THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 209, 30 August 1873, Page 2

TH E W E EK.

The General Assembly^ still contmues to fill <M telegraphic columns w[th a ddearl r of highly, unintei'estipg,. but Borne what- expensive, news. The lack of interest in the proceedings is no" d'oubfi- attributable to the absence of any fighting propensities on the part of thescftttefed' forces! of fthe Opposition, but the Government, it appears, has at length given- a s decided challenge which is likely to be responded to, so that next week : bay expect to hear of some, lively debajtiaa." in ; the' place of the very tame* discussions .that have hitherto been the • order of the day. Our railway ; ; prospects; ! are; ' improving, and . no;twithsiandipgf the , kindly wish of a , P.unedin. . :paper, ; the Guardian, which has v the goodneßS to „ say "We hope Nelson will .be disappointed," there is evjer.y^ ireaspn to [. believe that the commencement, bf ;i the work is to be decided upon. The Guardian, it Beems, objects ' io< Nelsodi ' making a , determinedly r stand and using' , every effort to secure this railway,. It |s highly improperin- 2STelsbn^constituencies to demand of : their re^re|ehtati|es : th]at they should act firmly and! in ; concert in. this matter. ?cqbal?ly; that : arises , ; frpm . the fact that: Otago: and .Auckiand;: have hitherto bail /It "■ all';thtei.r bwii' way in the matter of cau.cuse|B.'.'aiid so, on, to resdrjt to. 'which they regard /as, their, special, pre- < jogative, and consequentiy are a little jealous of any'd'tner province acting in a similar manner. ' But they have set ub so good an example and have shown what advantages are- to : be r^gained* i by ■ -uria^ nimity and bringing* pressure to Ab'eaf) that we really must ask the Guardian to be kind enough, to 1 allow us itb < follow in; , their footsteps "without^ : |' ? deyotjng'| 'ano^ier; 1 halfcoluinn x>( ! at^tt<iv^ of fact," ißaya r this ,.t(iunppr^r r ■[*~tjhi,B/Hp©would not pay- in' the present circumßtan« ces of the province." Perhaps" 16^;'but;might I<-sagge'Bt f - r tha't r with' this railway J constructed, the province will tfo s forig : c'r w be in its ptesent'.cir.cumstancesii'i ßecause' we are not; in a flourishing coadition jtHSl[' now, we.arfi^nfjt; to try to improve condition! jlJ^. jppwerful argument, indsecj, ; , but how longiß it to remain in force? Axe.) we never to' try to progress simply beca!ußß;- -, w :e.are in a'sijtat^ oF' s n6niprogresßion think the writer of these very shrewd ,r<£. marks must have taken his pen in hand 1 immediately after a perusal of tive story that is told of $$np*Vs?s* c boy who solemnly r j»vov»^^': "that' he " would ne«er go iniothW watet'untrl he'"^^^ able to swim. At least itvM {£##«?&^ akiu to

- v For remainder qf neiba see fourth page. |

thirthatis volunteered , by our amiable -■cenaorif*^ -\.-/v i; - •' •" - : :^ A painful and most disagreeable trial haft occupied the Supreme Court during the greater par ; t of the present week. I am not going to enter into the merits or otherwise of the plaintiff's or defendants side of the question, but merely refer to it toiaay how gratified and pleased everyone who has attended the Court has been at the delicate and temperate manner in which thevcase, which in itself was bubbling ■ over with nasly details, was conducted. All grossness, all matters calculated to do violence to the feelings of either of those immediately concerned, or of the audience, except, where it was absolutely necessary to refer to them, have been carefully kept out of sight, and the counsel on both sides cannot be too highly complimented upon the delicacy of feeling and gentlemanly spirit they have displayed throughout the whole trial. It has been a lengthy, a disgusting, and a really painful caseV and it ig to be hoped that it may be long ere such another is heard in Nelßon. Grumblings are to be heard on all sides from jnrymen'fwho have been kept in waiting at the Court to try cases which from the first it was pretty well known could scarcely come on for hearing until next week. It seems hard, and certainly must have been annoying to those who wer« thus detained,' but as in reply to a complaint to Ibis effect from one of their number, the Judge stated that he did not see how it was to be avoided, I suppose they must bear their ills patiently. After all, I daresay it is less harassing and expensive to be a juror in waiting, than a plaintiff or defendant in a lawsuit. That perhaps is poor comfort, but still it iB comforting. Blenheim has been visited by another heavy flood, nearly as serious as that experienced a few weeks ago. It must be exceedingly unpleasant to have two or three feet of water in your sitting room every now and then, but, in addition to this, it appears that such visitations produce other consequences of an alarming nature. Strange as it may appear at first sight, it is nevertheless a fact that a superabun-^ ance of water in that peculiar little town leads to a greater consumption of spirits than is calculated to benefit the consumer. A witness in the late trial has told <us this on path, and was perfectly astounded to find that any inferences derogatory to his character should be deduced from his confession that he got drunk "at floodtime." If this is the ordinary result of a flood at Blenheim, no doubt, the swelling river gave rise to much anxiety last Wednesday,; especially among the teetotallers of the district, but the darkest cloud, is said to have a silver lining, and over the * sea of troubles by which they were 'Surrounded, it is pleasing to hear that one solitary gleam of light was to be eeen. As some alleviation of the distress of the Blenheinrites, we are told — told by telegraph, which does not communicate news [ for, nothing — - that even on that gloomy day, "the Express was published as usual." Here are glad tidings, indeed, and we can fully appreciate the sensation of relief experienced by the watersurrounded people, on finding that their troubles had not reached an intolerable climax, for through rain and river' there came the Express to gladden their afflicted jbearts. It might, one would have thought, have occurred to the telegraph agent that —deeply fraught with consolation to the amphibious residents in the flooded town, as the advent of the Express undoubtedly must have been—it was not a matter of such immediate 1 interest to those living in other parts of, the colony, and that they could have waited patiently, and without a murmer ..for the arrival of the Express itself to convey to them the cheering tidings that it had not been washed out to sea. In a Yankee paper there once appeared a paragraph to the following effects— •" We Btop the press to say that there is Dothing , new," Of equal importance was the telegram concerning the Express, There has been a heavy hailstorm at Richmond, which, had it occurred a month later, when the trees were in blossom, : would probably have done considerable damage. Hailstones, as a rule, gradually melt away, and become beautifully less shortly after their, descent from a higher sphere, but there was a peculiarity about these particular hailstones that struck me as being unusual. When first I heard of them they were*' as big as pebbles," whatr ever that might mean. The next storyj and I believe it, coming as it did from excellent authority,-— was, that " they would not pasß through a three-inch ring." A little later, I was told that they were "as large as hen's eggs." lam living in ex- , pectation of the climax being reached shortly by the moa's egg being introduced into the report. Should there be any tendency that way during ' the ensuing : week, I will mention it in my next. F.