NELSON FROM A WELLINGTON POINT OF VIEW.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 286, 5 December 1870, Page 2

NELSON FROM A WELLINGTON POINT OF VIEW.

0 A correspondent of the Evening Post , who was among the late excursionists in ■ the steamer Taranaki supplies that journal ' with an account of his trip to Nelson, from which we take the following ex- ' tract : — ■ The Port is rather a dilapidated-looking place. Half the few buildiugs it contains seem shut up, but there are four or five 1 hotels. At the wharf was our old friend, 1 the barque Tell, and two little steamers, the Lyttelton and the Lady Barkly. while out in the harbor lay the remains of the hulk Charles Edward, now couverted into a target for the Voluuteer Artillery. Finishing breakfast, we embarked in the City 'Bus, which runs on what was the Dun Mountain Tramway, and were rapidly rolled up to town for the moderate sum of three-pence. Seeing the great ease with which a not very highly-fed specimen of , horseflesh managed to draw this lumbering vehicle with a heavy load, it is a wonder that tramways have not come into more general use iv this Colony. Getting into the town, the first thing that attracts attention is the width of the streets, and their cleanly appearance, together with ■ the fine substantial appearance of the brick and stone buildings. In Trafalgarstreet, and especially iv that part swept by fire some year or two ago, the buildings are very fine. The great beauty of Nelson, however, does not lie in the business part of the town, where, by the way, there seems to be very little business done ; it is when you get iuto the side streets that you realise what a different ' place Nelson is to Welliugion. Every house has a garden, and every garden has a profusion of the most superb flowers. The houses themselves seem to be mainly pretty Utile brick villas. The gardens, ? however, are really splendid, aod both ', fruit and flowers seem to grow naturally there. We visited several of tbe gardens, , aod then strolle-l round the town, admiring the pretty little streams, the orchards, gardens, and above all the beauiifully-tept hedges. The gem of Nelson is, however, a noble English oak (!) tree, wliich (.rows on tlie banks of the Maitai Stream, and is carefully fenced ' round. There are several other fine oaks in various parts of the town, and elms and ash are plentiful. On almost all the ' hedges En iiish birds are to be seen and heard, while in the oountry there are plenty of larks. The hop gardens are a distinctive feature in Nelson, ami one that was shown us was about four acres ia extent. In .nothing, however, does Nelsou contrast m >re with Wellington than in the matter of water supply. 'The Provincial Government has established water works, and every house has vow an abundant supply of the purest water at hiiih pressure, and the most reasonable price. Iv every street there are fire-plugs ■ at easy distauces, and a fire cau be crushed out in no time. The water is • also used largely as a motive power for > grinding cofiee, printing newspapers, and all sorts of things.

'■ Wellington Provincial Politics. — 1 A Mr. Anderson, member of the Welling- ■\ ton Provincial Council, has been indulging in some rather plain speaking. Having : opposed the Appropriation Act, and stated > his opinion that the Superintendent, staying : in London, had no legal power to send a message to the Council, asking them to . vote a certain sum of money, he proceeded Ito attack the Provincial Secretary, and in } so doing gave a lamentable picture of the i* preseut state of affairs, and, in fact, of the •whole working of existing institutions, in that province. "There are no public works," he says, " no immigration, no aid to education, no making of roads; and consequently almost nothing ior the Pro- : vincial Secretary to look after. Yet, even in the performance of the merest routine duties, he has utterly failed. I could tell a story of unanswered letters ; of memorials neglected ; a poor schoolmaster kept out of back arrears of salary, and of a host of other things which would show very plainly how admirably the hon. member had contrived " not to do it." And why had he " not done it." Why, just because he thought more of his own personal iuterests thau those of the public. He certainly was a very fortunate young gentleman. Not only did he get £400 ayear as Provincial Secretary, but he also obtained £300 a-year as editor of a certain newspaper, and £100 a-year as Secreiary to a Government Flax Commission. Now, I think the position of a public servant is For remainder of News see Fourth page.

a-oiost honorable one, if, for every sovereign of public mouey which he receives, be gives a fair twenty shillings' worth of work. But it a public servant does not do this — if, ou tbe contrary, he uses that time which he should devote to the public service, in following other pursuits and gaining money thereby — then he commits 9. most gross fraud upon the tax-payers. In my opinion it is a most monstrous and infamous thing that any person should havo been allowed to receive public money for duties which he m-ver performed, and that at the same •time he should be highly paid for other work outside his oificial position." He then goes on to appeal to two members of the Executive, wbo are described as being in most "affluent circumstances, and enjoying every coinh-rt and pleasure which wealth confers," to spate the province the '« paltry hundred a-yi j »r" which each of them receives, but which the " taxpayers need so sorely," as he proceeds to show: — *< On the West Coast, the road between Wangauui and Turakina is iv a bad condition; in Wanganui the river backs can only be protected from encroachments by local taxation : while throughout the Province there are labouring men with their wives and little ones to suppoit, who are in sore distress because they cannot get the money which is justly owing to them from tbe Provincial Government." Mr. Anderson concludes as follows : — " I have little hope of putting au end to that system of gross mismanagement which has ever beeu rampant iv the Proviucial -Government. That system of government indeed, during the last few years, has been a mockery iv this Province. It has done nothing for immigi ation; nothing for road snaking; nothing for town improvements, or country needs; nothing for the development of the resources of this splendid Province. In oil those respects it has been impotent for good, and its chief use has been to provide the means of living for a few political parasites of leading public men, and to aiford a lucrative position to a youug man of good family, who could earn Ibis bread in no other way." Mr. Lowe on the War. — The following is an extract (rom a speech recently made by Mr. Lowe in Scotland: — What we have been witnessing is the destruction of a most gallant standing army by what is oot a standing army, but an armed natiou, and that uot altogether by the superior -qualities of the men, but by the enormous preponderance of numbers which the fact of their being an armed nation has giveu them. I think I hear in that the knell of standing armies, many of the large standing armies of the Continent. If they cannot protect the nation against war with such a country as Prussia, whose troops have to be called from tbe counter, the loom, and tbe plough, ■of what use are they? It seems to me that any nation that wishes to be protected against invasion and against destruction must not only rely on a standing army, if for no other reason than because its numbers are necessarily limited, but it must put arms in the hands of the people and trust to tbem as Prussians, trust for the defence of their own land. If that be so, •see the blessed results which will follow from it. One is freedom. A nation which is armed, and ou whose answer to the call depends the safety of the •country, must necessarily be a nation of free men. They will be armed, aud their Sovereign must govern in accordance with their wishes, or he will not get their support when he gets involved^ in -difficulty. It seems to me that this is a return to the sort of rude liberty enjoyed tv the Middle Ages, when the King was ■kept in order by the fact that all hi» subjects had arms in their hands and would cot suffer themselves to be oppressed -beyond a certain limit. Then there is anolber <_ood effect, and tbat is that sucb an organization is mainly useful for defensive war. Had not the heart of the Prussian nation been iv this war it would fcave been vain to expect from it the extraordinary efforts it has made, and it would have been impossible for the people to assemble in so wonderfully short a time. If the people are to be consulted, the people wiil ouly fight when they Bie it to be their interest, nnd I thiuk they will only see it to be for their interest when it is for the sacred idea of protecting tbeir common couutry. These things seem full of promise for the future, they ■seem to promise more enlarged freedom in the ius ure than exists at present, they set m to hold out fair promise, if not for ■universal peace, at least for the prevention of such wars as this wo are now