THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 98, 25 April 1874, Page 2

THE WEEK.

As a s.hoolboyl had a terrible down on those Egyptian taskmasters who insisted upon their unfortunate Israejitish captives turning out so many thousand bricks per week without supplying them with straw. I hain't .he least idea what straw had to do with bricks, but I took it for granted that without it bricks could not be made, and my boyish wrath would wax very warm whenever I real about those horrid bullies the taskmasters, and I often thought that I should like to have them opposed to me in a cricket field, so tbat I might bowl at their logs. T don't know much more about brick making now than I did then, but J bave within the last few years had a considerable amount of experience in another kind of manufacture, nnd have had to deal with taskmaster? a'most as hard-hearted as those Egyptian overseers. My masters. h<wever, are far more numerous, consisting as they do of a large section of the Nelson public. Somehow or other they have pot into a habit of reading thcee weekly notes of mine regularly, and if I were some Saturday to omii them I fancy I should hear of it on Monday. And yet where is the straw, fo-dey /or iustance, that is to form so material a component part of tbe brick ? Sometimes there ia plenty o' it, and then I enjoy manipulating it, and am occasionally rewarded by find injj that I have turned out a very tidy hrick of full weight, and measurement, but, at other times I freely adroit that I don't like 'jny work at all, and am verj dissatisfied witb it when it is done, and so I suppose are those for whom it ban been undertaken. This day '3 brick. J fear, will he unshapely, badly moulded, aud very unsubstantial. But tho fault ia not altogether mine.

Some of these days I think I shall write an essay on " Politics, law. and justice in New Zealand." The title would be more rhythmical if I were to alter the arrangement of the words and place them thus — Justice, law, and politics, but that would be misleading, for I find that, of the three, politics inke the first place in this flourishing young colony. My attention has been directed to this matter by the perusal of the evidence given in a lato trial for libel in Wellington. The details of the case possess no interest for me, nor would they for my readers, but the following extract from the published evidence of the plaintiff i?, I think, very suggestive and full of meaning. It is a disconnected scrap, but that does not matter. The witness said : — " Unfortunately for myself, I took an active part in politics when I was formerly in New Zealand. While King's suit "wbr going on I brought an action for libel against Dr Featherston for nuking the statement that I was a man deeply in debt, a plunderer of dead men's estatep, and a defrauder of tbe widow and orphan. Tbe date of the trial was fixed, bu! I was advised by ray solicitor that in tho tben state of polities it would bo unadvisable to proceed." This would be very amusing if it were not of such serious import. Take my own case. I sometimes am called upon to criticise the actions of our political leaders. Suppose I were to do so in a manner that did not please the individual so criticised, and that he chose to retaliate by accusing me of being "a plunderer of dead men's estates, and a defrauder ot the widow and orphan." Not liking to have such things said of me, I at once go to my solicitor and consult with him how I am to obtain reparation. He looks into tho matter and thinks I have a good case, but then it occurs to him that my opponent is a public favourite, politically Bpeaking, and therefore that I should have some difficulty in finding a jury who would give a verdict in my favor, ao that. ~ , —•_-• • ■ "r — «• — rx*v'xrx — muuuj

over the affair, ha recommends me to sit down quietly and submit to the accusation of being a thorough scoundrel, not because I am ono, but because my vilifier is a politically popular man. As I said before I know nothing of the merits of the case referred to, but here we have it stated on oath that a man's solicitor advises him not to take proceedings against one who had charged him with downright villainy because " in the then state of politics it would bo unadvisablo to proceed." I can scarcely think that thia is a very desirable slate of things.

During the week the Bishop of Nelson has returned to us after a short visit to England. For venturing to go homo he was some time since severely taken to task by an English paper, which accused him of spending iu idleness and pleasure-seeking time that Bbould have been devoted to advancing the interests of his diocese. The attack was a most unjust one, and was at the time warmly rebutted by the whole of the Nelson press, tbe writers of the replies, one and all of them, staling that though iu matters of detail they might occasionally have differed from the Bishop, tbey could not but bear testimony to his zeal, energy, and willingnesa at aU times to undertake downright hard work in promoting, the cause he had at heart. lam told by those who should know that he has rendered good service to his diocese by his visit to England, aud iu recognition of his endeavors to benefit tho church, the people are to be invited to meet him on some evening next week, aud to present him with an address of Welcome on his return. A good muster ou that occasion would be the most

fitting reply to the charges brought against bioi by a journalist who wrote in entire ignorance of the facte on which he professed to comment.

As a rule, I, in my weekly jottings, prefer the "gay" < 0 tho "grave," but occasionally I consider myselt justified m breaking that rule. In the present instance I feel, and believe that hundreds of those who read these lines will feel with me, that we have one friend less in ibJs world than we could boast of last Saturday. Thomas Brunner has gone to hia last long rest. Old Neleon settlers, whose privilege it has been for many years to be intimately acquainted with him, will have dropped a tear over the newspaper notice of his sudden end; later residents in the province who have only known him for a comparatively short time have recognised the Bterling worth tbat endeared him to his older friends; young men and young women wbo have been accustomed from tbeir babyhood to love and respect biro, wiil miss h:s bright, cheery smile and fdendly gieetinc; and, ns for children — is there one in Nelson who ba3 met him whoso young heart did not appreciate the gentle loving nature of him who was yt'Sicidny laid in his grave ? Aud.^ after all, children are perhaps the best judges of the character of the man. " Poor Brunner, I am sorry he has gone," is the epitaph that has been breathed by hundreds ol his fellow-color isfs. No need of his merits being engraved upon ii tomb-stone. In alludiug to him I bave purposely omitted the customary prefix of " Mr/' to his name. Where a man was so widely known and bo universally beloved and respected in the community in which he lived, it would be simply superfluous. The respect for him was heartfelt aod genuinp, and needs no outward form as evidence of its existence. p.