THE WEEK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 307, 12 September 1874, Page 2

THE WEEK

It is impossible to read the papers published in all parts of the colony without being impressed with the conviction (hat an anti-provincial feeling is gradually spreading, and that the time cannot be far distant when the abolition of the present Bystem will become the great question of the day, and be forced upon the Government by the pressure of public opinion. Otago and Canterbury may succeed in postponing for a year or two the fate which is inevitably in store for them, when it is to overtake them being only a question of time, but if Nelson, Marlborou^h, and Weetlaud he not drafted into the General Government nursery at the next session of Parliament, I, for one shall be greatly surprised.' Even in Auckland, where there has been so great a hubbub, and where popular excitement has found vent in the burning in effigy of the members hailing from that province who supported Mr Vogel's resolutions, the outcry is not against the doing away with the provinces, but agaiost those of the North Island being treated exceptionally. Abolish the whole system, they say, and we are with you, but do not make fish of one and %sh of another. The Westland papers\are almost, if not quite, unanimous in their desire to be relieved of the incubus of all the paraphernalia of Provincial Government, and in Nelson there is s general feeling that a change of some kind would be acceptable, and a disposition to flee from the embrace of a Superintendent into that of the Government of the In the Marlborougb journals I have not yet observed any distinct expression of opinion in favor of Buch a change, while that sturdy little paper, the Express, which is strongly impressed with the importance of Marlborough and everything that pertains to it, holds out strongly in favor of the continuance of 'the existing state of things, but, plucky little fellow though be, I suspect that he will, ere long, have to succumb to the force of circumstances. T*he body of our Provincial Hall ought to be crowded nightly during the next session of the Council, for in all probability it will be the last time that the people of Nelson will have an opportunity of witnessing, with that feeling of awe and solemnity that invariably comes over an audience on Bocb occasions, the manners and customs of Parliamentary assemblages. Mr Speaker, Standing Orders, messages from his ' Honor the Superintendent, all to be swept away, and numbered among the things of the past. Sad indeed is it (o reflect upon, but so it will be as surely as lam writing these lines, and equally certain is it that we ne'er shall see their like again. What shall we do without them? It is so difficult a question to answer that I can merely "respond — What, indeed! of our Nelson citizens have experienced a great and a very pleasant surpVjae this month. They have wakened up to find themselves, not exactly famous, but what is far belter, wealthy. Many poor little householders who had saved enough to purchase a email plot of land and erect tberaon a dwelling for themselves and families, have been astonished to find, on reference to the burgeßsea roll, that their properties' have* taken a sudden leap upwards, in th*e market. They per Baps paid £100 for their bit of ground, and spent £150 in putting up a building on it, when, lo and behold, in step the Mayor, and the Councillor?, and the Town Clerk, and say, "My friends, in your little property which you have co modestly regarded as of trifling value, you have a perfect mine of wealth." They are fop a time incredulous, but, willing to be convinced that such good news is f rue, they first look at the roll where they find that they have a number of votes, and then study the Municipal Corporations Act, where they see that to be entitled to such a number they must be owners or occupiers of property worth at least £250 per annum. The roll and the Act, taken together, form, of course, evidenca^if the value of the properties in question as infallible as is one of those dreary reports of Mr Alex. Saunders on the price of mining shares that the telegraph is constantly disseminating throughout the country, so that I am sure very many of our citizens must feel that they owe an immense debt of gratitude to the Municipal Corporations Act or the administrators of it, for having brought about so pleasing a cbaDge in the value of town acres and town buildings. I see that one of the defeated candidates has been making himself disagreeable by entering a protest in a curiousiyworded document against the plurality of votes allowed to the ratepayers. This is not patriotic of him. He should have allowed it to go forjh to the world without question that only three of our burgesses rent or own property worth less than £50 a year. 111-natured people sometimes rail against our harbor. It is inconvenient, large vessels cannot enter it, and

so on. A very good proof that the latter statement is incorrect is afforded by the fact tbat there is now lying snugly at anchor in it an 1800 ton ship Therels, of course, the incontrovertible fact that ingress and egress can only be effected at certain stages of the tide, but this difficulty may be very much toned down by shipmasters studying the time at which the bar is practicable, while there is this advantage, that, even should a vessel miss the tide, nothing worse results than a few hours' delay in as smooth water and with ns good an anchorage as is to be found in many New Zealand harbors. The capabilities of our port will probably be exemplified ere long by ita being made the depot of the great coal trade ihat will be developed when the Brunn.r mine is connected by rail witb the mmith of the river Grey.