THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 190, 12 August 1871, Page 2

THE WEEK.

Some important cases have come on for hearing before the Supreme Court during the week, and the town has, in consequence, been inundated wilh a perfect flood of legal talent, which, when the wave recedes from our shores, will no doubt carry away with it some moderately rich specimens of Nelson gold. Among those who were summoned from the country to take part in the proceedings as special jurors there have been loud complaints of what they look upon as an utter .want ofcpn- 5 sideration for their convenience in their' being required, to attend the Court several dayß before their services were wanted, and

it must be allowed that theirs is a hard case. It was well known a day or two before the session conameuced which case would come on for hearing first, and that tho trial of it must occupy a day at least ; it was also known that another of tha case 3 would not be heard before Monday, and yet all the jurors were required to bepresent on the first day of the session. Considering that some of them reside from eight to twenty miles from town and that their occupations are such that they can ill afford the time, to say nothing of the extra expense incurred by living in Nelson for a day or two, it does not seem too much for them to ask that their convenience should be in some degree consulted, and that the loss of time and money to which they are subjected might be reduced to the lowest possible amount. .. The guinea received by a juror in the ease of Connal v. James, will, considering the length of time occupied in the trial, have been quite bardly enough earned without the recipient haviug been called upon to spend the whole of the day preceding that oo which it commenced away from his farm or business, in addition to his having to pay for his board and lodging in town. Again, there were many brought to the Court on Wednesday only to be told that they would not be wanted until the following Monday, a fact of which they might just as well have been advised through the medium of the newspapers on the previous day. But I suppose it is nobody's business to see to these matters, and therefore those who have the privilege of seeing their names on the jury list must be content to be treated like so many macbiues, to be put in motion whenever the engineer thiuks fit.

The European news received by way of Supz is most satisfactory. In Paris, matters appear to be settling clown once more, and the French have, set to work to repair some of the eight hundred millions of francs' worth of damage they have just created, and although it is impossible to replace the old buildings that have been destroyed, it is pleasaut to find that the occupation of building up once again possesses more attractions in their eyes than that of pulling down. To hear that 60,000 masons are employed in repairing damages is not so excitiug perhaps, but is far more satisfactory than the monthly receipt of the news that 600,000 men are trying to cut one another's throats. What with paying the Prussian indemnity, and re-erecting the buildings that they themselves have just pulled down, the French are likely to possess lively reminiscences of the war with G-ermaoy for some time

to come.

The news of the continued rise in the price of wool is of the greatest importance to the colony. It has been calculated, and I believe upon a good basis, that a penny per pound affects the incomes of the sheepfarmers of New Zealand, in the aggregate, to the extent of a little over an eighth of a million, therefore the rise in price which has taken place within the last few months, and which now amounts to three pence per pound as compared with what it was at the time when the greatest depression prevailed in the wool market, means an addition to the wealth of the colony of £400,000, supposing it to be maintained. This shows that the fluctuations in the price of wool are matters of colonial, as well as of individual, importance. lam not a sheep-farmer, but I like to hear of a few hundred thousands of pounds finding their way into the colony, and I have a comfortable sort of feeling! that somehow or other their advent must indirectly benefit me. Therefore I watch the markets with some degree of interest.

A cew " local industry." I knowr these two words are 1 not regarded with favor by numerous newspaper readers, who profess to be weary of the very sight of them, and (brow the paper down in Jisgusfc when they see a paragraph with such a heading. I admit that the dose is occasionally administered ad nauseam, but the "Jnduslry" of which I have now to tell is a peculiar one and I mention it, not with a view to recommending its adoption here, but simply as a matter of news. "Hare-skins or

rabbit-skins ! " is a street-cry that must be familiar to those who" have resided in an English city, and it may be interesting to know that it isonewhirh has been responded to by the Province of Marlborough. Fre-' qnent mention has been made' of the ravages committed by the rabbits in the Kaikoura district in consuming the grass which should have been devoted to themainteuance of sheep. Now, however, it appears that the said rabbits may be turned to account. The Messrs. Keene who own a run in that part ,'of the country sent home last year a parcel of- 6,000 skfns ' which 1 have realised in the; London market the excellent .price of 9s. a dozen, an-intima-tion being 1 made that more careful preparation in drying them, would ensure a ; still higher ipripe. , At ptjese,Dt there atei sevefa^ men^jayer: twenty X.. am told, engaged in catching tliese animals for the Bake of their skins, and it is said that they

are making good wages et ifc.- Fortunately* the rabbits originally turned out were of the silver-orey species, the skins of which only are of any value at home, and it is now a question whether they will not prove quite as remunerative as the sheep whose grass they are appropriating. In order to show how numerous they are in the neighborhood of the Kaikouras I may state on the authority of a gentleman who has recently arrived from there, that three sportsmen, a short time since, succeeded in shooting 720 in three days. Rabbitskins may yet form a respectable item in the exports from New Zealand.

We have been in the habit of boasting of the superiority of our roads over those of ether provinces, but the bounce has been fairly kuocked out of us by the rain that has fallen so incessantly Ibn winter, aud we are compelled to coufess that to our climate, aud not to any peculiar skill on our part was owing the excellent condition of our highways. If what I hear, is true, and I have every reason to believe it to be so, the roads in the neighborhood of Richmond are being treated on the homoeopathic principle that " like cures like." What with traffic and raiu combined they have been worked up into the consistency of oatmeal porridge, and by way of remedying this state of affairs a fresh supply of mud has been carted on to them from the sea beach. As all of those who make use of the road are not disciples of Hanhemann, it is not to be wondered at that this method of treatment has given rise to some grumbling, and it is suggested that, homoeopathy having in this instance signally failed in effecting a oure, an allopathic remedy should be tried in the shape of a few loads of good hard metal. There seems to be some reason in the suggestion and I recommend it to the notice of the Waimea Road Board.