THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 36, 11 February 1871, Page 2

THE WEEK.

We have been thoroughly initiated in all the mysteries of the ballot during the week, and I am not sure that I like it after all. I don't speak of it in its political sense, for, so far as that goes, I candidly admit that it is a vast improvement on the old system, but from my youth upwads I have been taught by experience to believe that an election should always be accompanied by all sorts of fun and excitement, but of these we have now been cruelly deprived. I like to see an eager agent bustling up with an air of immense importance from the polling booth to the Committee room, every half hour or so with the latest state of the poll; I have delighted in watching the countenances of the crowd as they eagerly scan the numbers when displayed; the triumphant look that is to be seen on the faces of those who are supporters of the winning candidates, and the lugubrious countenances of those whose mau is not coming up to time; Ihave rather a partiality for a really good electioneering squib — and by a good squib, I mean one that is humorous without being too personal — but all these are things of the past, and we now go to the poll with the air of a well conducted undertaker at a funeral, from thence we repair to the Committee Room of our pet caudidate with an equally solemn disposition of features, and there we learn, that, provided some eighty or a hundred of the electors against whose names we bave placed the word " doubtful," knowing all the time that they are certain to poll for the opposition, vote right our man is perfectly safe, but, just as we are congratulating ourselves on. the immense victory tbat we are about to consummate for the liberal cause — electors are always on the liberal side — we find that to ensure success it is absolutely necessary to obtain the votes of this, that, or the other man, so we send off a cab post baste to fetch him up to the poll without feeling in the least degree certain that he is going to further our interests, but at the same time fondly hoping that he is a sensible man, and, in all probability, will take a right view of the means by which the salvation of the country is to be obtained ; having done this we once more carefully scrutinise the roll, and in so doing find that the same operation has to be repeated iv another directiou. By this time it is a quarter to four, and just then we discover that two voters who live at some two or three miles distant, have not been brought up, but it is now too late, and so we wend our way to the polling place, thinking if we could only have got these men up in time should have been perfectly safe ; and there we find, when the result is published, that we have been entirely out iD our calculations, aud that our man who was, if elected, to have effected such a salutary revolution iv the affairs of the colony, occupies the honorable position of the last on the poll. The countenances of our opponents are cheerful and beaming j we, on the other hand, deem them guilty of trifling with the interests of the country

iii, first of all, electing such menus' those they have brought forward, atflS. secondly, for venturing to wear a winning smill in having obtained so deplorable a victory, and we sorrowfully wend our wayhome< wards with the painful conviction weighing heavily ou our hearts that we have been " sold." Once more I say that, as an individual who revels in the fun of au election, I don't like the new system, because wheu nobody knows what is going on it is impossible to get up any excitement, and once more also, I say., as a man who has an interest in the welfare of the country that the ballot is -an admirable iustitutioD, and one that is' likely to be productive of excellent results. There is one improvement I should like to see introduced into our elections, aud that is, that every elector should set aside a.l personal or private feeling with regard fo the candidates and vote for the man who, he believed, would carry out the policy of which he, the elector, approved in its integrily. I know some men who have always been opposed to borrowiug largely as being the most ruinous policy tbat could possibly be pursued by the country, and yet who have actively supported those who are in favor of the large loans proposed to be effected by the present Government. 1 fully believe many of them have done so conscientiously and after much Consideration but still such apparent inconsistencies puzzle me not a little. However, one should not expect too much sacrifice of personal prejudice ou such occasions, and, after all, we should remember that Utopia and New Zealand are entirely different countries. I see that the gentleman who delights in calling himself the Buller Lion is the elect of Westland North. If a few more of the same class can be obtained from other parts of the colony there will be a very nice little menagerie at Wellington, and I would suggest the Maori House that is attached to the Museum as being a very appropriate show house wherein they might go through their performances. Whoever the Speaker may be, he will, I imagine, find tbe O'Conor a most disagreeable thorn in his side. Yet oue more name has been added to the ghastly list of those who have lost their lives iv crossiDg the New Zealand rivers. Mr. E. H. Davis, the Government Geologist, who has of hitherto displayed a large amount interest in our mines especially in the Collingwood district, has been drowned in crossing a creek near the Grey. Mr. Davis had a young wife resident in Wellington to whom the heart-breaking intelligence would no doubt be conveyed last night. So tbe Wangapeka case is at last over, and the Judge has decided against the purchasers. There seems to be some sort of connection between the end of this suit, aud the commencement of the working of the mine, for just as one terminates, tbe other is about to begin. We wili hope that the crushings will last a much greater length of time than even the dispute has done, i and that the results will prove as remunerative to the shareholders as has the litigation to the lawyers. The bookseller's shops I see are displaying their customary show of Valentines of the gaudiest description, and " many a youth and many a maid " will, no doubt, take advantage of the annual opportunity afforded them by that considerate old saint, Valentine, of making a secret declaration of tha state of their affections. There is too much of the ballot box arrangement about these Valentines to please me : you may be on the wrong tack all the time in ascribing to so-and-so the seuding of that charming little Cupid brought you by the postman, aud such a mistake might possibly lead to awakward results. I wonder who likes Valentines day best — the booksellers, or the letter carriers. p.