THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 309, 28 December 1872, Page 2

THE WEEK.

" Dreadfully bot isn't it ?" " A merry Christmas to you." I scarcely know how many times I have been addressed io these terms within the last seven days, but I am sure it is more tban once. Were ever two greetings more incompatible ? The compliments of the season with the thermometer,at 85 ia the shade ! I daresay that every one of those who»thus expressed these kindly wishes was perfectly in earnest, but I do wish they would not attempt * to combine merriment with heat. The very idea is overpowering. I think that those who send telegrams from England which reach us in seven days, would do a good service if they were to omit half the rubbish Jwitb -which they burden tbe wires, and in the place thereof tell us something about the weather in the old country. Ifc would be refreshing to learn that snow was falling somewhere a few days ago. A sensation of coolness to which we have long been strangers, might, for aught we know to the contrary, be conveyed by telegraph. Leaving a snowclad, ice-bound country, and passing under the depths of the sea it might — but no, there is that arid continent of Australifi, where sunstrokes are more common th*en snowflakes, to be crossed, and then it has to be carried over to us iv a puffing perspiring steamer. lam afraid there is no available remedy, but that we must quietly wait until June or July when we shall be in a position to laugh at our scorched-up friends in the mother country. The week has been devoted to employments and amusements of a nature the reverse of cool. Decorating churches when there is a foot of snow on the ground, and tbe interior of the building is kept at a comfortable temperature bymeaDS of hotwater pipes, is a very different matter to what it is here where the ascent of a fifteenfoot ladder is atteuded with serious consequences to paper collars which are not calculated to absorb moisture with impunity to the button holes. A pleasant sail in a well appointed boat, with a protecting awniDg is one thing, pulling iv a five-oared race is another. Cricket too has its drawbacks. There is something inspiriting in catching a leg ball a good whack that is good for four, but to go at racehorse speed under a burning sun while an admiring audience quietly lolling on tbe grass claps its hands and shouts, 'Go it Dick, Tom, or Harry," is not altogether conducive to comfort. The mention of cricket reminds me that I have a word or two to say on this subject. A friend of mine with whom lam on intimate terms is, in the course of his ordinary avocations, occasionally called upon to report matches of a more than usually interesting description, and he has, in my hearing, bitterly complained that no accommodation' whatever is provided on a Nelson cricket ground for the representatives of the press. He presumes that the players like to have their proceedings reported, while they offer no facilities whatever to those engaged in carrying out their wishes. Neither tent nor table are' available, but the unhappy man has to squat down on the ground in a broiling sun, and jot down bis notes. If these be occasionally soured by such unnecessary exposure to the heat he is of opinion that none but those who have the management of the matches are to blame. I am rather inclined to agree with him. In the matter of mails, Nelson is not fortunate, and liberties are taken with her that would never be thought of with regard to other provinces, or, if attempted, would be stoutly resented. It appears that the Nevada, after* being three weeks late, is to leave Auckland, with the outward mail, on the 3rd proximo, and the happy thought appears to have struck the postal authorities in Wellington tbat advantage should be taken of an excursion , steamer that .was to run across last night, and that the mail should be made up by her four or five days before there was any occasion for it to arrive in Wellington. Notice to this effect was tele-, graphed over on the afternoon of Boxing Day, a public Holiday, when. all^the places of business were closed, and ttiesraail, according to instructions, was; despatched that sight, Ad offer to send the Wallace '

over on Tuesday for £75 has been refused, and consequently a large proportion of tbe correspondence that should have gone by this intermittent Sao Francisco mail will have to be held over for another month. I wonder which would preponderate, if they could all be collected together, lhe blessings or tbe curses that have been heaped on this precious eervice. F.