THE WEEK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 42, 18 February 1871, Page 2

THE WEE K

The last of the elections is over, and the eastern portion of the Province of Nelson sends at least four members to strengthen the ranks of the Opposition, thus showing most clearly that Mr. Yogel and his schemes do not find favor in this corner of New Zealand. The result of the polling at Golden Bay took every one by surprise as we were led to believe that the Takaka settlers would poll almost to a man for Mr. Gibbs, whereas he only received a bare majority of the votes in that part. Very few persons will be found to express regret at Mr. Collins victory, for, however well his late opponent may be for the Provincial Council, he certainly is not the man for the General Assembly. The electors for the have preferred Mr. Shephard to Mr. Baigent, and on the whole the province may look xp being well represented in the coffiiog PariianaenJ;. It has always appeared to me that there was a i wani oZ adhesion in the Nelson members i as they were but very seldom, if ever, to be fcuad voting togethei* on any important question, and consequently, ib-- in " fluence in the BC6us6 wa? .tp a great extent nullified, whereas those pom other provinces have usually acted in concert, J and thus have formed a strong party to^ whose wishes the Government has been! compelled to lend a favorable ear. A little more of this pulling together on the

part of our representatives might prove beneficial to the province which sends them to Parliament. Our elections have on the whole been conducted in an amicable manner, and, with one or two exceptions, there have been but* few hard words made use of, thus presenting a strong contrast to the bitter struggle that has taken place in the nHghboring province of Wellington, which, for acrimony, grave accusations, and biting retorts has not had its equal throughout New Zealand. No doubt unjustifiable means were resorted to on both sides, but on one can too strongly reprobate the attempt to introduce the religious element into the contest made by the "Member of the Church" who "prayerfully" solicited the votes of the electors against Mr. Richmond, asserting as his reason for so doiug that that gentleman was an infidel. The absence of anything approaching to Christian charity on the part of him who thus sought to prositute religion to party purposes must have made every right-thinking elector in Wellington hope that the writer of the circular alluded to was not a member of his particular church, as such a man could not but bring disgrace upon any religious sect to which he might chance to belong. To assert a falsehood and then '"' prayerfully " to invite others to endorse it is a little too bad even at election time. There are always plenty of persons to be found who are only too willing to bring ridicule to bear upon the religious feeliDgs of their neighbors are not likely to be decreased by the hypocritical cant that characterised the effusion of this unchristian " Member of the Church." Before leaving the subject of elections let me impress upon my readers the duty that every properly qualified man owes to his country in registeriug his claim to vote. The time appointed by law for making the necessary application is rapidly passing away, and terminates on the 31st of March. It may be said that there is no occasion to register just now as it is not likely that the electors will b 8 called upon for their votes for the next two or three years, but we never know when a vacancy may occur, and an emergency may at any time arise when/ those who have neglected to take the precaution of registering thefr claims may have yet cause to regret their carelessness, therefore I say let every man who is entitled to do so see that his name is placed on the roll. So the poor old Airedale has been added to the painfully long list of steamers that have been wrecked on our shores. I suppose that there is not another boat whose loss would have been so much felt as hers, for there are but few people in New Zealand who have travelled at all on the coast, who have not at one time or another been passengers by this favorite boat, and it [really seems that in her we have lost an old friend. With Captain Kennedy who has been so long and so long and so favorably known as a careful, kind, and skilful commander, everyone who has had the pleasure of travelling with him must deeply sympathise in his misfortune, Since my last we have received the English mail which tells us of terrible suffering in Paris, and, indeed throughout the whole of France. While we cannot but admire the courage and endurance of the French in defending their capital* end refeusing to yield it up to their periinacious enemies, we must feel that is but a question of time and that before long they will be compelled to acknowledge themselves beaten, and to submit to the overwhelming forces brouget, to bear against them. The Prussianf losses seem to be exceedingly heavy, and the severe whiter they are experiencing is repidly thinning their ranks. The sufferings of the weunded on the field of battle are described as being something fearful, and we hear of numbers of them who have been left out all night, being found the next morning frozen to death. The harrowing details that appear in the various English newspapers are terrible to read, and make us long to hear that the fearful war has been brought to a close. It will be many years before either France or Germany recovers from the effects of the deadly struggle that has produced such a vast amount of misery and ruin. The ship Beautiful Star has cleared out during the week, and it is exceedingly satisfactory to find that a large number of bales of flax are included in her manifest. It is to be hoped that 'they may reach their destination in better order than that which wa3 shipped from the Wairau in the Ballarafc lag* JPjUF- ? se e> b y the local papers that one- firm alone loet upwards of £1000. by the damage sustained consequent upon the faulty state of the vessel in- which their produce T»as sent horse. I trust that our shippers may be more 'fortunate, apd that their endeavors to turn to' Account' the natural product of the country may prove! kunl&enfcly remunerative to induce them to fcontiriue" their operations. ?•