T H E W E E K.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 63, 14 March 1874, Page 2

T H E WEE K.

i 'Ipije liberty of the subject is a fine | thence ptt whicii to write or speak. ' Thefo|js somethiogrppint-stirring about! it, a genuine Britons-never-shull-bc-slaves sort of ring in tho words that makes tho blood dance with pride end delight io the .veins of everv man ?-wbo kfiows what it is to experience the sensation of being a free-born Englishman. I have always revelled in the. sense of this liberty, but up to the last day or two I had ho idea of what it really meant. I *«a9 quite UDaware that every Englishman wasnt liberty to interfere in other people's affairs to ao almost un- : limited extent, and was authorised by law to make disagreeable charges' against some individual who perhaps had in some way annoyed him, and 16 force hira tp appear id open Court and disprove:! what had been insinuated against him. Let me explain myself. Suppose I fake up my residence in Nelson nnd have a small income coming to mo from one source and another either inside or outside the province or colony. I pay my way, and my butcher and baker get the few shillings that aro due to them regularly every Monday morning; my tailor has not to wait an unreasonable time for his money; and before my boots require ro-soleing the maker has been paid for them — io lact I am living respectably and comfortably, although no one knows whence I get my money. But on one unlucky day my neighbor's fowls make a raid upon my garden, and destroy my flower beds, and I in roy wrath hurl a stone at a venture which strikes one of the feathered pests on the head nnd lays it a corpse in- the grave it had, unconscious of what it was doing, just scratched for itself. Henceforth the bereaved owner entertains a feeling of deadly enmity towards me, and is constantly seeking for some means of annoying me. He hss, perhaps, a taste for light reading, and so he one ovening speods a pleasant hour in perusing the " Vagrants Act," wherein he finds something referring to people having no visible means of support. Straightway, a malignant smile steals over his countenance aud he mutters to himself, " Confound that fellow, F, I'll teach him how to kill my best Spanish hen," and away he goes to the clerk of the Court and depoa.-s that he has reason to suspect that I havo no visible means of support. Next day a summons is placed in my hands, and I who am naturally of a retiiiog disposition, und intensely dislike anything in the way of publicity, have to stand up before two or three hundred people, all of them ready to enjoy a laugh ot my expense, and om compelled to tell the Magistrate, aud the public, through the medium of the newspapers, how my old Aunt Dorothy died a few. years ago and left me a couple of thousand pounds in tho three per cents; how I once made a little money by newt-paper writing, and invested it io tbo Perseverance or some other dividend-paying mine, and so pn and so on. As I said before, I like to meditate upon my liberty as a subject, but I don't think I care so much abbut it siuce I heard the Magistrate's ruling the other day, and I am not quito sure whether as a community we might not with advantage forego some small portion of tbe liberty wbiph is conferred upon us by tho "Vagrants Act." Thero is another kind of liberty which our rulers appear to be determined to enjoy. It is that of foisting upon Borne other country or colony tho most dangerous of our criminals. It is not long since thero was a great hubbub about the attempt to pack Sullivan off to America, a most unjustifiable act that was fortunately put a stop to by the captain of the steamer who, so soon as ho kuew who and what his passenger was, refused to take him. There was a general outburst of indignation at the action taken by the Government iu the matter, but now we are informed by telegram that Sullivan is in the Auckland gaol ''awaiting a favorable chance of shipping him away," by which, I presume, it is meant tbat the shipping part of tbo businc3B is tobe done by the authorities. What right have they to send him to any other place? Suppose he is deserving of pardon, surely the Government has nothing to dp with him after he is outeide tho gaol and the doors are closed upon him. That he is a most undesirable person to let loose here none will deny, but upon what grounds his being officially, palmed off upon some other country can be justified, I, for one, fail entirely to see. The English telegrams that have reached us during the week possess a double merit. They are both brief and interesting. The Tichborne case tbat, for I forget how many months, has been trying the patience lof newspaper readers has come to an end at last; and wool is maintaining its price and being eagerly competed for. lam not a sheep farmer, but I know full well how a serious deeline or an appreciable rise in the price of this commodity affects the whole of New Zealand, this Island especially,and therefore I rejoice at this item of news, but my joy amounts to ecstacy when I think that after the mail which places us in possession of the full particulars of the closing scene in that marvellous trial has reached us, and its contents have been discussed for a few days, wo shall hear no more of that prince of impostors who has .succeeded in creatiug a greater sensation than any man of his day. "Progress." Tho very mention [of this word creates a throb . in the breast :of every New, Zealander of the present

day. Condidntes for sensalorial honors adopt it as their, motto (aome who study alliteration couple it with tbo word '' Peace "), Ministers of the Crown take arajext for post*-bacquet epppches, , ' and village -politicians delight in im-"* I*porting1 *- porting it with monotonous frequency into their Saturday night discussions over their pipe and pint of beer. The Colonial Secretary has caught the infection. At the late banquet to Mr Vogel in Auckland, the Hon. Dr. Pollen, we are told, remarked :— " The progress of the whole. colony— of the Btitish-spcaking poition of ih» population of the colony — had been really marvellous. If he wero to be asked for a strong proof of that, ho would refer to tho banquet they had that night enjoyed. Judged by the character of the banquet, the progress made by the Colony was astonishing. In former times banquets were given, but not such banquets as tbey bad partaken of that night. What would have beon called a good banquet formerly would have been one where there was plenty of roast pork, a ham in the oji Idle, poik chops, and plenty of sausages. (Laughter.) Itwa9importvant to recognise the progress of the colony in tbedifierence of its banquets." Truly, New Zealand is making giant strides. The huge leap has already been made from pork chops nnd sausages to pheasants and trout. Yet a few years, a very few years, and tho tablenapkins of Governors an 1 Premiers shal! wipe from their moustaches crumbs of salmon and fragments of venison. Then, and not till then, may New Zealand claim to have reached the loog-looked-for goal in tho raco of progress, aud feel that at last ehe has a right to assume ihe proud title of "The ßritain of the South." I mean to conclude with a quotation from a southern newspaper which I specially commend to the notice of ray country readers — it haa no interest fpr townsmen. I sometimes take a ride through the Waimeas, and, whenever I do so, thoughts similar to those expressed below come into my mind. Without saying .more I will give the pnragrnpb, and ask the farmers of the Neleon province to read, mark, learn,' and inwardly digest it :— " The Premier was greatly belauded for his remarks at the public banquet in Dunedin regarding the destruction of timber, and the necessity for some measures to conserve our forests and to encourage planting; but, iu my opinion, there is an equal neceesity for paying a moro marked atteniion to the rapid deterioration of our agricultural lands from the successive growing of groin, nnd its exportation, without any adequate return of the materials extracted from the soil in the grain. A few years more will corroborate my opinion, and prove that it is nooo too early to raise a warning voice against .the exhaustion of the limited area of our agricultural lauds. Ido not wonder to seo und hear that the crops are, year by year, becoming 'smaller by degrees and beautifully less.' '» F.