THE WEEK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 166, 15 July 1871, Page 2

THE WEEK

The Suez mail which arrived on Thursday has brought further particulars of the suppression of the insurrection in Paris, and informs us of what we must all hope is the final scene in the terrible drama that has been played iii France, and which by the way, commenced on this very day twelvemonth. Since then what a fearful change has come over France generally, and Paris in particular. Oa the 15th of July, 1870, no nation held a higher position in the civilised world than did the French; no ruler was more feared or had more importance attached to his utterances than Louis Napoleon; no city in Europe was to be compared with Paris for gaiety and fashionable enjoyments of every description. Now, howf.do matters stand? Tlie French nation whose power was so very recently supposed to be upheld by the bravest and best organised army in tbe world has been compelled to succumb before the invincible hosts of Germany; her soldiers, under the leadership of the renowned and dreaded Emperor Napoleon the Third have surrendered in thousands — we may almost, say hundreds of thousands — to their invading foes; this Louis Napoleon himself, who once held the whole civilised world in awe--— for the second time compelled to take r refuge on the hospitable shores of " perfidious Albion " — is an outcast, unheeded and uncared for, and Paris, the gay and beautiful, is in many places a heap of ruins, having been ravaged not by a foreign foe, but destroyed and tyrannised over by beings who called themselves .Frenchmen.- Her noblest; buildings have been .destroyed, and her most honored - trophies levelled with the 1 ground, not only by the madmen who. for a time, were allpowerful, but by the women, who, as the telegrams tell us, were temporarily " changed into fiends." A few words more wil} ;Berve, to sum up tbe events that have taken place in' what was once the fajkest city' "in 1 Europe, The demons wh*6 / have shown how utterly unfitted they / w ere " to ' take , part in the Government of the country have wreaked their vengeance upon the Archbishop . of Paris and ..a. number of the clergy whom they have murdered iv cold blood ; and Marshal Macma'hon, .who was disgracefully defeated by the Prussians at Woerth, :has, regained his honors by beating, his own- couptry.meh amid the smoking ruins of the noble streets and proud palaces of Paris..! What -.a cb'ntrast between; the France of tp-day, ;and of; twelvemonths ago ! There is a strange, prophecy extant — now 300 years s ;iold-- linwhich the events that have taken 'place! Ip, France withia : the last year are ' distinctly ~ foretold. I hope soon to beable to 6btain*tbis curious document and t publjsb it fpr the benefit of your readers. , ■■•, - **-A Provincial ®oyernmenj; Gazette has recently, Weu, published in , wtyc^ ,evefy 'enc'ouragejDqentis' offered iol thbsfe^floi are;, r «.'..i/i I'JrXX'A' '»'.;'. < ■•!i\'>\i , Tilt."' '.'i-T, i,i'"/. j-*-j| - '■ disposed.to t( en^ ,WS!iWPWfIr drjedg--l|ogi o^g/rfy^fl^aoh' holder of a miner's

right Jj|ing now entitled, upon application, to an area of 150 feet along the ordinary ■r,iyer v^r 'stream, and as it would|reqprf« at lelosi ffivei men to enter upon: such | any prospect --of^ucces/^-, a party 'consisting of that number would thus be entitled to 250 yards of the river bed. With such au area secured to them there is qs ery -reason fo believe that large,numbers o f f our mining population Vill be' induced to enter upon this new branch of industry, indeed, we are informed that the whole of the Aorere river even" to some little dis- ' tance out to sea has been taken up, and that numerous applications have been sent.i.ni.for claims in the *Malakitnki and 1 other inland rivers.; As the necessary ■machinery is quite' a novelty in this piovince,orders have been sent to Mel- : bourne for that required by the company which hasalready commenced operations .iv the Aorere, but there cnn be. no doubt ""that, once having examined it, Mr. 1 Moutray, who has already completed several orders for machinery for our gold-, fields, will be able to furnish the requisite ironwork at as low a rate as that at which it, could be procured from the other colonies. If I mistake, not, thisdredging will be very -largely entered upon' before many months have elapsed, as, from what I can learn from competent authorities; • bur rivers are peculiarly .adapted for such operations, and a very small yield 'of gold per ton will remunerate those engaged in it. ' ' ' '"'.^ *' ; .'/r The painful- accident whibh occurred on .Tuesday last to a much-respected member 'of our community created con-' siderable excitement, and no. little anxiety as to its probable result, ; which, however, promises now to be far more favorable than : at one time could possibly hive been anticipated. The universal sympathy that' has been expressed with th»s.ufferer shows ia what esteem he was lield, and. must have proved gratifying- both to himself and his numerous personal .friends. ••-Iam not going to improve the occasion in a similar solemn strain to. that adopted by. another local journal, but one moral,.^t least, may, I think, be drawn from it, namely] that a little more care in the handling- of firearms wbuld'-iead to a proportionate decrease in the number of accideuts. / ■ . . .' : The work of destruction has been, and still., is, .proceeding among the unhappy pheasants in the Motueka district. lam glad to say that I am noV in a position to report more ' "authoritatively upon the' condition, '&c, of these birds than when last I wrote. /A brace of" them having been forwarded to me for dissection, I felt it my duty to summon a jury consisting of three -gentlemen who were not altogether ignorant bf the 'manner, customs, and flavor of this'particurardescription of bird, and, together with them, I held a most careful post, mortem examination on the. bodies, submitted to our notice. In one of them, the^ larger of -the two, we discovered a fracture/ of the os.femoris, aud found the leg to be in an: advanced stage of decomposition, ;■ in the other, the cause "pf. death, was most difficult to arrive at; however, after due consideration we unanimously agreed upon a verdict of Justifiable Avicide, but there appeared to be certain suspicious circumstances, attending their deaths which gave rise to some little discussion, and . we< felt tbat, if perchance the opportunity were again afforded 'us of enquiring into a similar mishap, we might arrive at a decision in a shorter space of - time and with more satisfaction to ourselves. : Of course we have no wish that so painful ah accident should occur; but if 'it did; and, the bodieswere sent to'usfor examination, our pre-* vious experience, might possibly stand us in good stead. 'I ..A. (.]