THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 157, 4 July 1874, Page 2

THE WEEK.

Our Cobnial Parliament has commenced its annual session, and the Go" ver'nor has delivered his speech aod told us some of the principal measures that are to be introduced, but, like moat

speeches of the kind it does not give much iv for mat ion. The Estimates are of course framed with economy, but we mi.3 the old familiar phrase " and due regard to the efficiency of the public service" whfch usually is to be found in this portion of & regal or vice-regal, and occasionally of a Superintendent's, speech. The real work of the session will scarcely commence teforj tho week af;er next, ns tbe interval, between now and then will be fully occupied by the little preliminaries that are always found necessary to get the House into working order, so that little interesting news may be expected yet. Indeed, until the event of the session— the making tbe Financial Statement — comes off, not much besides mere formal business will be transacted, but then we shall see how figures in the hands of one who knows how to handle tbem may be made to servo any purpose, and the accounts will probably be presented in such a state that there will be ample room for disputing whether a million or two that is found onf one side of the book ought not to appear on the" other How is Nelson going to fare ? That is the question of the greatest inferest to us just cow. During the week now drawing to a close the Nelson people have had an

opportunity of enjoying a treat such as is not often offered to them. An Opera Company including one or two performers of no mean order has given a season ol cix nights in our town, and on the whole has afforded great satisfaction to all who have bad tbe privilege of being present. The performances have been fully criticised in the press end those criticisms have in their turn been discussed by the public, some of whom are of opinion that no fault should be found with performers who ore ad-

mitred on all sides to be of a higher ( class than that by which Nelson is , usually visited, while entertainments consisting principally of tbe performances of acrobats, tumblers, comic singers conjurors, clowns, and performing animals, are usually disposed of ia newspaper paragraphs by a general summary of their performances, and a concluding remark tbat upon the whole they were very good and amusing. It seems, however, to have escaped the notice of the criticisers of the critics that newspaper reporters give credit to the readers of tbeir comments for possessing a certain amount of intelligence and common sense. When they say that a man turned a given number of somersaults very expeditiously, lhat a lady distinguished herself upon a swinging bar very gracefully, or that a couple of trained monkeys went through tbeir manoeuvres very elegantly, and two or three big dogs stood upon their hind legs very cleverly, they state what is perfectly true, aud if they express an opinion that the performance was excellent of its kind, tbey are not to be found fault with for so doing, for they merely speak of what they see as they find it, and leave it to a discerning public to decide whether the entertainment to which they are invited through tbe medium of highly-colored placards and sensational advertisements is deserving of their patronage. If in the course of the evening an acrobat should make one or two mistakes it really does not matter much, if a dog should make one or two failures in the attempt to properly balance itself in an ungainly and unnatural attitude, or a monkey i does not bow to the audience quite as gracefully as her might doj it is scarcely worth while to refer to such little blunders, and the reporter is perfectly justified in overlooking them. But if a company of more than ordinary pretensions comes amongst us, it is then perfectly fair to criticise honestly and fairly. When praise is deserved, give that praise by all means, but where faults exist it is not the business of the press to conceal them. It is unfair to the public who are aßked, and who expect, to pay large fees for admission to a performance that is superior to the ordinary run of amusetnoata. indiscriminately to bedaub with laudation alt -who take part in it whether they are worthy~of^_-o__.-p/ ot.0 t. The Company that is now in Nelson

is undoubtedly far above any that has visited as for a long time. It includes some ladies and gentlemen whom to see and hear on the stage is a real treat such as we may not enjoy again for years to come, but it is not faultless, and it would be wrong to lead the public to expect that it is so. But whatever faults may exist are amply atoned for by the excellence of those whom no critic need be ashamed to praise, and of such judicious praise I bave not yet observed the absence.

Canterbury is a great place for acclimatisation. They don't care there how much they spend on the importation of birds, beasts, and fishes of all descriptions, so with this view they go to a vast expense, and when they have obtained what they want-, thia is the way they treat their importations—the Press ia my authority. They had a numher^ofdeer in the "Domain," and they w-re^aoxious to catch them for the purpose of distflbutiou_4hroughout .he country. So they frufirtecr-about for a lassoer, but, for some time, t^e/ only one they could find was an invalid

j in the hospital. After some delay, however, they heard of acother, who was a South American, accustomed to such things,, aod so he was engaged. It was made known when the hunt was to take place, and by the time appointed a number of persons had collected on tbe spot, including several college boys bent on fun, nnd many members of the Acclimatisation Society, who were io earnest in carrying out the work they had taken in hand. The lassder being stationed at a particular spot, the excitement commence!. The deer were encircled by college boy., laborers, and members of the Acclimatisation Society, j and driven towards him. He made throw after throw of his line without arresting the speed of a single animal. He changed his position, but still there was the same result. Ignorant people doubted hia skill as a lasaoer, but charitable people, who knew more about it, said that his unsuccess was due to his being accustomed to throwing from i horseback, while others, uncharitably disposed, asserted that his -eviient.unsteadiness was to ba "attributed to another cause." It ia a pity the newspaper is so ambiguous, for I ara sure very few will understand what is meant by "another cause." I have mado a guess at it, but am not sure that I am right. After an hour had been spent in this unsatisfactory manner, it was determined to run the deer down. I shall let the Press tell the rest bf tbe story in its own words, for it does so very well " And now commenced a deer hunt in earnest, in which the college boys joined most heartily. The scene at this moment was most exciting, the boys and men running and excitedly shouting, while the terrified animals were indulging in terriGc leaps, in some instances jumping clean over their pursuers' heads, only to be again driven into the centre by those who were stationed along the fence. The boys made the first capture, and the old buck and two young ones were driven into the smaller enclosures by acother contingent. Tha old buck when caged attacked the younger animals in a furious manner, inflicting a severe wound on tbe side of one of the doea. After making frautic efforts, he broke the wire netting of the enclosure, and when trying to force his way through the outward fence, his head aud antlers got fastened in the wire. Some of the men ran up, but before they could extricate him, he bad straugled himself. The legs of the deer caught by the boys were tied by the South American, after which he carried it to the fence and coolly dropped it over ; tbe fall, added to its exhausted state, killing it. A second one was now captured by the college boys, its lags being also tied, when it was conveyed to the curator's bouse, but died when reaching there, no doubt from exhaustion and fright. A fourth one was pursued until completely prostrated, when it fell down and died immediately; anl a fifth jumped the fence and escaped. Darkness now closed in, and the one deer remaining in the enclosure received a respire. The eight deer with which the 'hunt' started are thus accounted for: — Four killed, two captured (one of these badly wounded and not likely to live), one escaped, and one remaining in tbe enclosure." It was very unfortunate for the Acclimatisation Society that " darkness closed in " when it did, otherwise the extermination of the animals imported at a considerable expense from England might have been carried but to perfection, and the animal which escaped and the other that remained in the enclosure not have been left to mourn the loss, of their companions. The Lyttelton Times comments upon the little recreation enjoyed by the deer, the lassoer, the college boys, the laborers, and the members, of the Acclimatisation Society very harshly. It says : — " Tbe public will read with pain and regret the report about the so-called capture of the deer placed under the charge of the Acclimatisation Society. The friends and supporters of acclimatisation in every part of the world, when they read it, will, with one accord, say that we ere barbarians in Canterbury." The Times is an " influential journal " so I don't like to differ from anything it says. F.