NOTES FROM THE GALLERY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 136, 11 June 1870, Page 2

NOTES FROM THE GALLERY.

[by an observee.] Like politics ? I should rather think I did. Why the Star Company never acted a farce nearly as well as some I have seen performed in the Council Chamber this last week, and all for nothing ioo, at least I hadn't to pay anything at the door, but I daresay I shall have to do it in some other way, or if I don't, the out-settlers will, that is to say, there will be many pounds the less to spend on roads, but then that is very different to paying a shilling at the door, and so I go night after night, and try to forget evergthing but the fun that is going on, and I can tell you if I wasn't afraid of the Speaker I should burst out in a great guffaw of laughter lots of.- times. When I went there last Tuesday I could see that some alteration had been made, because the same people were not sitting on the Government benches, and this puzzled the Clerk, who is a dreadfully particular man, and always when there is a division, begins to call out the name of the member that sits at the end of the room and then works regularly round, and when be came to Mr. Collins name there was no response, until at last the voice came floating up from far away down the Hall where its owner was sitting all out in the cold instead of at the Government table, wh r re there was quite a new man in his place. Then a great tall member brought up a little | scrap of paper which he called a report, but from my place in the gallery it looked jusfc like a butcher's bill with a great fat blot in the corner where the word " settled " ought to be, and some of the members were very an^ry at this and said it was derogatory to the dignity of the Council, and so ou, but I am beginning to think that they needn't make any more fuss about that now. Then there was another report brought up by Mr. Gibbs which was all about the accounts and bottles of porter that were drank at the Hospital, and everybody praised it and said it was very creditable to Mr. Gibbs, until he got so confused with all the flattery bestowed upon him that he didn't know which way to look, and so at last he raised his eyes to the chandeliers and appeared to be calculating what was the value of the oil consumed every night. Well, this night I didn't get much amusement, and if I had paid at the door I should hare expected my money back, but the next night was a night with a vengeance. The new Government hadn't spoken yet, but Mr. Wastney didn't like to see them where they were, so he got up and moved that the Council had no confidence in them; he spoke very little in moving the resolution but there was an immense deal in what he didn't say, and if he did not speak much, the other members made up for it. The Son of Thunder, in particular, boomed forth his declamations on the heads of everybody present, and in pathetic terms alluded to the old form of Government for which his soul longed now that it had passed away from him, and I don't; know to what extent he would have gone if Mr. Luckie had not happened to look up at him, upon which he stopped short and said something to the Speaker in a plaintive tone of voice. lam not sure what his words were but they sounded* like — Please Sir, Davy's making faces *t me — and the Speak.r replied that he could exercise no control over the countenances of members, and he looked as though he had some little difficulty in controlling his own. And after that we bad Mr. Collins who pitched into Mr. Luckie and said ..e was like a bull in a china shop sailing down the stream with a full sail and a fair wind. You will observe that we are gradually adding to our collection of Provincial Curiosities, we| have already got a Lion and a Porcupine, and a Bull, and will soon have a splended menagerie. Our metaphors are ccr + .inly a little mixed, but that does not matter very much Well, they talked for four hours and ended just ■where they began, but from what I saw that night, I don't think much good will come of at least one of the measures passed this session. I remember when I was a school-boy, reading about a gentleman called t Sisyphus who had been engaged for ever 50 many years in trying to roll a stone to the top of a big hill, and just as he got within a foot or two of the summit the great lump ol rock always rolled back, and he had to begin all over again. I like to find practical illustrations of everything I rend about, and I thought I saw one here, The Councillors seem to me like so many Sisyphi who have been all this session rolling a big stone called the Executive Government Bill to the top of the hill, and they congratulated themselves that they were just on the point of succeeding, but on Wednesday night the stone gave notice of motion in the wrong direction, and those who have puffed and grunted and perspired over their labor, must take great care they don't get crushed by it. When the Council had settled this question, a good many of them went out of the room, and one of. those who were left behind proposed that they should meet again the next morning. This was carried, but when the absentees came back again they were very savage about it, and one of them proposed that the Standing Orders should be suspended so that he might overturn the resolution just agreed to. This was carried and the vote was upset. Now these Standing OHers seemed to me to be a splendid institution ; they supposed to be the rules by which the Council

is guided, but whenever any member wants to do anything wrong he ha 9 only to move that the Standing Orders should be suspended; then he can do just as he likes. For the future when I see a man professing to be what he is not, and trying to make believe that he is a capital, straightforward, honest fe'low, who is not to be turned aside from the right path by any consideration wha ever, when all the time I know he is nothing of the kind, I shall not accuse him of being a humbug, but I shall say, " Sir, you are a Standing Order," and I don't think I could make use of a phrase that would better express my meaning. When I went home that evening 1 thought "a great deal over all I had heard, and I came to the conclusion that the approaching end of Provincial Institutions was likely to prove somewhat similar to the death of Csesar — the death blow in both instances being administered by their gua3i friands. In the language of Caesar too the former might be expected to turn to its assassin in surprise, and exclaim, " And you too you Brute ! " On Thursday there was not much done unt :i the Estimates came on, and then the members, aiter all the hard work they had got through in the last six weeks, went in for a little recreation in the shape of a game of hide-and-seek. The wry they decided who was to hide was by voting that he should take the chair, and— l think there must have been some thorns on it from the way they all st ied at it — he immediately went out of the room. Mr Wastney was the first to be sent off in this way, and after he had about five minuses start, the Speaker sent a messenger after him, who soon came back and said he couldn't find him, so then they said that Mr Collins should be the man, but he too beat them, and afterwards they chose Mr Donne, and he got up and went away, and they couldn'nt catch him, and at last they fixed on Mr Tarrant, but he didn't play the game so well, and they caught him and put him in the chair. It was a most exciting game, but I didn't think the Council Chamber was quite the proper place for it; it seemed to rre to be more fitted for a children's playground, but, I daresay the members know a great deal better than I do what is " derogatory to their dignity," and what is not. Last night we had mure Estimates, and theSpeaker got very angry with Mr Gibbs f< . spying the Hospital Committee had no business to givea gratuity of £5 to a nurse who was married from the Hospital, and there was a great bobbery about the quantity of medic >l comforts that were consumed up there, and Mr Reid got very funny over it, and made allusions to St Pancras' Hospital, and Dick 3wiveller, and Siirey Gamp and a lot of classical characters like them, and then he said he was only in fun, and that altogether lie was pretty well satisfied with the Hospital Committee, but he could not help thinking that there was one 6crew loose, ami that was in the t.ip of the beer b.'rel. And thea we had a discussion, on how rauch. beer and wine an invalid could drink, and the Councillors became great on this subject, and talked as though they had been medical students all their lives, and I thought it was never going to stop, until a happy thought struck the Provincial Secretary, and he got up an I said that he did not think they knew so much as they pretended to do on this subject, and he would put a home question to them — Was there one among their number who would not prefer a glass of good brandy to a nastyblack draught ? Tne item under discussion was passed at once.

S-'INING AT THE THAMES. — The Thames journals recently published a tabular statement showing that the aggregate yield of crushing at the Thames from the 11th April to 9th May, amounted to 11,809 ozs. The fortuightly cleariug up oftheKuranui ou the 28th ult., yielded 1044 ozs. During the month this Company paid two dividends, one of Bs. and another of ss. per share. The yield of the Golden Crown for the week ending 28th ult., was 110 ozs. The yield of the Shotover for the month of May, was 1430 ozs. The crushiug for the Long Drive on the 23rd ult., yielded 647 ozs. A dividend of £l per sli are was paid iv the Long Dtive on the 27th ult. Good News if True. — The following account is from an Euglish paper, and, as. it will be seen, contains several items of news that have not yet been fully corroborated but still are of some interest to New Zealand colonists: — "The uewlydiscovered gold diggings in the Province of Aucklaud, New Zealand, are said to be the richest in the world. At the Thames reef, one claim in particular, 150 feet by 50 feet, is estimated to contain one million sterling of gold. It originally belonged to three men, and was bought at the upset price of fl. They admitted a fourth partner for £2500, and have since been offered £25,000. This claim is, as may be supposed, the gem of the whole, but several others are yielding about £40 a day. The average yield of the district is 12 ozs. to the ton of rock, and 3 ozs. are • remunerative. "With the exception of the. claim above-mentioned, the Kaipara diggings are said to be richer than the Thames." For remainder of News see Fourth page.

The Wesleyans of Dunedin have recently held a bazaar on behalf of the building fund of their new church, now nearing completion. The proceeds' amounted fo the handsome sum of £875, being more than double what was expected. A contemporary says- that the copyright of the Thames Leader, Shortland Times, and Auckland Advertiser, recently the property of Mr. William Shaw (late of Hokitika), was sold at auction for 145.! The book debts of the Times, amounting to £2000 were sold for £75 ! Mr. Shaw is about to leave Auckland for California. A Bombay Journal states that at Agra the Duke of Edinburgh is said to have inquired whether the city had a lunatic asylum. On being informed that such an institution would be of no utility in the place he devoutly thanked Heaven, observing that, wherever there was one they invariably took him there, and he always found the word " Welcome " in large letters on the entrance. - Thk appliances for separating gold from quartz are every day being improved (states the Argus Sandhurst correspondent), aud the newest thing iu this regard is an invention of Mr Holley's which is shortly to be tried nt the Eagle Company's works in connection with the batteries employed by the Argus Company, which. have had two of Brown & Stansfield's concentrators, but they have not given satisfaction, and consequently resolved to try the new potent. It is stated by the patentees that the advantages of this new machine are that it is simpler and more inexpensive in construction than Brown & Slansfield's concentrators, takes less power to drive, has not a tithe of the wear aud tear of the above machines; UDd last, but "not least, that it may be used as an amalgamator. The new machine is compared to a huge washingoff dish. Warm Scene. — A very warm scene (says the West Coast Times), in which it seemed at one time as though the Sergeant-at-Arms, or his representative, would have to be called in, came off in the County Council the other night. The Roads and Tracks Committee brought up a recommendation that certain roads should be made as soon as possible, but they omitted one piece of road that urgently requires repair. The Chairman thereupon rated the Committee soundly for not having made more inquiry, and accused the membeis round of geographical ignorance in reference to the County. One word brought on another, and a general "melee" took place, in which strong language was used on both sides. After some time this sea of trouble subsided, and the report was received. The news which we received yesterday morning from Nelson, by telegraph, of the appointment of Mr. A. Reid of Westport, as the responsible Minister in the Provincial Council for the Nelson South-west ! Goldfields, has given great satisfaction in town, and will do so up the river when it becomes known. It is very likely the cry of *' Westport influence " will be raised against the appointment, but it would be quite out of place, for a better selection could not have been made among the West Coast members to occupy the responsible position than Mr. Reid. He . !has a mind far above such littlenesses as local prejudices, and we feel confident "that with his influence in the Executive, equal justice will be done to all districts of the Goldfields ; and he will form, what has long been wanting in tbe Nelson Government, a connecting link between the mining community and the Executive. — Grey River Argus, June 7. The latest Australian snake story to hand is from the Gympie Times, and is to the following effect: — Mr. De Jersy has called at our office and reported that he had brought into town a snake fifteen feet iu length, and two-and-a-half feet "round the waist." We anticipate the loud cries of "Oh, come now that's too much!" &c. &c, which this sensational announcement will call forth; but when we explain that a Wallaby, weighing over thirty pounds, was taken out of the stomach, the aldermanic proportions of the reptile may not seem so wonderful. However, we are aware that our readers are not likely to be gifted with the deglutitive powers of the monster, and therefore we relieve ourselves of all responsibility by stating that the defunct may be seen lying' in state at Mr. Coleman's residence, Caledonian Hill.