THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, 9 March 1872, Page 2

THE WEEK.

The receipt of the English news, and the non-arrival of the mail have given us something to talk of and to speculate upou during the week. Had the telegrams, which are certainly of a most startling nature, reached us by way of Suez, the colonists of New Zealand would scarcely have received them with so near an approach to indifference as has been the case, but, having had several months experience of the romancing tendencies of the correspondents of American journals, a very general feeling prevails that any news of more than ordinary importance that may reach us via San Francisco requires confirmation before it can be accepted as a true version of that which is taking place in England. We have heard at one time that the Queen bad been seized with a fit of melancholy madness, and was, in consequence, guilty of the most extraordinary and unconstitutional acts ; we have been told that the illness of the Prince of Wales was to be attributed to his having been poisoned by some of the anti-monarchical party ; we have learned that great and violent changes were on the eve of taking place in the English Constitution ; and, indeed, it is difficult to enumerate all the strange and improbable stories that have from time to time been related to us as positive facts, but all of which have turned out to be the purest fiction, and now, to crown all these, there comes the tale that there is danger of a rupture between England and America on the Alabama question. It is true that what purport to be extracts from the leading English papers are given by way of confirming the intelligence, but it is very questionable whether even these should not be sprinkled with numerous grains of salt before they are swallowed, from the remarks of the Times to the " anticipatory synopsis " of the Queen's speech, which is said to have appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette. Probably the Americans have made certain demands which could not be listened to by the British Government, but it is not easy to believe that war is imminent with consols at 92|, and although we are told that the New York Herald gravely avers that the damages to be awarded " must be paid peaceably, or they will be collected at the point of the bayonet," I, for one, take leave to doubt whether a single bayonet has beeD, or is likely to be, sharpened for the purpose. The interpretation very generally put upon by the matter by the New Zealand press, so far aB I have been able to gather, would Beem to be the correct one, namely, that a little electioneering dodge is at the bottom of the whole affair. The commercial news is satisfactory, two of the main, articles of New Zealand produce, wool and flax, keeping up their prices, a rise of 30s. per ton being quoted on the latter. The news that reaches us from the Thames goldfields is gradually becoming less like tidings from fairy land, and we

have ceased to hear of those magnificent yields for which some of the mines there were at one time so justly celebrated. No doubt, there are a number of reefs which are covering working expenses, and paying small dividends, but Long Drives and Caledonians have sunk into obscurity, and the fever that was roused among speculative individuals by the piles of gold that were extracted from them at regular intervals appears to have died away. Indeed, I have been privately informed that the Caledonian mine is at the present time barely paying working expenses, and shines have consequently fallen to a mere bagatelle. I wonder how many persons there are in New Zealand who are now regretting, and will never cease to regret, that they did not sell out their interests in these two far-famed mines when shares were at a fabulous price. But there are always two sides of a question, and it may, on the other hand, be fairly asked, how many are there who have cause to congratulate themselves that circumstances prevented their becoming shareholders at a time when they felt strongly disposed to invest their savings iv what appeared to be speculations of the profitable nature of which there could not be a shadow of a

For remainder of news see fourth page.

doubt ? If all be true that we bear, the febrile symptoms that at one time were so perceptible at Auckland have not entirely left the colony, but are merely transferred from the Thames to the Inangahua, where many have dipped their hands into the lucky bag. Prizes and blanks ! Which is for whom ? This reference to the Inangahua reminds me that I have lately heard that Nelson must be on the look-out for a rival in the Upper Buller trade. I have been told, and I have no reason to doubt my authority, that it is the intention of the Marlborough Provincial Government to form a good dray road — which can be done at a very moderate outlay — from Blenheim to the Top House, with a view to tapping the Upper Buller district, and diverting the trade down the Wairau Valley. The distance from Blenheim to where the road to the Buller Valley deviates from the trunk line through the Big Bush is but a very few miles greater than that from Nelson to the same spot, while it has the advantage of being free from any perceptible rise such as that which has to be surmounted at what is known as David Kerr's Hill. Here is another argument in favor of the Foxbill line. With railway communication for twentytwo out of forty-five miles, even ambitious Marlborough would stand but a poor chance of competing on favorable terms with our Nelson storekeepers. I wonder what manner of men be Greville's agents in this colony. I have a feeling that I should like to be personally acquainted with at least one of them, supposing him to be a fair type of the whole class. Their ideas of what the people of New Zealand consider to be " news" — I mean news worth the reading — are of so strange a character that I am inclined to think that they must be a "peculiar people," possessing notions which differ, on this head at least, most completely from those entertained by the common herd. The Nelson papers do not patronise the wires to so large an extent as some of the journals in the other provinces, and herein I think they display a considerable amount of common sense, for the intelligence that is contained in what are designated interprovincial telegrams is such utter rubbish that one is disposed to wonder not only who could be silly enough to compile them, but also who there can be found to waste their time in reading them. The Australian telegrams are gradually sinking to an equally low level, as, witness the information contained in the last by the Gothenburg, where the public are gravely informed that a little child had tumbled out of a railway carriage and in consequence suffered from concussion of the brain. No doubt to the parents and relatives of the poor little thing this was a matter of great grief, and one that absorbed their whole attention, but I should like to ask whether it was likely to prove of the slightest interest to those living a thousand miles away ? Suppose it had reached us in dae j course of time through the medium of the | Melbourne press, is there a single journal in New Zealand that would have thought it worth retailing in its columns, and yet the proprietors of newspapers are required to pay for the transmission of such stuff by wire. The prevailing idea with these mysterious " Greville's agents " appears to be that the mere fact of sending a certain number of words a few hundred miles by wire is sufficient to metamorphose the dullest and most uninteresting of details, into intelligence that will be greedily devoured by newspaper readers. They have clearly mistaken their vocation. They are not , supposed to be creators, but merely transmitters, of news, and, if there is none to send, let them hold their peace, and spare the pockets of their clients. F.