THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 45, 21 February 1874, Page 2

THE WEEK.

If I wore to confine myself to purely local matters this week, I should have but little to write about, Au ordinary steeplechase meeting is different from a dinner to a Premier. You can't dress .it up twice, for when people have read the report they have had quite enough of it, and they do not give the matter another thought. But a great dinner is quite another thing. You can talk about it, and think about it, and write about it. It will bear comment and gives rise to discussion. Some people like the speeches and think they were perfect, while others toke a different view of them, and say where and wherefore they disagree with the sentiments expressed. And bo it is, in some respects, like that great big joint of beef we can recollect as schoolboys To-day it is set before us just hot from | the oven or spit; to-morrow cold, and if the houst keeper is of a thrifty or careless disposition, there are not even pickles to give it a flavor; and on the third day the remains are hashed, nnd it depends upon the cook whether that, hash is eatable or not. If there are no onions, and the gravy in which it swims is very watery with just a thin coating of grease on the surface, it is not a nice dish, but with plenty of spice and sauce piquant it may be made very pleasant and appetising. Sometimes the speeches of great men are treated in all these various ways. Being 1 one of the cooks engaged for the purpose, I had an opportunity hat week of making a hash of one I of them, and some people, I believe, say that I did so iv every sense of the word, while others did not altogether dislike it.v Then, again, it is not always that one gels the chance of writing about n premature session of Parliament, but, although the mess is not yet floundered out of, the subject is now getting a little stale, while la3t week it was as fresh as a hot loaf. So that this Saturday iB very different from last Saturday to the writer of a history of the week. Our new San Francisco service has not been inaugurated very successfully. It was rather a bold stroke to attempt to make the first boat of the Hdo the bearer of a felon of the blackest dye f'fom here to America, WTih which country it. is our object to establish friendly relitious. When the Yankees hear of the favor we were desirous of bestowing upon them, I suspect- they will not be too well pleased. Our Government could not make up its mind at the time of the conviction of one of the vilest murderers thatever iliagraced the face of God'a earth, to hang him, so they sentenced him to lifelong imprisonment, but latterly they appear to have been uneasy in (heir minds about the justice, or shall I say the policy, of their proceedings, and so, without any pressure". being brought to bear upon them,' they" determined to give him an oppo|Hjnity of slaying a few more harmles^^^^duals, But ours is a paternal Gov^^ffi^nt, and has some ,care for the lives or "thp.se Y&hpse affairs it manages,^.iand so ifr'tfe^o&d: that it would be preferable that j£aieri- ' cans should be tho victim? of Sull£gan's brulal instincts. This was thoughiftj], but at the: same time thoughtless-,. . It might, or at least it should, have occurred to our rulers that the Yankees might' possibly be induced to retaliate, and as they have the advantage 1 of us ' ia population, and consequently have a far larger number of criminals in their gaols than we have at our disposal, they would, be. in a position to forward to our care tejn, or even a hundred, villains for every one that we can send to them, so that if Sullivan reached , them in safety they would probably favor us with say one shipload v a year of men such as be, and we could not in decency refuse to receive (hem, for with us had originated the idea, and the practice; of I ihtokibg^ibftese . international exchanges. We talk a good fdoal about our public works and immigration policy, but the idea of importing immigrants of this -particular class scarcely entered into our calculations, so perhaps it would have been wiae to think twice about it before making up our minda to commence a little game at which two can play, especially when it so happens that; the other side is better able to play it than ourselves. . < . I like. horse racing. I don't mean to say that I am an admirer of all the little dpdgeß and shady transactions to which it occasionally gives rise, but still at is a sport of which I am not -ashamed to admit that I am very fond. Sometimes I ami fortunate enough to " win half-a-crqwn upou some one of the events, and occasionally, I am sorry to say, Hose one, but it is not to make money ttiat I attend a meeting, but because I thoroughly: enjoy the sport* 'Ofcourse then I -was at Wakefleld on ■Tlxureday, and being there I could not ,{ie(p noticing a great falling off in the attendance as compared with what it tisefd to' be -some- -three or' four years ago. The sanie thing may bo said of the-NeljSon races, and it mußt occur to everyone who thinks over it that, the reason -of this is that Nelson : cannot afford to hold two meetings. I suppose that everybody, will admit that the interest attached to the sport depends rrainly upon the numbar aud the class of horses ongaged in itj and as we have not sufficient animals iv the place to make up a thoroughly' good race we must try and induce others to come from elsewhere. To do this we must offer prizes worth haviDg, but if we subdivide the funds at our disposal into small and insignificant parcels we'

must be content year after year to see the same number and the same desciiptioD, if not the very same horses come out. The question is whether it is better to have two paltry little meetings a year, or whether it would not be wiser for the two clubs to combine, and form one stroDg body capable of offering a couplo of days' really good sport .to the public. At least that is *be question I would like to submit to the consideration of the members of the two clubs; for my own part I have not the slightest difficulty in answering it. F.