The Aelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1870.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 44, 22 February 1870, Page 2

The Aelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1870.

Our contemporary the Colonist is without doubt one of the most ingenious . of newspapers. Iv its issue of Tuesday last appeared a statement which was authoritatively contradicted in that night's Mail, and upon being charged by the JExaminer with not having withrawn a representation which was shown to be incorrect, the Colonist, has this morning devoted two of its columns to doing that which, had the same live of conduct been pursued by the Superintendent, would have at once been stigmatised as " the old story of committing a mistake, and transforming it into a wilful wrong by defending it by every possible means." For a camel to pass through the eye of a needle was in the days of old quoted as an impossible feat, but we begin to doubt its impracticability when we observe the ease with which the editor of the Colonist, in his attempts to excuse a blunder that he has committed, twists himself through a loophole of escape, compared with which the proverbial needle's eye is of gigantic dimensions. Were it not that the whole matter lies within a nutshell and is so clear and obvious that it is impossible to make a mistake with regard to it, the two columns of dust which our contemporary has raised this raorniog might have served the purpose for which they were called into existence, namely, to blind its readers' eyes to the real circumstances which have given rise to the elaborate defence which it has felt itself called upon to make. Without making any further comments we shall place the facts before our readers in an intelligible form freed from the dusty surroundings with which they were this morniDg encircled.

On Tuesday last the Colonist brought the. following charge against the Superintendent : — " The correspondence was not given to Mr. Domett." .... "Why did not the Superintendent produce the correspondence, a most essential body of information, which he was specially instructed by telegram to give to Mr. Domett, but which Mr. Domett did not get?" Such was the charge — here is the contradiction which was published by authority on the same evening:-" The whole of the correspondence both by letter and telegram was supplied to Mr. Domett before the Inquiry by the Superintendenf, who offered to have the whole copied out, but was told by Mr. Domett that as he had read the originals, copies were unnecessary." This was left unnoticed by the Colonist, for the reason, given this morning, that it was " not disposed to accept as correct, statements in themselves contradictory, from a. source recently so fertile in canards and calumnies." That was the excellent reason given for not retracting a charge which had been shown to be groundless and dow» on being driven to plead some excuse, the only one adduced that is at all feasible is that " according to the evidence, the documents were riot in possession of Mr. Domett at the time Mr. Wakefield searched for them." We have confined our remarks strictly to the charges brought by the Colonist, the refutation of them, and the shallow attempt made this morning to justify an egregious error. We can afford to laugh at the allusions to the " canards and calumnies" of which , the Mail is said to have been so fertile a source — they were easy words to write, and just such as might be expected to flow from a pen which was engaged in the attempt to envelop the real state of the case it had to defend in a foggy shroud of haziness and doubt.

Mr. H. J. L. Augarde quotes Pioneer Shares, £3 paid, at 30s. per share.

It is stated that the Phcebe, with from 150 to 200 excursionists on board, is to leave Wellington for Nelson, ma Pieton, to-morrow.

Boat Eace. — The race between the whaleboats Queen, and Favorite, came off yesterday afternoon, and created some little stir amoDg the sea-loving portion of our townspeople. The sou' wester that was blowing made the course a rather rough one, aud the Favorite shipped a deal of water, which made it heavy work for her crew who, in spite of their most strenuous endeavors were defeated, the Queen coming in a winner by two minutes. Distance, about 3£ miles ; time, 31 minutes.

Theatrical. — The " Ticket-oMeave Man" was last night played to a full house, and judging from the applause it called forth, we imagine that there will be

as large an audience to-night, when the same piece is to be produced again. The farce "My Brother Bill and Me," was given with the greatest spirit, and kept the house in roars of laughter until a late hour, the performance lasting until midnight.

Fiee in the Wairau. — We (Express) regret to learn that on Thursday last, a disastrous fire occurred at Hillersdon, the station of Mr. Thomas Carter. It appears that the hands were engaged in dipping the sheep near tbe wool-shed, when some sparks from the furnace ignited the roof of the shed, which was totally destroyed with all its contents, including 40 bales of wool, 50 sheep, a large quantity of skins, wool press, &c. Mr. Carter was, uniortunately, absent at Nelson at the time.

The Flying Squadron. — We take the following from the New Zealand Herald of 15th inst.: — Ichabod ! The promenade a Veau as far as we are concerned, is over. Great Britain has shaken her fist at little New Zealand, and has gone her way. To us the advantage of such a naval visit has beeu incalculable; it has put money into the purses of butchers, bakers, et hoc genus omne ; it has strengthened the position of Earl Granville, and has made Tawhiao tremble in his — no, he does not wear shoes — in his something or other. Six men of war, each of them powerful enough to batter our city about our ears, have anchored in our port, have landed their officers and crews, of whom, individually and collectively, we cannot speak too highly ; have shipped them again, short of upwards of eighty hands, and have gone their way. The mother country has reminded us of her vast resources, aod has left us unaided, to fight through the difficulties which her mis-government has heaped upon us. Ichabod !