PROPOSE COLONIAL CONFERENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue IV, 28 December 1869, Page 2

PROPOSE COLONIAL CONFERENCE.

The Broad Arroio rerr arks that if such a conference as is invited be assembled in. London, it is very much to be doubted weather it -will do any good." Colonists are not cosmpolitan in their political views, and there is, for instance, hardly anything like an Australian nationality existing. It may spring up in time, but one. looks for it in vain at 'present.- * The inhabitants never 'regard themselves simply as " Australians, but always as Victorians, Tasmanians, or Queenslanders, as case may be, and acknowledge but slight bonds of sympathy one with the other. When the day comes that the Australian Colonies form one great and powerful confederation,' there will be a chance of united action on points such as the proposed conference would have to discuss, but in the meantime festmd lente must perforce be our motto in these matters. The good .meaning and intentions of Messrs. You], Sewell, Blame, and their confreres, as exhibited in their circular on the subject none can doubt. Their patriotism is not in question, but they will not, it is hoped, take in bad part. the suggestion that, ere they issue another such circular, they, should weigh its language a little more carefully. Whatever . faith these respectable gentlemen may have in the efficacy of a Colonial Conference as a panacea for the evils they complain of, it is as well that they should not build their hopes too much upon it, so that if it should turn out. as there is just a possibility of its doing, a chateau en Espagne, they may not be too much disappointed. Sydney Smith, in the course of an article on New South Wales in the Edinburgh Review of 1803, speaking of the complaints of colonial mis-government, says, "One and no smaliexouse for the misconduct of Colonial '. Secretaries' is the enormous quantity of business by which they are distracted. There should be two or three colonial secretaries instead of one; the office is' dreadfully overweighted. The government of the colonies is commonly a series of blunders." ;'•• AUhough the remedy suggested by that brilliant writer may, be, inapplicable at the present day, there ' is , no .doubt .that the Colonial Secretary" requires "-"some ;. aair',d r ' , either., iv the. shape J)f '..,a. ,CounciLpr_other-:_ .„ wise.. The,, ignorance, and;, impudencedisplayed in the wording ; of Lor dl'Gran- * viUe's famous, s 'or') as' the ;c6lonists might- ' - prefer to term it,- infamous", "New Zealand dispatch^ slioVs'that itji'Si'ais^ruebf-colbr"; nial secretaries 'as;bfj ;«6ther"^peoplev-that \J. ; •'- ' i4 Evil isjffroaght'from %a,y^:ttiough|i ''^ :• ' . :' /: i 7Aß".'^ell aswaiiib'of Heart." Zy ™--;--~v, ■-- • ■-■■ ■ — ■

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The. following, .says the Wanganui Times, beats Cousin Jonathan. by chalks : — Nearly a year ago a "-gentleman" in Wanganui compromised with bis creditors, and, under a legal document promised to pay a divdden-l every six months' from after a certain ' liny. He has just remnsitted from the Thames Gold-fields ." one shilling" as the first six months' dividend!! That, positively-, protects him, as the legal document does; not specify any .particular sum to be paid every six months'!! , . The Long I)kive. — Apain we {Auckland Herald) have to record a most successful crushing for the Long Drive. A parcel of specimens were crushed at the single-stamper battery of the Kuranui machine, and the result of these, together with a general cleaning up, was 1226 ozs. of retorted gold.,' Specimens, which it is not exageration to say are the richest that have ever been obtained even from the Long Drive, were brought to grass from the lower workings of the mine, and another "splendid return may be expected before Christmas.. The stones taken out are 1 described as solid masses of gold. A SiGinf seldom witnessed by landsmen, and but occasionally by Beameu, greeted the eyes of a favored few yesterday afternoon. At about 5 p.m. a heavy bank of clouds, moving slowly up from the northward and eastward, passed over Rangitoto, and when above the channel between that island and the North Head,' commenced takiug'in a supply of moisture from a •watejvpout of considerable magnitude. At length, gorged to repletion, the body of vapours cast off the suction hose, and finally discharged its aqueous contents over our city, in one. of the heaviest- showers that we have known for long past."- 1 Auckland Herald. Fatal "Coach Accident at Otago :— A fatal accident occured to Cobb's coach on the evening of the 15th inst., whilst attempting to .cross the Kakanui Eiver. The river at the time was greatly swollen. The coach was smashed to pieces, and two horses and two .passengers drowned. The driver and remaining passengers escaped with great difficulty. •: The persons drowned are Mr. Paterson, Civil Engineer, and a young lady, believed to be a Miss Ross, formerly a teacher in Dunedin. Great excitement is caused there in consequence of the accident. Mr. Paterson was the engineer who surveyed the Otago lines of railway, and was for some time in the employment of the Provincial Government. An Australian paper says : — " The mysterious disappearance of „ a joung actress, who was engaged by Mr. Montgomery to go to New Zealand, is exciting some remark."