upon my body, Even till I shrink with cold, T smile and say, This is no flattery ; ——” Don’t be alarmed—l don’t mean to attempt anything approaching the romantic, and I only quoted the above lines from Shakspeare as an easy method of introducing that everlasting subject— -tire, weather. Old Winter is hei’e again and reigns supreme ; he has set his seal on the earth, and has spread his mantle of snow over mountain and valley. The untended cattle, guided by that instinct : with which a merciful Providence has furnished them, shelter themselves from the pitiless blast in quiet nooks and hollows ; and the sheep, poor helpless things, struggle stupidly through the deep snow-drifts that are formed on the lee sides of the mountains. The tall grass bends under a load of rime that glitters and scintillates in the sunlight like ropes, like rows, like bunches of pearls and rubies; while the moss-grown rocks, over which the pellucid summer stream was wont to play and dash itself into feathery spray, are now fantastically ornamented with huge fringes of icy pendants. Idle stands the wheelbarrow ; unused are the pick and shovel; and the plash of water as its falls on the wheel is no more heard. The hardy minor has sought the shelter of his hut, where ho sits warming his shins over a lignite fire, coughing and cursing by fits; perchance, when not j engaged in either of these occupations, he takes comfort in thinking that there are others worse off than him. There may be something devilish in a man deriving comfort from the thought that there are others more miserable than he, but, as Mr Pecksniff would say, it is quite natural. If I have failed to make myself understood in the foregoing, 1 will explain myself as succinctly as possible, by saying that the frost is very severe, and consequently work is almost totally suspended here ; and therefore, so far as mining news is concerned there is nothing to chronicle, all the “small beer” of that sort being frozen. I learn from various sources that the directors of the Garrick Range Water Supply Company have app ied to Government for assistance to carry on the enterprise. It says hut very little for the pluck of the residents of the Bannockburn and Cromwell districts that such should be the case. The inhabitants of these districts are the people whom the completion of the race will benefit most. They aro well aware that there are many

thousands of acres of auriferous ground lying useless at present, and that it only requires a stream of water to turn them to account, and to make wealth literally roll in at their doors ; but, with an indifference that is inexplicable, they behold the affair going a-beg-ging for aid from Government without mak-

ing an effort worthy of the name to complete i the undertaking themselves. Are they i poverty stricken I Have they no credit I Has the crushing of a few tons of rubble ex- ; hausted them ? Or are they so content with their present lot that no addition of wealth could bring them more happiness I It would be amove! feature in a gold-mining community if the last conjecture were true. But be that as it may, there must be something wrong somewhere, else we would never have heard of the present application. It is the : opinion of many experienced miners here ' that the sum (£4OOO 1 believe) for which the directors of the company are entitled to apply is quite insufficient for the completion of the race, and if this opinion is correct I presume when that sum is expended—-(of course it will require to be got first) —the whole concern will fall into the hands of the Government. The realization of this supposition may possibly bo an unfortunate event for the shareholders ; but, on the other hand, if there were any assurance that Government would push on the construction of the race vigorously to its completion, it would, in the interest of the district, be the best thing that could happen, and it would also be the means of adding more to the revenue than any other gold-fields’ scheme which Government has yet assisted or devised. So an enlightened, a discriminating, and a liberty-loving people have again elected Macandrew to reign over them, and it is the duty of all loyal subjects to distend their lungs and shout “ Lung live King Macandrew !” The result of the election need not surprise anyone ; for when we consider the celerity with which the whole affair was managed, and the little opportunity which Mr Gillies had of making himself known to the electors of the Province, it is rather to be wondered that that gentleman came out of the contest so well as he did ; and that portion of the community who reverence honesty and who love law and order, must feel grateful to him for the bold effort he made in their vindication. It would seem that our Superintendent commands the support and admiration—for surely i-espect is out of the question -—of that body of the electors who think that “ true greatness” consists of a Doctor Dul-camarara-like impudence ; and “ cleverness” in an unscrupulous use of every questionable means to attain an end. However, let not the right-thinking among us be dismayed ; the day is not far off when truth will prevail; the fabric of Provincialism is already shaking, and I venture to predict that the man who will administer thehoap du grace will be our Superintendent ; and thus out of evil, good will come. It may be as well, while the event is still green in our memories, to call attention to the fact that the electors of the Province in again electing Mr Macandrew to the Superintendency have virtually admitted that the Provincial Council is “a sham, a delusion, and a snare,” and that hitherto they have been totally misled as to the nature of its constitution ; and that that representative element which has governed the governments of England for the last three hundred years nearly, and which they had imagined exerted some influence over Provincial matters, is only a vulgar fallacy as applied to Provincialism. In acting as they have done, it may be well also to bear in mind that they have consented to the dictum of Messrs Yogel and Macandrew, who have both said, with a boldness about which there is no hesitation, that the Superintendent is superior to the Council, and it is only an amiable weakness on the part of that officer to give any heed whatever to its wishes. Now, if these gentlemen are j correct in their assertions, I ask, in the name ! of common sense, what is the use of us going i to all the trouble and expense of electing a Council at all 1 It would be much better, if we are to continue the present farcical state of affairs, to revert to the good old system of nomineeism. Yes, seeing that we have ignored all the glorious traditions of the past—since we have confessed that all the principles of constitutional government for which our forefathers fought and bled are mere fallacies —and since we have bowed our necks to the yoke of King Macandrew,—let us by all means ask him in the true spirit of sycophancy to be graciously pleased to relieve us of the trouble in future of electing Provincial Councillors. In his hustings speech, ho felicitously told us to elect “ men with brains,” but as ho also warned us that if these brains do not jump with his he will send the owners | of the said brains packing, therefore I say | again that to save ourselves trouble and please i the King, let us ask him to nominate his own i Council. The state of affairs that warrants j an obscure correspondent to an “obscure j paper” to write as I have done in the forogoing is a state disgraceful to a British comI inunity, and I earnestly hope that in the new Council there will be found “men with | brains” and with patriotism who will do their ! utmost to banish Provincialism from out the 1 land. j A petition for presentation to His Honor I the Superintendent, praying that he may cause to lie put on the Estimates a sum suffi- | dent to make a road to connect the Upper i and Lower Nevis, is being circulated through- | out the district for signature. It is almost superfluous for me to comment on the subject, seeing that 1 have already done so in a late issue of this jouranl. I wish the petitioners every success. I can from personal experience vouch for the reasonableness of their desire, and 1 may also say that during

the whole course of a twenty years’ colonial experience 1 never travelled on so execrable a track as that which connects the Upper and Lower Nevis at present is. In the event of his Honor doubting the propriety of acceding to the request of the petitioners, it has been proposed to invite him to take a stroll along it, as, should he accept the invitation and escape with his life, it is conjectured that all doubts will bo cleared off his mind, and the sum placed forthwith, and, what’s more, expended.