THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 30, 3 February 1872, Page 2

THE WEEK.

Even the first of February has failed to briDg the long-desired rain, so that our case may now indeed be looked upou as hopeless in so far as a change of the weather is concerned. There was a time when we could look with certainty to tremendous rains and heavy floods on that day, whereas the only meteorological peculiarity to be observed on the anniversary of the Province this year was that it was about the hottest day ever kuown in NelsoD, the thermometer standing at 90 in the shade. How anyone could be found to run or jump in such weather is a mystery ; how it was that a few hundred people could stand iv the broiling sun all day and watch them is equally a matter for wonder, but both these things happened, and the programme prepared by the Sports Committee was duly carried out. Tliß most popular part of it was, without doubt, . the display of fireworks which attracted to the ground hundreds of people who had not possessed the courage to face the burning sun, but who turned out to

breathe the tepid air of the evening, and to enjoy the sight of tlie fireworks, which, somehow or other, always seem to possess certain charms for grown up men and women as well as for children. A fewcourageous young couples there were wbo, despite the hot weather and the dust, could not resist the enticing strains of the band, and dancing in the booth was carried on to a late hour, and so ended another anniversary holiday. The news received by the Suez mail was altogether satisfactory, the principal item being the unexpected convaleseuce of the Prince of Wales of whose eventual recovery thero appears to be every probability. His illness, it seems, bas had the effect of calling forth a perfect burst of loyalty from among the people of England, such as we were not at all led to expect by the news received by the few previous mails. It will be curious to observe what the American journals will have to say on this head. The continued high price of wool is a matter for congratulation to the whole of the Australian colonies, and it is to be hoped that it may be maintained duriDg the sale of the clip now beiug despatched to England. The monthly number of the romance that reaches us by way of Ameriea is now overdue, and we may expect to hear of some startling events on the European continent which will keep us in a pleasing state of excitement until the next Suez mail arrives when no mention whatever will be made of them, and we shall once more have the opportunity of expressing our admiration of the imaginative powers of Yankee editors. Several times during the week I have been asked what are the duties of an Inspector of Nuisances, and I confess that I have been unable to furnish a satisfactory reply to the enquiry. If they merely require him to look at, and to smell several times in the course of the day some offensive object or objects, and having done this, like the priest and theLevite of tbe parable, to pass by on the other side, then I can bear testimony to their being most effectively performed, and, more thau that, I am in a position to state that there bave been perforce a very large number of Inspectors during the week, every one who had occasion to travel aloug the Port road beiug converted, involuntarily, into one of these highly useful officers. If, however, his duties are to see that nuisances, such as that to which I refer, are removed, I think the office must be vacant jusfc now. Since Monday last the atmosphere in the vicinity of the Postoffice has been saturated with the effluvia arising from some dead animal, and any one who was curious enough to attempt to discover from whence they emanated might, if it were flood tide, see floating on