THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 8, 9 January 1875, Page 2

THE WEEK.

The visit of the steamer Otago to Nelson with a number of excursionists bent on. seeing for themselves the district of Colliagwood, of which so much has been said and written for the last fifteen years, is an event possessing more interest for this province than appears at first sight. Although their time there will be exceedingly limited, still they will have an opportunity of witnessing the wonders of the Para Para — for wonders they are — and more will be done towards making these public by the visit of fifty or a hundred staangera than by any number of paragraphs and articles in the local papers, which are naturally looked upon as being somewhat prejudiced in favor of the districts in which they are published and circulated. Nelson's great want is that her mineral wealth should be made known to the world. Couscious of the possession of it in almost limitless quantities, she is anxious that those who live outside her boundaries should make themselves personally acquainted with it, for the more it is known, the greater the likelihood of foreign capital seeking investment here, and assisting in turning to accouot those resonrces which are now lyipg idle and neglected. One glance at the iron fields — it is a strange but a correct expression to make use of — of the Parra Parra will carry conviction far more clearly than the most elaborate reports that could be written, and even the most incredulous will be inspired with fuith when they see for themselves the thousands upon thousands of tons of hematite ore lying on the surface or piled up in heaps by Nature's hand, waiting only for man's assistance to be converted into a marketable commodity; when they spb the limestone necessary for working the ore lying in abundance in close proximity; and whe<i they inspect — if sufficient time is allowed for doing so — the coal mine from which the requisite fuel can easily be conveyed to where the iron lies. If I mistake not, this excursion trip by the Otago will be found at no distant date to have been one of the best things that could possibly have happened for the province of Nelson. We m&y look forward with no little hope to hearing the impression made upon our Melbourne visitors by their visit to the Collingwood district. The list that was recently published of the last year's yield of the various reefs at the Inangahua is most encouraging to those who have the welfare of the province at heart, and seems to point to the probability of far larger quantities of gold being obtainable if only more complete machinery were introduced, and the works generally carried out on a larger scale. It must be remembered that ia addition to the number of ounces reporteJ from the Inaogahua, the Lyell has also been sending in her contributions, so that from a district that but a very few years ago was scarcely known except to a limited number of alluvial miners, the amount of the precious metal extracted from the rocks in one short twelvemonth must be very close upon, if not exceeding, 20 000 ounces, representing a value of between £70,000 and £80,000. Yet another twelvemonth, and I hope to be able to report that the Anatori too is assisting to a very considerable extent in swelling the export ot gold from the Nelson province. Anythiug professing to be a weekly summary would necessarily be incomplete without a reference to the principal event that has occurred within that period, by which, of course, on thepresent occasion, I mean the trial of the case of Knyvett v. O'Conor. There is a very general opinion, and 1 confess that it is one which is shared by myself, that the damages given to the plaintiff were more than was absolutely required to vindicate the law. That the sum paid into Court was too small is pretty generally admitted, but the jury appear to have gone to the other extreme. Mr O'Conor was wiong in the peg tion he took up throughout, wrong in believing that he had a ri»ht to the document in dispute, wiong in setting the police to work to recover it. Of the arrest, too, there can be no doubt, since it was admitted by the defendant, but it can scarcely be said that the plaintiff was a sufferer to any great extent either in body, mind, or character, by being deprived of his liberty for a few minutes. No doubt it is a serious matter

to give a man in charge, and, if done without good cause, the offender should be taught that he is not to be allowed to sin in that direction with impunity, but in the present case, considering that both the principals were irritated the one with the other, and that the degree of imprisonment was exceedingly mild, most people think that a verdict for such an auaoun t, in excise of that paid into Court, as would have saddled the defendant with costs, would have been quite sufficient punishment for his offence. I am not a wealthy individual, and my balance at the Bank is never inconveniently large, but, even if it were, I imagine that I should be a little put about, and occasionally, perhaps, find myself in an awkward fix, if another person were at liberty to operate upon it without my knowledge. But this is the position in which the City Council found itself last night. They have not more money than they know what to do with, and have to give their chequeß with some degree of caution, but it appears that, in addition to their own drafts upon the money lodged to the credit of the gas and water works, the Provincial Government now and then take a pull at the same fund. Ido not propose to go into details upon this matter, but I think lam safe in saying that there is something wrong somewhere. The sooner the Council's deputation waits upon his Honor the Superintendent for an explanation the better. Mr Justice Richmond is perhaps as impartial a Judge as is to be found in her Majesty's dominions, but he gave expression to an opinion recently which seems to point to the possibility of even such an one as he being occasionally biassed, and yet I do not think that one single individual could be found to blame him for it. Id the Court the other day, we were all gasping for air, but it was impossible to obtain it without the hair that was not protected by a wig being blown about in the most uncomfortable fashion, so exquisite are the arrangements for the ventilation of the Provincial Hall. From the Judicial Bench there proceeded these words while windows were being opened here and closed there: — "A sore point with me are these architects and builders. I should like to have the trial of some of them." To this I would wish to add that I should like to be on the jury, and to have as my confreres eleven of those who have been in the habit of attending the Court as regularly as I have for the last sis years. With such a judge and such a jury if we could not secure a conviction, then there is neither luw nor justice in the land. F,