THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 273, 19 November 1870, Page 2

THE WEEK.

o We have hardly had time yet to get over lhe surprise that was occnsioned on Su inlay last by the arrival of the San Francisco mail on the day on which it was due. So accustomed, indeed, have we been to being kept waiting for a period of time varying from four to eight days for the arrival of the mail by this route that, we were almost inclined to feel annoyed at being deprived of the pleasures of anticipation which we have hitherto experienced in looking forward to, and speculating upon, lhe intelligence that was to be conveyed to us across the continent of America, but which ou this occasiou were cut short by the arrival of the Phoebe on Sunday evening. The uews received was not such as was generally expected, the issue of the tremendous contest between France and Prussia still beitg left in doubt, and, if any change had taken place iv the general aspect of affairs, it certainly was in favor of Fiance. I am not going to eularge upon this subject just now, but will content myself with quoting the following extract from the Morning Post: — ''While other countries are thinking about peace," says that journal, " lite whole thought of France is beut ou VS'ar. The temper of the nation is aroused to frenzy, and the soldier is expected to lay down his life, fighting against, all odds, to give time for the organization of fresh combatants. Bazaine has fou»ht four battles, in which he is supposed to have lost 50,000 men. Ye! still the voice of the nation, when a^kcii ' What next ?' replies 'Let nil (lie ; but, let them win time for their I) sot hers in arms to rally, and to avenge their fate.' The loss of a hundred thousand m<u, and of position after position, does but intensify the martial fury of the country. It, is of course possible that the mngnificent strategy of the Germans may know how perpetually to present, v ster numbers to inferior armies, and that France may ultimately lie completely beaten. But Uip French must be positively subjugated before they will give in. The surprise has bee.n great and terrible, tlu j col.apsi-* of the military orjjan'zaiion shocking, but the national pn<le revolts from all suggestions of suntnis-siun. The pluck of the soldiers who iought against hope iv these

lo3t battle fields animates the whole people, and it. is jet too soon to ask them to buy off the invader with the sacrifice of territory." The comiug elections are beginning to make a stir in the province, and the electoral district of "The Suburbs" is taking the initiative in bringing her "Richmonds" into the field. By the way, I wonder if any of the intending candidates have provided themselves with answers to the very alarmiDg series of questions that have been propounded by " An Elector " in the Evening Mail, and if they are prepared to state what, in their opinion, constitutes a " Dormal obstruction of public business ? " When they have mastered these difficult questions, I have another examination to put them through. The enquiries I desire to make are not my own, but are copied from a Duueilin paper, and although I am not quite sure that a Nelson^ caudidate will be called upon to reply to them, still such a contingency may be possible, and I think it is but doing them a kindness to prepare them in every way in my power for the fearful ordeal through which they may have to pass ou the hustings. Tlie following are some of the questions Otago candidates are required to answer : — How much flax, raised from European seed, has beeu exported ? How much cloth has been made in the great factories of this province ? What quantity of beetroot sugar has been manufactured in this province, with its great resources ? Wheu nre the spheres going to be moved for our benefit ? When will the Hundreds Act cease to stink in the nostrils of country settlers? It is pleasant to find that the electors are so fully alive to their undoubted prerogative of making sport of their wouldbe representatives. The dearth of all matters of interest in our own locality compels me to look elsewhere for pabulum for my weekly column, so I may state that in reading the Pall

Mall Gazettes, received by the last mail, I came across the following items of news: — "A 'talking machine,' constructed by Professor Fabar, is now being exhibited in London. The machine has a mouth, with tongue aud lips, which are set in motion by a mechanical apparatus which sets free a portion of air from a large bellows, and so controls it as to produce the sound required." If Professor Fabar had had ray experience in the matter of public meetings and the proceedings of legislative bodies in Ncuv Z"»lnnd, I don't think he would have bothnedhimseH to construct a machine, of which so large a number are already in existence?. The description aB given above, — namely, a machine with a mouth, tongue, and lips, set in motion by a wind bag — tallies so exactly with some figures I have seen — well, I won't say where — ihat I can give the learned Professor no credit for originality in his invention. In my last I expressed a hope that I might to-day be able to report a heavy fall of rain during the past week, but I regret to say that it is not in my power to do so. We can foim some idoa of what the farmers are suffering from a glance at the gardens about town, where miserable, withered-looking cherries are falling from the trees in hundreds, pea-pods present a shrivelled npper.rniK'e, and vegetation in every form looks diied-up, parched, and thirsly. In Auckland and Taranaki they are even worse off than we are here, in the former of these two provinces no rain having fallen for two months, but while New Zealand is complaining of this ruinous drought, Victoria is suffering from an exactly opposite affliction, the weather there having been fearfully wet and stormy, and heavy losses entailed by the floods that have resulted therefrom. Hear what ihe Austral a dan of the sth met. says on the subject, ai;d contrast it with our own position: 'The rain hasn't many friend?. Farmers don't want it, the squatteis have had enough of it — the stock is nil fat or drowned, and they want lean beasts to eat the grass — the racing men are coutent to forego fuither showers, the carriers are stopped, the merchants' stocks are accumulating, ihe cricketers cannot commence their season, the reservoir embankments feel the squeeze, there is no demand either for hj'draots- or watering-pots, the theatres are content, and would forego auy further balance due. The umbrella interest is the orly one looking up, and that is not a native industry." Between the weather and the scenery there exists some sort of affinity, and this leads me to ask whether your readers, or any of them, have lately taken a walk up the track on the hill side of the Botanical G-ardens which looks so lite the lightning in Martin's picture of the Deluge. Under any circumstances Nelson is a pretty little place, but it shows to great advantage at this time of the year, notwithstanding the drought, and as to-morrow is, unhappily, likely to prove as fine as the preceding thirty or forty days, I would suggest an afternoon's stroll to the summit of the flash — streak, I think the Yankeescall it — and if tl'e view to be obtained from thence does not reward the walker for his trouble, I will confess to being greatly mistaken. F.