THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 51, 28 February 1874, Page 2

THE WEEK.

I have derived a considerable amount of amusement fiom the perusal of the New x Z aland newspapers lately. All of them have something to ssy about Sullivan. When I was a little boy I used to be told that everything was sent into the world for some gooJ purpose. It did not matter whether it was a fly, or a flea, or a wasp, or a snake, or an alligator, all and each of them had pome special mission to fulfil. So with Sullivan. I cannot bring myself to believe that he took his placs araonu men merely for the purpose of depriving a certain number of his fellow-creatures of life. The end he was to achieve was a far higher one. It was, in my ilea, the developement of a considerable amount of latent talent among newspaper writers. lam not going to adduce more than two specimens of this kind of literature in support of my theory, but I am sure those two will ba sufficient to gain a number of converts to it. The first is from tho Wcstporl Times, and appears in the form of a letter. It is headed Murder! Murder ! ! Murder ! ! I and this is a portion of what the writer has to soy on the ! attractive theme:— "Such was the cry that echoed and re-echoed throughout the length and breadth of the colony a few short years ago. Tho victims are dead but not forgotten. From Westland, from Maungatapu, aud from the deep een, their blood now calls aloud for vengeauce on their living destroyer, who by the criminal sentimentality of those in authority is ODce more at large, once more at liberty to make homes desolate, wives widows, and children fatherless 1 . Sullivan the murderer is at large ! Will those who recollect the deadly horror, the awful suspense as to who would bo the. next victim, now stand idly by, knowing that at any moment the fate of untold previous I victims may be theirs? Men of Nelson I and of the West Coast, "arise, quit you like mcD, be strong," and," &c. I don't much like the "et cetera." It is but a poor finale to the magnificence of literature that precedes it, but still I have no alternative than to use it, if I wish, as I certainly i do, to spare my readers the infliction of any more words in the same strain. I hove one other choice extract to which I am anxious to give wiJer publication than it ha 3 hitherto received. The Timaru Herald is responsible for it: — " Tho hangman in Nelson sent the other three to their account, but this wretched old scarecrow was kept in ierrorem, uuder the impression, which waa very likely a correct one, that there were more foul birds of prey who might be secured by his treachery, or frightened away by the fear of it. He might have been often seen by thoße who frequented the precincts of the gaol at Dunedin, whether for pleasure, or of dire necessity, or in the cause of charity — an old decrepit man, verging on seventy perhaps, bent and feeble, but with a hideoous aspect still, and a baleful | glance of guilt and malice which made the flesh to creep. la that place, of course, he was rather a great man; fioun a child he had lived a life ot crime; as time went on and the plot thickened, he had passed from one stage of it to another, until there remained no sin he had not wallowed io, no law, divine or human, which he had not broken; and in bis later years he had steeped his very soul in blood. He was not chained or even made to share the ordinary labor of the gangs, but was kept a good deal in doors, and employed for amuafement, and exercise, in light work about the yards »nd gardens. It. was a strange sight, this frightful nightmare of coagulated wickedness; blistered with horrors; indurated with the life stream of victims; blasted by the isolation of his unique enormity; deafened by the sobs and shrieks of agonised despair; quivering beneath the rigid grasp of dying hands; branded by the burning gaze of eyes, which looked their last on this world, and their first on God; — quietly standing in the eun , with. a rake, weeding potyanthuses round the gaoler's door! If ever innocence and guilt, beauty and deformity, Heaven and Hell were brought together into contrast, they wero so there." Now I have in my lime read pages upon pages of sensationalism iv the London Journal and such like periodicals, but I am nevertheless strongly disposed to award the palm to New Zealand papers for excellence in this peculiar branch of powerful writing. Surely the Government must have known that this was a dull time of the year, and therefore were induced to let loose upon his fellow-men this para-graph-produciDg criminal. How we shall miss him when he is either expatriated or once again sent back to " weed polyanthuses " round the Dunedin gaoler's door! . The more that I am brought into contact with my fellow men and ascertain from them their views on various subjects, the greater is the difficulty in which I find myself with regard to the duties that devolve upon me in certain stations of life. It is not so very long since Mr Yogel, M.H.U., C.M.G., paid us a visit and impressed upon our minds the .necessity, of cultivating a strong parly feelipg, to which all other considerations were to be subservient. At all elections of members of the House of Representatives we were to ask ourselves, which set of men will such

and such a candidate support supposing (hat ho gets into Parliament. Having ascertained this we were to vote for or against him aa the fancy euited, but we were to take care that there was a. thorough understanding between ihe electors and the elected that (ho latter was, for the five years for which he was elected, to afford an unswerving support to that set of Ministers or opponents of the Miuistry, who met with his approval at the time of fit's being converted into an M H.R. I have been ruminating over tin's ever since and was just m»kiag up my mind to accept Mr Yokel's creed as the correct one, when down comes one Mr Mackune, D.W.M.T.0.G.T., and he tells us .that if we wish to be a happy and a prosperous community we must, in our selection of Provincial Councillors, Superintendents, or aspirants to even higher offices, make it a sine qua non that the candidate is a Good Templar. Now here is a terrible fix for a well meaning, but' not very strong willed man like myself to be placed in. lam ! an enthusiastic admirer of Mr Yogel, ! and as a general election ap- j proacheß, my friend Jones comes to me and says: — "Look here old fallow, you and I have had many a talk about the policy now in vogue in New Zealand, which, wo bolh agre?, is to rime this colony far above America, or Germany, or France, or any. other of those countries which occupy so insignificant a place in the world's history, and, as lam a staunch believer in the author of that policy, I trust I mny reckon on your vote," Of course I promiso it without hesitation, but it so happeus that a fortnight has elapsed since I had my last political talk with Jones at the Roaring Lion, and in the meantime I have seen the lolly of taking my pipe and half-pint in company with my old chums — in other wcrda I have become a Groi Templar. A few minutes later I see Robinson coming up the stree*. Now Robinson stands high in the estimation of Good Templars, and has a groat number of capital letters attached to his name. He was always a bit of a politician, and never believed much in Mr Yogel, and I have a slight sense of uncomfortableness creep over me as I Bee him approaching. He stops me. I have a presentiment of what is coming, and, although I quite expected it, I cannot suppress that goosetkinned sensation that cctnes over us all when we find ourselves in a fix, cs he pats me on the hack, takes me by the band nnd remarks with a couli'lent nir: — "Smith, my dear fellow, you are of course aware that the consituericy to which we belong will shortly be called upon (o elect a representative, and co I nm going to ask you for your vot p . I do so unhesitatingly because I have lenrned with much pleasure that you have recently joined the uoble Order of which I have ihe honor to be — T say it with pride — a distinguished member." Although a collision is imminent between my shoulder blades, and the sweat is standing in great beads on my forehead, I summon up sufficient cc u r age to say:— "Well, Robinsdn, I should have been very glad to vote for you, but, to tell the truth, I know that you nre in opposition to Mr Yogel, and as Jones is one of his staunchest supporters I have already promised him my support." How can human nature — and after all, strange to say, lam only human — stand against the lightning glance shot at me by my interlocutor as he replies in acceuts of withering scorn: — " What! 'support against me a man like Jones I Are you aware, Sir, that with unfailing regularity he takes half a pint of beer with his dinner, and a glass of toddy before he goes to bed? Mr Smith, I really had formed a higher opinion of you than that;' l was iv fact under the inrpression that you were a good Good Templar." I feel that my flesh, which under ordinary circumstances is solid enough for anything, is melting and running into my boots, and I humbly stammer out something to the effect that I will go and have a talk with Jones about the matter. Never shall I forget the tones in which my fellow | Templar replies:—" Good morning, Mr Smith," but I have an idea that I am in the right, bo back I go to Jones, and tell him all that has passed. He listens to me patiently and on my concluding, sarcastically remarks that in his opinion Good Templarism when taken io moderation. .might be quite as harmless as three globules of Rhus Toxicodendron to a man with a liver, but that if any of those whom he supposed to be his friends were of opinion that . Rhus Toxicodendron was to supersede caslor oil,. Epsom Sails, and calomel, he was prepared to accept it as an intimation that they no longer desired his acquaintance. Now, what am I to do under such circumstances? Mr Yogel, M.H.R., C.M.G., buzzes one thipg into 'one of my ears, and Mr Mackune, D.WM, 1,0 G.T., another into the other, and here am I, Smith, a poor half-educated chap, left to decide between theße two men of letters. I feel half disposed to stand up manfully and say. — "I don't care a button about your Good Templarism or your Vogelism, but mean to use my own common sense aud discretion in voting for the man I think best fitted to represent me in Parliament without paying the slightest attention to either of the ' isms' you are trying to stuff down my throat." But I expect if I did this, Jones and Robinson would both get angry, and tell me I knew nothing about such matters, and had no business to use either, common senße or discretion. I wonder, if I have.

Emboldened by Mv S(ooley'« success; (jays a home paper), Mr Gordon »e U nett, of the 'New Yoik Herald/ l)os determine J to penetrate, by deputy «.o the North Pole, as he did the wildi of Oentral Africa The orJer U brief and to the purpose—" Discover the North p o | P) and Bpnre DQ expeDse> ,»_ It the < Times ' does not make haste and anticipate the 'Herald' iv the Northern Hemisphere it will have to laekle n job far tougher, as we tra told aud "do" the South Pole. ■ — . — . -