THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 148, 22 June 1872, Page 2

THE WEEK.

In sitting down to compose these weekly effusions of mine, I sometimes feel that I can fully sympathise with the schoolboy, who on his return to his halfyearly studies has it impressed upon him by the parental authorities that he is to be sure to write home regularly and tell them how he is getting on, what has happened at school, and so forth. He promises, and, as in duty bound, sits down to fulfil his promise; the date flows glibly from his pen, and he even gets as far as "My dear Father," without the least hesitation, but there he stops, for he has not the slightest notion what is to follow that opening line. Just now lamin a similar predicament; I have dashed off the title For remainder of news see fourth page.

cf my letter, "The Week," and am blindly trusting to chance to furnish me •with some happy ideas upon which to found the sentences that I know have to be penned whether there be straw or no straw wherewith to make the bricks of which this column is to be built. The reference to schoolboyhood has reminded me that in the week now passing away there has occurred the anniversary of a certain event that in my boyish days was invariably attended with great rejoicings. Bells rung from the church Bteeples, flags . fluttered from every mast, and the band of youngsters, of which I formed a small part, did not consider that their muchcherißhed sixpences were thrown away in the purchase of a few fireworks, or the material for a bonfire, which should light up the summer evening on the 18th of June, not did we ever tire of standing in the flickering light, and listening to the anecdotes that would be told us by our fathers of the part they or some of their intimate friends had taken, some thirty years previously, in the glorious Battle of Waterloo. But all that has passed and gone now, and the events of our own time have greatly, dimmed our recollection of the deeds of the heroes of that field. Sobrasn and Aliwal, Balaclava and Inkerman, Lucknow and Delhi, Solferino and Magenta, Woerth and Sedan — these are the names tbat have tended to efface from our memories that of Waterloo, but for my own part, I confess that if I had to choose between the thrilling letters of the Daily News correspondent and a welltold tale of Waterloo day, I should select the latter. It may be that my ideas have not kept pace with the times, but I must admit that I would rather read of the splendid charges of both the English and French troops on the 18th of June 1815, than of the thousands who fell in the year 1870 before the murderous machines tbat were mowing them down from a distance of a mile or two, and against which human courage and endurance were most unequally pitted. However, it is not my business to enlarge just now upon the events of sixty years ago, but rather to deal with those of the present day. I, among [others, was looking forward eagerly to an interesting trial that rumor said was to take place in the Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday next, when six members of the Provincial Council were to be brought before the Bench to answer to the charge that they did " confeder" together against another member of that august body with a view to bringing him into "public hatred and contempt." There was something in tbat terrible word "confeder" that in itself was awe-inspiring to a non-legal mind, and it was generally felt that the solemnity of the coming trial would far surpass anything of the kind ever known in Nelson. I myself was so impressed with tbe gravity of the occasion that I actually forgot to smile when seriously asked by an acquaintance whether the conspirators would make their appearance in the dock with wrist and ancle ornaments such as adorned the persons of Burgess and Kelly. Although I refrained from hazarding a reply at the time, I may now state tbat, on making enquiry, I have ascertained that it would not have been deemed necessary to proceed to such an extreme, but that those who did " cohfeder " together would have appeared in Court in their ordinary attire, and unaccompanied by the musical ring of clanking irons. However, whether this would or would not have been the case matters not now, for, with our usual ill luck, we are to be denied even this little excitement that had been promised us, and are not to be edified by the gratifying exhibition to which we had looked forward, the party who deemed himself aggrieved having thought it prudent not to proceed with the charge. I wonder, if a stranger were to pay a visit to Nelson at the present time and notice the shifts to which we are put to supply our grates with fuel, whether he could by any possibility be persuaded that this province is one that has been specially favored by Nature with a bountiful supply of coal; that it has five proved mines, two of which have been worked for some time and have produced an article that is not to be surpassed in the Southern Hemisphere, and that two more can be rendered easily available. I imagine that, if the said stranger happened to be a Yankee, he would guess and calculate that we weren't half smart in these parts, and that we should be treated to a lively, and possibly a correct description of what they would do in America under similar circumstances. It seems, however, that at last we have awakened to the fact that we need not. be , entirely dependent upon Newcastle to supply us. with an article that we have in abundance at our own doors, it having been discovered, after years and years of working the mine, that a cheap tramway, which:; in two years would pay for its construction over and over again, can be constructed between Brunnerton and the port, by which a plentiful supply of coal may be ensured

at a cheap rate. We have been very hard to awake to the importance of this subject, but now that our slumbers have been disturbed, it is to be hoped that there will be no unnecessary yawning, and stretching, and rubbing of eyes, but that we shall go to work at once and with a will. The Collingwood Company too have shown signs of resuscitation, and, stirred to action by the high prices prevailing, and the possible money advance from the Provincial Government, they have determined to set to work again at once and supply the market with what at present is not to be had for love or money. The present scarcity of this commodity is not likely to be remedied for some time by supplies from Außtraliß, for although every steamer that arrives from tbence brings the news of vessels having sailed from Newcastle to the other ports of New Zealand, there is no mention made of any clearance for Nelson, which promises literally, as well as figuratively, to be left out in the cold. Yet another of those gold speculations,, for the failure of which Nelson has of late years obtained so unpleasant a notoriety, is about to come to grief, at least so I judge from an advertisement that recently appeared calling upon the shareholders in the Matakitaki Dredging Company to meet for the purpose of considering the desirability of winding up the affair. How loiDg is it to be before the directors of some of our Companies are to be called together to discuss the amount of dividends to be declared^? A notification of such a meeting would be hailed with gratification and astonishment in equal proportions. F.