THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 33, 7 February 1874, Page 2

THE WEEK.

A change has certainly come over the spirit of our dreams in Nelson. Who would have imagined three years ago that in so short a time the Superintendent would amid signs of general approval have come down to the Council and asked them to support him in obtaining a loan of a quarter of a million for public works ? Who would have suppo3ed that anyone would have been bold enough to propose that, in anticipation of the power to raise such a loan, stepß would be taken to procure at once a quarter of that sum? And yet it has been done, and the Council bas sanctioned the proceeding, and the province from one end to the other approves of it. Again, the desire is expressed to obtain a monthly supply of immigrants. The resolution of the Council to this effect is telegraphed to head-quarters, and in two days time there is flashed back the answer that orders have been wired to the Agent-General in London to attend at once to the wishes of the Nelson people as expressed by their representatives, and by this day week, probably, Dr Featherston will have received his instructions. This is a different state of things to that to which we have been accustomed, and unless we are all woefully mistaken in our calculations, we shall have no cause to regret the stepß we have taken in a progressive direction, but shall rather be congratulating ourselves ere long that we had awakened to the necessity of effecting a change in the now existing order of things. The Council has been hard at work this week, and although there have of course been some unnecessarily long speeches made, and discussions introduced that might just as well have been omitted altogether, a very general desire has been displayed to proceed with business, and at tbe same time not to pass any of the important measures that have been brought down by the Government in too hurried a manner. The somewhat dreary routine of the ordinary business was on one occasion enlivened by a spirited encounter between a member who holds a seat in the Executive, and one who does not. There was a savour of pistols and coffee about it that I regret to say was not treated with that gravity which might hnve been expected from a body of men who, from the tone of the discussion,

werenot at all sure at the time that, supposing them both to be crack shots, two of their number would not be in a position to claim their honorarium for attendance in the Council Chamber on the following day, but the challenge to repeat outside the Chamber the statement which appeared to be offensive was listeued to with a smothered laugh that was quite unbecoming so solemn an occasion. Fortunately, however, the affair terminated pacifically, and some of the members regret that such a scene should have occurred, and others that the Speaker did not come between the disputants a little earlier. A proposition was made by one of the members on Thursday night that is worthy of consideration. It was to the

effect that a good and reliable account of the mineral resources of Collingwood should be prepared for publication in

the colonies and in England, It is quite time that we took some steps to make known what inducements we have

to offer to capitalists. We are about to import labor, but we must also hold out some attractions to moneyed men to come amongst us if we desire to become a really prosperous community. What do tb,ey know about Nelson at home at the present moment? Perhaps some who are anxious to emigrate wish to learn something about us, and for the want of better information tbey turn to the pages of the 'Imperial Gazetteer,' whiqh professes to be "a general dictionary of geography, physical, political, statistical, and descriptive, " and there they find the following faithful description of our province: — "Nelson, a town and settlement, New Zealand, north end of Middle Island, finely situated on a flat, hemmed

in by rugged hills, at the south-east extremity of Blind Bay, and the mouth of a small river called the Maitai. Tho beauty of the site scarcely compensates for the serious disadvantage of having a harbor which only admits vessels of 500 tons at high water, and is left dry at ebb, and of being surrounded by a district much more remarkable for its romantic beauties than for its agricultural capabilities. The progress of tbe settlement has consequently been slow, and the town, though founded in 1841, and as well planned as circuraatances would permit, continues to be little better than a straggling village, It consists of several streets surrounding a square raised about 40 feet above them, and containing in its centre an Episcopal church, built of wood, in the form of a cross. There are also a Wesleyan chapel neatly built of brick, a literary institution with a small library, and an agricultural and horticultural Society." Imagine any one who intended to proceed to the colonies selecting Nelson as his future home after such a description as that. The harbor which is "dry at ebb tide " will only admit vessels of 500 tons at high water j there is no agricultural land, no reference is made to our minerals; and the town cousists of several streets, a wooden church, and a brick chapel. We who know better m^y be disposed to laugh at this, but it is no laughing matter, for whicb one of us would think of going to suoh a place as the British publio are

led to suppose Nelson province to be. It is indeed high time that we asserted ourselves iv a manner slightly diffgrent ttom this, and while 1. quite agree with the member who proposed that the resources of Collingwood should be made public, I would go much further, and say that a handbook of the whole province should be published, and that it it cost £1000 the money would not be thrown away, but in the course of o year or two would be returned ,to us ten times over. We talk a good deal about our minerals but there is one metal in which we are very deficient. We sadly want more brass. We are too modest altogether. If we were as bumptious as Wellington, as egotistical as Otago, or as self-asserting as Canterbury we should be in a far better position than we are now. If we were to lay in a store of big trumpets, and blow them lustily ourselves in the event of our not being abla to get others to do it for us, ,we should soon bring some people here to see what all the noise was about, and I will answer for it that if they ooce came there would be plenty of them who would allow that we had not made such a fuss about nothing. Suppose we try, even though it should cost us the price of a bridge over the Maitai to do bo. v