THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 92, 18 April 1874, Page 2

THE WEEK.

An increase in three years of twenty souls in the population of a province comprising some millions of acres is not very large, at least, not sufficiently so to give rise to any great rejoicings on the evidence afforded by the census returns of the. prosperity of the district. Indeed, there can be no doubt that it means an actual decrease, and a very perceptible one, in the number of adults, because, somnolent though we may be in some respects, in the matter of natural increase by births we can hold our own against any other locality in tho world, if the incessant notices of interesting domestic events that appear in the columns of the newspapers, and the number of children that ore to be seeu in our streets, may be accepted as a criterion. One thing we must not lose sight of, namely, that at the time of the census beiog token in 1871, Reefton was a very populous district owiug to the large numbers that had been attracted thither by the discovery of auriferous reefs. The crowd that then was to be seen iu : the streets of that iolaud town has since faded away, possibly, nay probably, to gather again in the same place iu the course of a few years, but just now it has not given much work to tbe sub-enumerators. But, folliDg off though there certainly has been in our numbers since 1871, (here is no reason to despair. The first flush of excitement consequent upon the discovery above alluded to has passed off, and with it has gone a large number of people, but meantime, the . wot k of. developing the reefs and extracting their golden treasures is steadily going on, and on the next occasion of the census being taken I venture to say that treble or perhaps quadruple the number of census papers will be required to ascertain the population of the .Inangahua and Lyell districts. If Anatori and the rest of the country at the northern extremity of Blind Bay, too, do not contribute largely to the census returns of 1877, very many who are firm believers, and not without cause, in the coming importance of tbat district, will be vastly disappointed. Then again the efforts that are being made to open up the Buller Valley will not be without result, and I venture to prophecy that we have for the last time heard of the population of Nelson province being stationary for three years. A strange race of men are the gold diggers. A day or two ago we heard by telegram that an exodus had set in from the West Coast to the Palmer River. The oft repeated accounts of disasters by famine, flood, and fever that bave reached us from the new El Dorodo have but whetted the appetites of our sturdy miners for excitement and adventure. The greater the difficulties that surround the search for gold, the greater are the attractions that it appears to offer to thero. To ordinary people the possibility of being shot down by blacks, the delights of death by starvation, the prospect of being drowned in a mountain torrent, or the ecstasy of being consumed by fever, where medical aid is rare and the little comforts of a hospital are unknown, would not form a sufficient inducement to emigrate to the country where all or any of these luxuries are to be obtained, but to the hardy digger they seem to possess a special charm. And so New Zealand, which has become monotonous in its civilisation, is deserted for the new land of promise. But it may be that we— that is the settled population —have something to answer for in the matter of this hasty rush to other lands. We had, and still have, as fine a lot of fellows engaged in gold mining as are to be found in any country in the world, but have we studied their interests sufficiently to induce them to remain. The colony is laying out thousands and thousands of pounds upon importing fresh blood from the old country, but bos steadily refused to spend a sufficient sum to enable those who are already in our midst to turn to profitable account their bone and muccle. Willing, anxious, eager to work, the miners have for months together been compelled to lead a life of idleness, because they could not obtain tbat essential to the pursuit of their .particular industry — a plentiful supply of water. The people bave at last recognised the fact that if large numbers of diggers are to be enabled to live in New Zealand, this one great want must be supplied, and the Geuernl Government are about to commence the much needed work, but long ere it is completed hundreds of the very men the colony wants will bave left her shores, many of them never to return again. I believe in immigration and in promoting settlement in every possible way, but, in common with many others, I doubt the wisdom of the policy that merely seeks to substitute "new chums" for old and experienced 1 colonists. And it is not only upon the goldfields that tbis mistake is likely to be made. " Special settlements " are to be opened up in various parts of the colony, and special inducements are to be offered to newly arrived immigrants to locate themselves upon them. If settlement is the main end in View, where will we find men better suited to life in the bush than those who have grown up amongst us, and are even now on the look out for an opportunity of making homes for themselves? • But this is too large a question to enter upon in a letter of this description. I daresay that Dot one who reads these lines but has heard frequent grumbling at the lack of small change

in the town, or has himself been put to inconvenien'ce by the paucity of that very useful coin, the sixpenny piece. Indeed, very frequent rem-irks have been ma,de v in my hearing, and that I presume of nearly everybody else, on what is called the negligence of the Banks in not keeping us better supplied with these highly necessary circulating mediums. But I have a friend who is not very wealthy who looks upon the absence of sixpences as uot altogether an unmixed evil. He is pretty well known in the town to be sure or be might not have been so successful in making n very little money go a very long way, but, still there remains tho fact that on tbe strength of his having a single shilling in his pocket he did contrive to get through a day about town iua manner highly satisfactory to himself. Herelates his experiences thus, and I think they are worth repeating: — Pay day was still eight and forty hours distant, and he found himself literally reduced to his last shilling. Ho went out in a somewhat melancholy mood, and about noon, not being a Good Templar, he felt that a little stimulant would prove acceptable. Entering a well known hotel he called for a glass of brandy and water, and having quietly sipped the invigoiating fluid, he with many a regretful- and fond look at his Jittle bit of 6ilver tendered it in payment. A fumbling about and rattling of coins in the till was followed by the enquiry, *' Have you no other change, sir?' "No," was the unblushing reply, " strange to say this happens to be the only coin I have just now." "Oh! you must owe me sixpence then" was the welcome sound that greeted his ears from within the bar window. He was highly elated with the gratifying but wholly unexpected cheapness of his mid day drink, and the circumstance tended to whet his appetite, aud he began to feel hungry, so he dropped into a pastrycook's shop aud indulged in a couple of meat pies. The shilling was again offered, and again wiih (he same result. Fortified by his brandy and water and frugal lunch, he strolled into the street, and feeling cheerful, happy, and comparatively a wealthy man, he determined to treat himself to a drive to the port. Arrived there, the shilling was once again extracted from his pocket and diplayed, with that air of carelessness that is engendered by the consciousness of possessing vast riches, to the bewildered cabby who emptied his pocket of the coins that are always to be found in such quantities iu cabbies' pockets but looked in vain for a sixpence, " You must pay me another time " said Jehu, and back to its dark retieat went the shilling. My friend was too knowing to return by the same conveyance, for the double trip would bring about a separation between him and his little mine of wealth, so after a quarter of an hour's saunter on the wharf he hailed another cab, and greatly to his delight got a drive back to town oo precisely the same terms. M< at pies, brandy and water, and two drives, all on credit, gave rise to a longing as he passed a greengrocer's window for some delicious looking fruit that was there temptingly spread out for sale. Threepennyworth would have satisfied him, but there was a certain charm about everything that was priced nt sixpence that induced hira to ask for twice as much as ho wanted. Once more was the shilling introduced to daylight. " Have you got half-a-crown sir?" " No, strange to say this is the only coin I have on me j ust now." " Well, perhaps you wouldn't mind calling; in again as you are passing, for I haven't a sixpence in the house." Shilling in one pocket, fruit in another, brandy aod water and meat pies beneath his belt, and a pleasing recollection of two delightful drives. My friend had serious thoughts of partaking of another glass of brandy aod water in another hotel, but there flashed across his mind the old proverb which relates how a pitcher may go the well too often, so he wisely decided upon refraining from further experiments with that shilling. He weufc home a satisfied and contented man, and he now scouts the very idea of human happiness be ing in any way dependent upon a plethora of sixpenny bits. F.