THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 86, 10 April 1875, Page 2

THE WEEK.

j;The}b;fficial announcement has been_ mjpide^jb|it in about a month's time the Pr&viincial Council is to meet for the despatch of business. The annual sessions are, as we all know, invariably opened by a speech from the Superintendent, who gives a digest of the pro- I ceedinga of the past year, and intimates what it; W proposed to do in that which is to come. As a rule, these speeches have proved somewhat dreary effusions, for" the revenue has been so limited that, ljttle in. the shape .of public woiks had been < executed in the interval' that had elapsed since the close. of. the previous session, and there was little probability of any improvemerifrbe'fore the opening of the next. This yeur, however, the. inaugural address ib looked forward to with no little interest for (wo reasons. In the first place a considerable amouut of General Government money has been placed at the disposal of the Provincial Executive, and in the second the circumstances under which the Superintendent will meet the Council are entirely .different to what they have been on any previous occasion. Whose speech is it to be, the Superintendent's or the Provincial Secretary's, ' that ie, the Executive's? There is a good deal of speculation upon thiß subject, and, whoever is to be the author of the document, it is certain that someone will be placed in on awkward and uncomfortable position. If the Superintendent expresses his individual opinions, the sequel wi 1 most assuredly be that the Provincial Secretary will rise in his place in the Chamber, aud tell the Council that they needn't pay any attention to what the nominal head of the Government has told them, for the Executive think differently. lam not speaking at random, because we know on the host of authority that the Superintendent and the Executive have been at issue on more than one question since the last meeting of the Council. But if, on the other hand, the Provincial Secretary frames, and the Superintendent merely reads, the speech, we shall have the straDgo spectacle of the head of the Government, elected specially by the people to watch over and protect their interests, speaking in laudatory aud hopeful terms of certain acts of the Executive, of which he has already publicly expressed his disapproval. Take, for instance, the reduction in the number of wardens on the gold-fields, against which Mr Curtis, M.H.R., spoke in very strong terms in the House of Representatives, Are we to hear Mr Superintendent Curtis congratulating the Council upon the very judicious economy displayed by the Executive, of which he is a member, in dismissing one of these officers ? Then again, in the eveut of its being deemed advisable to refer to the dismissal of the late clerk to tho Superintendent and Executive Council, will the Super, intendent quote from the letter of the Provincial Secretary, in which it is seated that : — " Owing to the several mutters above mentioned, Mr Hodgsou does not possess the confidence of the Executive as regards the discharge of bis official duties, and, in the interest of the public service, it is desirable that he should be removed," &c. ? Or will the Executive Head of the Province express his own opinion on the subject na conveyed to the dismissed officer in a letter written to him at the lime of bis removal from office, in which it was stated as follows : — " To the qualities of industry arid accuracy," &c, &c, " you have united those of unvarying honor and fidelity in your relation to those in authority over you, and have in every respect amply justified the large amount of trust and confidence which for so many yearß has been reposed in you " ? You. see the speech is bound to be interesting, because wo have not the slightest idea what will bo its contents. Those just depend upon who is the writer, and the beauty of tho whole thing is that both sides can speak in exactly opposite terms with the authority of high, officials to whom has been entrusted the performance of precisely the same work. The eleventh of May next will be a glorious day for the critics and the cynics. I dare say that most of us have seen and laughed over the little sketch that, appeared in Punch some years ago of the would-be horßey gent who had been attempting to drive a hard bargain with a cunning old dealer, who at last loses bis temper, and sarcastically disposes of the little gent in the following munner: — Dealer : I think I know exactly the 'oss you want, sir. About, fifteen two— good shoulder — light head and neck — well ribbed vp — tail well set on — good flat legs — plenty of bone. — Gent (delighted) : Va — as.—- Dealer : No sby about him— a good goer— high | couraged, but temperate — to carry his own head — nice mouth and sweet, temper — for about five-and-twenty puni*. -—Gent (in ecstacy) : The very thing. — Dealer : Hah ! Then don't you wish you may get it ! (Gent subsides.) I was at the meeting of the City Council last Monday evening when the salary of the Town Clerk was under discussion, and didn't I wish for the pencil of a John Leech? I could have drawn such a nice little sketch in the: same style as the one I have spoken of. Tho Mayor should have taken thplace of the dealer, and a certain Councillor of the "gent." The" letter-press at the foot of the i little .picture would run thus: — Mayor: I think, Councillor So and bo, I know exactly the sort of man you want. You do not appear to require very much, but, if I understand <y v ou rightly, you would wish the Clerk to 'be citfe 1 possessing: a knawjecige of

ordinary business, and of men and ways, aptness at book-keeping, uprightness of character, and steady perseverance at joffice work. — Councillor: (delighted) Precisely so. — Mayor : He should be the thinking part of the town, should cut out the work of the Council, aud keap everything working smoothly— for about £200 a year. — Councillor .(in ecsfacy) The very thing. — Mayor! Hah! Don't you wish you may get it! In my little drawing the gent should be represented ns subsiding, and I think that the Councillor who was foolish enough to make bo ridiculous a proposition should do so too, as I hope he did when he saw his remarks in print. I do not know whether any of my readers are, or are likely to become, correspondents with the Senate of the N«w Zealand University or any of its officers. If so, lam sure I shall be doing them a kindness in preparing them for the appearance that the envelopes of any letters they may receive from that body will present when sealed with the University seal. My authority in the Government Gazette of the 4th inst, wherein I find the " blazon of the seal" is described as follows : — "Within a circular ribbon, and on a ground diaprea an antique ei'.corheon, bearing: azure, between four estoils of eight points in crosa irgent, a book open fesswise of the same, edged and indexed proper. Motto : On an eaerol argent fimbriated gules surmounting the ground diapree and passing h»-hind the esoocheon the words ' Sapere auiie* 1 " jNow, if anyone who may chance to read these lines should ever receive a document bearing this device, and should not be able at once to recognise it as the University seal, he must indeed be an idiot, for is it possible to conceive auy simpler, clearer, or more lucid description ?