THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 77, 30 March 1872, Page 2

THE WEEK.

A visit from a Minister is an event of rare occurrence in Nelson, and must therefore take precedence of all other matters in my summary of tbe week's doings. It was but a flying visit certainly, but Mr. Gisborne made good use of his time, and took the opportunity of driving up the country and observing the districts through which the Nelson and Foxhill railway is to pass. It is said, on what ought to be good authority, that he expressed himself much pleased with the Waimea, wbich to his surprise he fouud was not the miserable place he expected to find it, the improvements that bad been effected since his visit with Col. Gore Browne in 1856, having entirely altered tbe appearance of a country that has of late been so much abused by those who do not wish well to Nelson, foremost amoDg whom stands the editor of the Wellington Independent. Perhaps one of the effects of Mr. Gisborne's trip to Blind Bay will be to place a check upon the sneers and untruthful statements that have of late plentifully bespattered the columns of that exceedingly unreliable journal whenever it had occasion to allude to the first portion of what is to be one of the main lines of railway in the Middle Island. 1 While on the subject of this railway I may as well refer to the little grievances of our neighbors at Stoke to which I alluded in my last, and which have since come to a head, a meeting having been called by them for the purpose of having a quiet little talk over the direction it is proposed the line shall take, and making suggestions relative to tbe cutting up of some of the properties, to which objection is taken on the ground that it is not absolutely necessary. It appears that Mr. Austin has to some extent remedied the evil complained of, and this may have the effect of appeasing tbose who have expressed their discontent. In some instances the opinions of the surveyor aud the settlers on this subject will no doubt clash, but if the former can support his view of the case by sound argument, the latter may as well give in at once with a good grace. -- V We hear a good deal every now and

then of the badness of the times and the scarcity of money in the place, but I am iuclined to think tbat these complaints must be somewhat exaggerated from the fact that a General Government advertisement calling for tenders for the Bupply of telegraph poles between Nelson and Motueka met with no reply in this province, the consequence being that the material had to be supplied from Wellington, whence the poles have been forwarded and charged for at a rate that must leave a handsome margin in the pockets of the contractor. With the quantity of totara that exists in the Wairoa Valley and at Takaka, I should have thought it would not have been absolutely necessary to import the poles from the North Island, | but that some energetic individual in this part of the colony would have thought it worth his while to secure the £600 or £700 thus placed within his reach, but such does not appear to have been the case, and, whether it was owing to the proverbial sleepiness that is said to characterise the good people of Nelson, or to the fact that more remunerative employment is to be fouDd by hand sawyers or the proprietors of mills, 1 am not prepared to say, but there the matter stands that no one in this province thought the advertisement worthy of his notice, and thus the few hundreds of pounds that, from tbe grumblings to be heard on all sides, one would have thought would have been rather a godsend to those amongst us who are interested in the timber trade, have found their way into the pockets of the contractors in Wellington, instead of being placed to the credit of residents in Nelson. I hope this may be looked upon as rather a good sign tban otherwise, '* Do you know the nature of an oath ?" Those of my readers who are in the habit of paying an occasional visit to our law courts must at one time or auother have beeu vastly amused on hearing this question gravely put from the Bench to some little child whose head was barely visible over the upper ledge of the witness box. Of course the poor little chap is sorely frightened at so formidable a question beiDg put to him and with some little hesitation and embarrassment curtly answers "No." Now I have sometimes thought that if he could summon up sufficient courage to add to this monosyllable the words " Do you ? " some little amusement would be created among the audience, and possibly the grave and reverend signior who had interrogated him might not be quite prepared to state in plain language what he considered was tbe " nature of an oath." The question has never in my hearing been asked a child without the absurdity of expecting him to answer it being shown in the most unmistakeable manner, and it has invariably to be followed by some more intelligible query such as — " Do you know that it is sinful to tell a lie ? " " Have you been taught that those who do not speak the truth will be punished?" or something to. this effect. Why not put the more simple questions at first instead of asking one that any man possessed of an ordinary amount of common sense must know is beyond the understanding of a youngster of eight or ten years of age ? F.

Harvest Hands in the Marewhenua "district, Otagbj, have been getting 125., and even a sovereign a day. Melbourne "Town Hall ORGAN.-The Argits gives the following description of this fine instrument :-r-" When the decorations are fibished it will have a very handsome appearance from the" body of the hall. There is nothing remarkable in the design beyond the speciality of greaT size. The effect would no doubt have been better had the height been rather less, for the image of an angel at the top is crushed - against the ceiling, and produces the, uncomfortable impression of not having room to expand its wings, while the organs spires have none of the advantage which a little unconfined space above . . would_gi-ve._. .The height of the - instru men t from the orchestra is 47ft. It is 52ft. wide and 25ft. .deep. The large pipes in front are.3Bft. long, with a diameter of 22in., and weigh 15cwt. each. Some idea of the laborious nature of the work of putting the ;organ- together may be formed from the fact that it contains 4373 pipes, each of which has to be fixed singly in its proper place; Even the woodwork of the front was landed in 500 or 600 separate pieces. The whole affair is, in fact, like a gigantic puzzle, of which Mr. M'Kenzie, the gentleman who has charge of the instrument, and who saw it built in England, alone has the key. -•• Criticism in the Fijis. — " jEgles," in the Australasian, writes : — The Fijian newspapers are remarkably outspoken. They don't mince matters in the least. The taxes imposed by the Ministers of Cakobau Rex are unpalatable, and a number of the white residents would rather not pay. It wasn't to pay they went to Fiji. Some of them choose to doubt the levy or the force of the Act of Constitution. Mr. S. C. Burt, Chief Secretary, suggests that certain persons who have displayed gratuitous impertinence in calling upon him to resign are disappointed applicants for Government employment. Thereupon ODe of the malecontents turns sharply upon Mr. Burt, and wants to know if he would have been so saucy when he " was a servant in the employ of Moore and Co., of the Labor Bazaar, in Pitt-street, Sydney — from which he was ignominously dismissed ? " The non-payers of taxes having been branded as of vagrant habits, and as desirous of uncontrolled licence, one of them issues this significant challenge : — " Let those who dare thus speak to us (who, at least, have good characters to lose), dare accompany us to tbe colonies or Europe. A vessel shall be chartered, upon which they shall be passengers, free of expense, provided that sufficient security be given that they will remain on board for six hours, by which time it will doubtless be ascertained which are those whose * vagrant habits ' have ioduced (I dare say compelled) them to desert those colonies where their sweetness was wasted upon the desert air, and where tbeir accomplishments were less appreciated than even they are in Fiji." Warm criticism this ! The Australian Telegraph. — A recent Adelaide telegram says : — A telegram was received from Mr. Todd, the inspector of telegraphs, last night, dated February 16. He reports the safe arrival of the Omeo, Young Australian, and Bengal at the Roper River landing place about 100 miles up the river. As it was of the utmost importance to land the horses as quickly as possible, he decided upon taking the Omeo up the river at the risk of the Government, giving the captain a guarantee. She got up sixty miles without difficulty, and landed the horses safely. The Young Australian towed the A~)meo and Bengal to the landing place, where the teams for the interior were waiting. The river is a splendid one, aud vessels drawing 14ft. of water would have -no difficulty in proceeding up it. Mr. Todd intends to take the Tararua at least 60 miles, and probably to the landing place. The work has been retarded by the early setting in of the monsoon and a rainfall of extraordinary severity. Twenty-three inches fell in December, 18in. in the first three weeks of January, and at the Roper during the last week over lOiu. 1 fell. Three constructing parties are at work on the line extending from the Catherine to south of the Daly waters. Mr. Paterson left there on the 23rd of December, for the Roper, to meet the Bengal, -when work on the two sections was steadily progressing, and Burton, with an advanced party, had reached within 40 inilesof the, Daly waters. All are provisioned : for some time to come. Mr. Todd cannot start the teams from the Roper till the country is drier, without a certain loss. Everything is being done to push the work forward. Mr. King will be started for the south of the Daly waters in a. few days after the arrival of the steamer Tararua to organise the express services. A telegram was received from the interior announcing that 45 miles of the northern section had been, poled and wired a'fdrteight back/

Labor on. THE ; West Coast.— The. West Port Times, of March 20, has the following remarks on the scarcity t of labour at Inangahua .Charleston. —'' Wa shall. be : glad to see the working classes well paid for their labor, but we have no desire to see productive fields deserted, nor do we wish to see necessary public works at a stand still in consequence of scarcity of labor. -~ Ret there^is no disguising the fact that there is every probability of such a state of .things, existing here. Tbe General Government are now, it appears, consulting with Provincial authorities as to the desirability of bringing Chinese labor to bear upon the public works of the country. We would suggest as a preferable course that the scarcity of labor in New Zealand be made known in the Australian colonies, and tbat assisted passages be provided to those who wish to come. All that is required is a little liberality on the part of the Government, and the country will be quickly supplied without resorting to the ' Heathen Chinee.' " The Sparrows.— The Westport Times commenting on the proceedings of the Stoke Farmers' Club, says :— " The. poor sparrows, which the Acclimatisation Society of Nelson took so much pains to introduce from the mother country, seem to have found mortal enemies among the farmers of the hamlet of -Stoke,- near Nelson. At the last meeting of the Stoke Farmers' Club, the Chairman asked ihe committee appointed to collect information respecting the sparrows, to make their statements. The committee stated several fads showing that where these birds are numerous they have caused great destruction to corn crops • they attack . the standing, corn as soon as the grain begins to form in the ear, and continue their havoc until harvest. The meeting adopted a resolution unanimously, to the effect that the Superintendent and Provincial Council should be asked to withdraw the protection to the sparrows, to enable the farmers to shoot them while attacking the corn crops. Frederick the Great of Prussia, who, it seems, was a great lover of cherries, issued an order tbat all small birds should be destroyed because he was told they devoured the cherries; so far as could be done, his orders were of course obeyed, with the result that in a few years there was not a cherry to be got throughout the kingdom, the insects had not only devoured the fruit, but destroyed the trees."