SOUTHERN LIGHTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 122, 26 May 1870, Page 3

SOUTHERN LIGHTS.

• .0 . „ Scene .—The Inn's best parlour — curtains drawn — lamps lit and cheerful fire burning. : i Enter Sandy McDonald and Von Nord. Sandy.— HHh mon, I hae just come frae the Provincial Council, and yon cbiels seem to take it owre eaßy;— there they were all squandered, some in ac place and some iv auither, and I cauna see the use o' sac mony chairs, when only two or three are used. My word, but they are paid vara weel for the work they seem to dae ! There they hae been clismaclavering for three hours about ac little trifling thing and another that they niicht vara weel hae settled in five minutest, and then after doing nothiug, an' feeling tired wi' doiu' it, they wa'kit awa' fu' weary. Von Nord. — Veil, me vaas dare too ; but now you talk- from parliamentary vork — can you tell me vaat that tree hours york cost ze country ? Me tiuk von member, Maister Collins, speak very right when he say zat no good government money ought to be given to ze pooblik for to read ze novels ! Quite enough fine money come out ov ze pooblik to pay Tor to teach der kinder ! Sand?/. — Yer quite richt, Von Nord j altho' am no quite sure aboot the whole sum — it canna be vara sma', as I see a quid mony get a poun' and . some get ten shillin' for their bit play. But however, settiu' that aside, as you were talkin' about libraries an' they things, that Maister Gibbs and a few more want to gie lond to, it surprised me io hear I Maister Luckie say they were goin' to pay seven hunder a-year to sich things. It's just throwing the bawbees awa. Von Nord.— Seven hundred pounds ! • Och ! mein Gott ! ! and von coach vas drowned in von river, and no moneys to pridge him. Hast dii lemals so was gehorth ! Sandy. — Weel moD, I canna understan' a' ye sac, but daresay its a' richt, sac lang as its nae swearin'. There is ac thing, gude mon, that I wud like to see, and that is, some member get up and ask that these TOtes to public libraries be struck off althegither. And I wonder it doesna strike yon bodie Gi" V in helping these things and carping at salaries and sich like, he is losing at the bung-hole and saving at the spigot ; and its nae use gieiu' them lond, for guidness kens we havna muckle quid to gie. Yon quiet joker, the Provincial Secretary, said they might gie 'em barren hills, or some sich as they a' gien' ur schules. Eh, mon; Ishud like Maister Gibbs to tak a walk some simmer's afternoon upon the education reserve at Wakapuaka, or on that at the Wairoa Gorge, and if he recovered, he wuJ never talk aboot reserves agin. Here mon, bring us twa glasses o' ■whuskey, an' we'll toddle awa bame, and coom back some ither nicht.

A Speaker in the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce said, with reference to the large amount of trade to be done ■with the Australian colonies : — "I had no idea that it amounted to such proportions until I came to look up official statistics on the subject. We in California are accustomed to be excited over a trade with 10,000 miners. A White Pine, for instance, turns up, and we generally proceed to 'build castles in the air' over it. Here is a trade offered us which amounts to many White Pines, in which we can at least participate. Last year as much as 6,000,000 dollars were paid for first-class passengers between England and Australi a. It will take but a short time to make that our own. The route via this point is so much shorter, speedier, healthier, and altogether so much more varied in its scenery than any other, that the puttiug on of a first-class line of steamers will at once inaugurate a large passenger trade. In addition to the first-cla9B passengers, there were still a large number in the intermediate, most of whom would probably come this way. Then 25,000,000 dollars had been paid last year for freight. Another ■word we need hardly say in reference to the importance of this matter. Practical business men would realise the value of such figures. This connection with Australia would be one of the links in the great chain of commerce, which it was prophesied would result to this nation by the completion of the Great Railroad."