THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 30, 4 February 1871, Page 2

THE WEEK .

I suppose no oue ever expected that we should have three fine anniversaries io succession, so that there would not be so much disaspointment experienced at the rain of Wednesday last as many, people might suppose ; at the same time it certainly waa very unfortunate, as we had so many Wellington visitors here on that day, and none would feel this more acutely than the proprietors of the various refreshment booths, who must have been considerably out of pocket, by their venture. The people certainly held their ground manfully in the face of th& pouring rain,

I but even the most inveterate pleasureseeker could not have followed his or her Hursuiif under the difficulties which presented themselves on that day, and the' most devoted of Terpsichore's votaries must have felt that the state of the flopr inside the large booth was more calculated to afford pleasure to the youthful manufacturers-,^ mud-pies than to those who were Jbent upon dancing. I only hope the weather may prove more favorable on Monday next, when the amusements are y> be continued. Talking of anniversarias, reminds mo that a gi/ted writer has recently been furnishing the Advertiser with au interesting little sketch of Wellington in its early days. I shall quote a short extract from the letter, not because I thoroughly understand it myself, but rather in the hope that it may briug back viyidly to the minds of some of my readers the days of yore. The historian is referring to the native disturbances, at the point at which I shall take up the thread of his narrative, and he gives the following thrilliug description of the troubles that had then to be encountered : — ■'The settlers were -driven into town, and considerable mischief done; in fact the progress of the settlement was retarded. It was not, however, an ill wind to everybody ; it brought good to some — especially to contractors who supplied the troops. Some of them made a " pile." For instance, beef Ls. Id. per lb\; rum, bread, &c, any price the contractors choosa to ask. This was usually accomplished by their what is called " laying their heads together " "to work the oracle," a fine thiug in a small way. In one instance, one of our contractors who supplied the firewood at something, the Porirua road, where a detachment of troops were then stationed, like 7d. per lb., in proceeding along were wicked up now and theu a log — logs wera thick theu on the ground hail-stones, exclaiming * take that, weighs.' " On arriving at this exciting point of the narrative, I was exceedingly sorry to find the author stating "Our brief sketch must now he brought to a close," for if he could have continued to tell his tale in the same powerfully desj ciiptive language, it would have been exceedingly interesting, as we should have been able to form a most correct idea of what had- to be undergone in the Province of Wellington in those days. I really think that at the present time, when we have a Government so exceedingly liberal with what are vulgarly called " billets," and whose tendencies are so decidedly " protective," local talent Bhould be encouraged by eraployiug the "writer of the above fo publish a comprehensive work embodying the history of New Zealand from its infancy. I wouldn't allow any outsider to undertake the work, but would give the "job " to the gentleman who has embelished the columns of the Advertiser with the contribution from which the -above is an extract. And now for an entirely different subject. I have for a Jong time been watching with considerable interest the career of my friend Eugene O'Conor, alias " The Buller Lion " alias "Boanerges." I first had the pleasure of making his acquaintance at the last session o*f our Provincial Council, where he quarrelled with his colleagues ; I theu observed his conduct ou the West Coast, where, shortly after his return, he indulged in the amiable pastime of breaking somebody's head with a bottle, for which he was called upon to contribute £5 to the revenue, through the medium of the Resident Magistrate's Court ; after that he called a meeting of his constituents at which he amused himself and his hearers by abusing everybody with whom he had come in contact in Nelson, and now I find that he has been getting into trouble with the Returning Officer at his nomination as a candidate for the General Assembly, to which, if he should happen to be elected, he will prove a bright ornament. As a rule, I object to filling up my allotted space with quotations, but on this occa* sion I mean to ask you to give a rather lengthy extract from the Westport Times, because I like to give those who read my weekly gossip an opportunity of seeing bow well. some of the candidates for senatorial honors conduct themselves on the hustings, as they will then be able to form some idea of the manner in which they are likely to be governed for the future, if the people choose to be represented by men of the O'Conor stamp. The Timessays: — Mr. O'Conor continued his address by referring at some length to the constitution of the Provincial Executive—to its members being " dummies," and so on. There were some signs of impatience among the audience, acd The Returning Officer said : I must remind you, Mr. O'Conor, that you are travelling fram the subject. I do jpftf wish to restrict you in any way, bdf if you would be good: enough to endeavor to confine yourself to matters connected with the General Assembly, it would be more in order. Mr. O'Conor: If you giro me tHe

headings of wbafc you wish me to speak upon, I will address them, or if you wish me to leave this box, I shall do so. But I refuse to accept your dictation on these subjects. The Returning Officer : I must^remind Mr. O'Conor that he has no right thus to speak to me. Ifc is open to me at any moment to call for a show of hands. I will be reluctant to do so. I wish to allow the greatest latitude, and I now merely suggested that he might be wanderiug too much into matters of Provincial Government, and that it would be better not to do so. Mr. O'Conor : I do not wish to contravene your authority. The only thing — The Returning Officer : You have contravened it. Mr. O'Conor : I have" not done so. The Returning Officer : as long as I hold this position, I shall insist on carrying out my duties as I think fit. Mr. O'Conor has refused expressly to obey my ruling. Ido not wish to cut short his speech, but I shall not - allow him to coutemn my authority. I have now to request him not to extend his remarks by wandering into remote subjects. Of course I accept his explanation that he did not wish to dispute my authority, but he" did so in words, if he did not do so in meaning. Mr. O'Connor : After that display of authority I will cut my speech short. I hope this will be a warning to you. You have been standing here for quarter of an hour when no candidate was proposed, and I understand that the first candidate in the field should be the first proposed. I wish to hear the charges made against me by Mr. Donne's supporters — my accusers. Since I have not succeeded in doing so, I will follow him up whereever he goes. I will do him the honor of meeting him at all his meetings, not to annoy" him, but rather to assist him. I wish to be present, not for the purpose of disturbing his meetings, but if I see a friend of mine disturbing him, I should be the first to stop him. I want to hear those valiant- pot-house accusers of mine. My intention is to follow Mr. Donne. ' After reading the above I am sure that the general impression will be, that the Westport Times, in a leading article on the nomination, was very hard upon Mr. Eugene O'Conor when it remarked : — ■ " We canuot but regard it as a calamity if the community were to return as their member one who never condescends to be bound by the rules of parliament, the decorum of debate, or the etiquette of a j gentleman." I thiok I have said quite enough about Mr. O'Conor for one week. Strange as it may seem, I really should be very sorry if, next Saturday, I had to record the' fact that he had been elected to the Parliament of New Zealand. The heavy rain that fell on Wednesday and Thursday has proved most acceptable to farmers and gardeners, particularly to the former, whose pastures were assuming a very brown and parched appearance. The harvest is nearly all its, with the exception of a small quantity of barley, so that no damage would be done to the corn, while the grass already shows the beneficial effects of the grateful showers. F.

A Stomach Battery. — The Germans have ' established at Versailles the most effective battery ever planted before a besieged city. They have accumulated there vast stores — -presumably of fresh meat, flour, vegetables and the like, for the use of the Parisians as soon as they surrender. The food question is an important one for mankind wherever located Especially in the city of Paris, has it on previous occasions overshadowed all other considerations. In 1793 the great trouble was that the Constitution which had been drafted with so much care, could not be got to w.ork ; likewise, that there was no bread. Probably, the latter was held to be the overwhelming misfortune. In 1843, the situation was summoned up in the popular demand for ' ' bread or lead." If history teaches anything, it is that the gay Parisian will put up with anything but Bhort commons ; hence the accumula- , tion at Versailles of stores of all kinds, labelled, *5 For the people of Paris when they agree to surrender." The object is to make the hungry stomachs within the walls the sure allies of the Germans. Come out to us with the keys of fche city in your hand and you shall be treated in the most sumptuous manner. The value of Alsace and Lorraine ; even the imperious exigency of sacred soil, it is believed, will shrivel up into absolute insignificance beside a loaf of bread, in the apprehension ofa*bungry man long condemned to horsejjlSresh,- and a scanty supply of even that. , The creditors of the Duke of Newcastle have rejected an offer of 4s. in the pound composition. The accounts, it is said show a dividend of Is. 6d. to 25., ,if all the litigation now carried od by the assignees should be suecesßfulL . .

It is something singular that Washington drew his last breath in the last hour of the last day of the last week of the last month of the last century. He died on Saturday night, 12 o'clock, December 31, 1799. A veteran of the Peninsular war was relating his exploits to a crowd of soldiers of modern times in their barracks, and mentioned having been in five engagements. "That's nothing," broke in a soldier, "my sister Sarah's been engaged eleven times." To the Boys. — A certain man who ia very rich now, was very poor wben bo was a boy. When asked how he got his riches, he said : — "My father taught me never to play till my work was finished, and never to spend my money till I had earned it. If I had but an hour's work in the day I must do that the first thing, and in an hour. And after this 1 was allowed to play; and then I could play with much more pleasure than if la thought of an unfinished task mv mind. I early formed the bak.W doiug everything iv time, and it soon became easy to do so. It is to this I owe ray prosperity. A Correspondent writes a long letter to the Cornwall Chronicle, proposing a plan by which he engages to raise the ironclad Captain, with all her ballast, coal, and guns, together with the crew. He remarks in reference to the fate of 'the latter after the vessel turned over : — " It does n-ot^follow that all her crew that wont down in her are drowned, or that they are' even now in the water. The probability is that many of them lived for days after the ship went down, and with their light burning, too, for in such a capacious body of air the vital priuciple of atmosphere would not be consumed in a day." He is willing, under certain conditions, " to go home and undertake the whole task, hngo as it is j and if he fails by these means to find arid raise the ship, he will submit to lose his head." He concludes in his letter, which is full of all the undoubting self-confidence of an inventor, with the words — " I feel sure you will give publicity to the above in your next summary, for the information of the British Govern- < ment, the Admiralty, the friends of those in the submerged ship, and those who have faith in the practicability of seeing £he ill-fated ship and her unfortunate crew again brought to light." The London correspondent of the Argus writes : — The course taken by the ' Russian Government has been enthusiastically applauded by the Russian people, all classes uniting in approval. It has even been proposed to raise a national subscription to build the Black Sea Fleet. It was said that Russia had already built a number of gun-boats up the rivers — then. * that she had purchased ironclads in America ; but both statements are doubtful. The truth is, she is unprepared for war. Spite of the mysterious movements of troops, and martial preparations of which we have been informed, she is not . ready j nor could she take the field for some months with any chance of success. This fact is the strongest argument for peace, and as it has become known, has allayed many fears. But our own Government is bestirring itself ; one day last week it bought up all tbe saltpetre in m the city, and another day it ordered 19 new gun-boats. Other precautions are being taken.