THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 143, 17 June 1872, Page 2

THE WEEK.

" I've heard a good deal about your Nelson weather, but I can't say I think much of It myself." So remarked one of the Wellington visitors to me the other day, and I admit that I had nothing to say in reply. Of course I might have enlarged upon the lovely cloudless days of which we had had so manj just previous to their arrival, but that was not to the point. There was the humiliating fact that for four or five successive days the Nelson weather behaved in a manner that was positively disgraceful, and for unpleasantness and general d'isajjreeableness could not be outdone in any other part of this or any other country, bnow-capped hills are certainly most picturesque features in a landscape, but I think they look better, and show to greater advantage at a distance, and when the white mass does not descend below a boundary line at, eay, 3,000 feet above the sea. At that altitude we can look up to it with respect, but when it comes nearer to us we feel that it is taking a liberty which leads to unpleasant things being said about it. A week ago the remark was frequently to be heard that winter seemed to have forgotten us this year, but the most exacting can scarcely complain now of any neglect on its part. Football seems to be a nice game, particularly whea the ground is muddy aud slippery. Strength, activity, aud swiftness of foot are certainly necessary to make a good player, but above all this, good temper would to be the chief essential. To be knocked down, jumped upon hy a score of smart young lellows, and then on getting out of the mess to be rewarded for the pluck and tenacity you have displayed by a kick on the shins with a boot that was not made for dancing in, is scarcely a course of treatment that all could be expected to submit to with equanimity, and I think the eight and twenty players who kicked, and scrambled, and scrimmaged in such gallant style on Tuesday last have fully established, a claim to be considered the most .good tempered of mortals. An idea suggested itself to my mind while watching the game. I could not but think that the individual who had the ball in his possession, and for

that reason waß thrown down and almost torn to pieces by the others who tried hard to tear it from his grasp wos very like Mr. Vogel iu the last session of the Assembly with the millions at his disposal. Set upon by the members from the various provinces, each of them anxious to get all they could from him, his' feelings mu9t, have been very similar to those of the. underneath player in a scrimmage. We canuot, carry out the simile though, for the football players who went, in for a rou»h and tumble generally rose from it befdastered with mud from head to foot, wbereiis it is well known that all who take part, in a political scramble in variably come out of it wilh clean hands. I h>ive heard three or four words uttered this week I ha' have been a sour e of the greatest gratification to n)e. I allude to the concluding paragraph of the speech delivered by the Superintendent yesierday, which runs as follows, " I now declare this Council prorogued." Those whose duty hfts not called them to sit in the Council Chamber night after night will hardly be able to understand th pleasure with which I listened to his Honor, as in tones th«r never before appeared to be so mellifluous, he uttered these half-dozen words, but anyone who has occasionally dropped in for an hour will, I am sure, fully sympathise with me. A good deal of necessary work lihs been got through within the last six weeks, but. a more uninteresting session to those o'ltsMe •he bar, excepting, of course,' the last wei-k, during which there has been no lack of excitement, it is scarcely possible to conceive. But we have done with it for another year, and the question is gradually beginning to force itself upon our attention; how many more sessions of a Provincial legislature shall we see ? Great changes are said to be at hand, and if not this year, we shall probably find in the following one that a deadly blow will be struck at Provincial institutions as they now exist. June 15. F.