THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 136, 7 June 1873, Page 2

THE WEEK.

Pheasant shooting by day and Provincial Council at night. Can anyone conceive a more tempting bill of fare for one whose time hangs heavily on his hands ? And yet Nelson has been in a position to offer such inducements to any enterprising stranger who was disposed to spend a few days in this busy city. I may have something to say about the pheasant shooting presently, but just now I must confine my remarks to the Council. There was a larger attendance at the Hall on Thursday night than has yet assembled during the present session, the great object of interest being the debate on the Education Bill, In this measure there was much that was objectionable,

and many people hoped tbat-it, would not be allowed; to go -tpj .the second reading, bujt those v?lig rem|ined whiles |be:>Gouncil was in Committee tausfc hafoa (fei^ gratified that it was allowed I 'to enter thai; stage, as the discussion that ensued was inost interesting, and highly creditable to our Provincial legislature. There wasa very,, general feeling displayed that^ifc was un-! desirable to deprive tbe Local Committees of exercising the freest choice in the selection of a schoolmaster, lest by depriving them of this privilege, the inducement to take a warm interest in the educational system should be lessened. Viewing it simply as a matter of expediency, I have no doubt that those who argued in this way were, in the right, but at the same time my own opinion is tbat it would tend to the better working of the system. did the appointment of teachers rest solely with the Central Board. I daresay that in expressing such an opinion I shall be bringing down on my head the wrath of the Local Boards, amongst the members of which, I am glad to say, I can enumerate many personal friends, but still I like to speak put my own private thoughts occasionally, and I am sure that I and those who think differently on this subject can agree to differ without quarrelling over the question at issue. The antiBible reading clause was quietly but completely disposed bf by the Speaker, and those who have specially interested themselves in this matter may rest well satisfied as to the ultimate result of the attempt to drive .that j Book out of our schools whether the parents in the various 'districts do'or do not desire that their children should be mado acquainted with itß contents. lam glad that the discussion took place, and only regret that the Hall was not as full as on the occasion of a public meeting. I have a thousand a-year. . I am sorry to be compelled to add as a rider to the above assertion tbat this is not an absolutely correct financial statement, but merely represents a purely suppositious case, so perhaps I had better put it in a different form. Suppose I have a thousand a-year. lam a prudent man and like to lay out ray means in the way best calculated to add to my comfort and well-being. So, at the beginning of the year I make up my mind, after much thought, how I will spend my money. I set aside £500 a year* for household expenses, £150 for keeping my carriage and horses, £100 for my wife's bonnets, £100 for my own private expenses, and £150 for contingencies. And so my £1000 is disposed of. But after a time I begin to think that I could spend another hundred in renewing the fences round my little property; £50 might be very well laid out in constructing a new and a better carriage drive from my gate to the housei £100 expended in draining my grass paddocks would not be thrown away, and so I determine to enter upon these works without making any j alteration in my first intentions with re- | gard to the manner of spending , my income. "Why, what an ass the fellow is," I fancy I hear somebody say, "he starts With saying that he has a thousand a-year, and then tells us that out of that sum he is going to spend £1250." My excellent j critic! I have the best of precedents for j pursuing such a oourse. '; Does not that sapient body, the Provincial Council? vote the whole of the revenue as recommended in the Estimates sent down by tbe Government, and then say that it will devote £10,000 more to something else ? If the Council can spend £80,000 out of £70,000, why should not I, in my more humble way, spend £1250 out of £1000 ? Answer me that. lam not quite sure tbat I should like to be the first European child born, in any remote district -in this province. Of course it would be a most honorable position to occupy, but before coming into the world, I think, with my present experience, I should like to bargain that neither I, nor my father, nor my mother, nor anybody belonging to me should ever have a friend who was likely at any time to be elected, tp the Provincial Council. This thought did not occur to me last Saturday, or I might have mentioned it, but after hearing what I have heard since then, I am inclined to think that it would not be an act of unmixed kindness on the part of any of my well-wishers to introduce my supposed claims into the Council with the certainty that the result of their ;• so doing would be to make me a butt at which witty legislators! would , aim their jokes. More especially should I object, if the name bestowed upon me by my godfathers and godmother was provocative of puns. I think it is scarcely necessary for me to state here what 1 it ; is that has given rise to these remarks, y ■ . ■ .- ? Every sportsman i^.coijQplainin'g of the scarcity of the pheasants this year, and most of them attribute it to the same cause, namely, to tbe poaching that goes on during what, is. facetiously, J .presume, termed; the"": close season,'/ If sly shooting or trapping is really, carried on to the extent complained of, would it not be to the. itftferest of lhe j Acclimatisia tion Society to devote a portion of its funds to the payment of a ranger or rangers, whose duty it should be to inform against any one who was detected in a breach of the law. Unless something of this kind" is done, there will be ,a considerable falling off in the fees next year, as nobody will care to take out a license, simply because there will be nothing to shoot. The public have gone to great expense in introducing game, but if the birds are to be shot down indiscriminately: all tbe year round, they are not likely to reap much benefit from the money they have laid out in this direction. We all like to see these birds about us, and many of us know how to appreciate a few days' sport in the year, but if a stop is not put to the present system of poaching which, it is said, is so largely, indulged in, pheatfatits, quail, and all game of this description will speedily become extinct. F.