THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 169, 8 July 1876, Page 2

THE WEEK.

" Well, old man, how are you today ?" In this bluff, cheery sort of way I greeted an old friend whom I met iv the street the other day. He looked hale and hearty and jovial enough for anything, so that it was with some surprise that I received his reply:—" Well, I don't know exactly how to account for it, but I feel a sort of higgledy - piggledy - like— muddled, confused, you know what I mean." I didn't know, so I anxiously scanned his face, carefully felt his pulse, and took a general survey of him, and, as a result of ray examination exclaimed—" Why, I don't see much the matter with you. What is it ?'• " Well,"' he replied, " I've been reading Hansard, Parliamentary telegrams, and the Financial Statement, and I don't seem to know exactly whether I am standing on my head or my heels." I felt easier after this explanation, and told him he shouldn't fret over such matters, as he was no worse off in that particular respect than ninety-nine out of every hundred men he met. Still, being rather anxious about him, I invited him to confide in me, and tell me his special grievance, which he did in the following words:— "l read the Governor's speech, and found that he congratulated the colony on its unabated prosperity. I own ten thousand sheep, and know that my wool will not fetch within three or four hundred pounds of the amount it realised two years ago, and I also know that there are hundreds of others like me, many of whom will suffer to a far greater extent, because they own larger flocks, and so there will be so much less money coming into the colony, and yet I am told that its prosperity is unabated. Then I see by the telegrams that some of the members of Parliament accuse the Government of being guilty of the grossest corruption, and, as a matter of fact, tell them in language as nearly Parliamentary as possible, that they are the biggest scoundrels unhung, and a day or two after there comes another message saying that these people against whom such grave accusations are made have two-thirds of the House in their favor; and then, to cap all, there comes the Financial Statement, which, notwithstanding all that has been said about the near approach of the country to the brink of ruin, assures us that we began the year with a surplus of £72,000, and "after paying for all we want, are going to close it with £29,000 to the good. I can't understand it at all. It makes me feel quite bewildered when I think over it. Let's go and have a brandy and soda." Whether we acted upon his prescription is neither here nor there, but I think I may say that my friend, in his views on politics and finance, was fairly representing a large majority of the community. Sirs" George Grey and Julius Yogel appear to have one object in common. They fight ferociously over finance; tbey collide on constitutional questions; and, put them in the Piako Swamp, and they kick, struggle, and besmear each other with mire in a manner that is unknightly, to say the least of it. But, remove the raupo — move away the mud, set them on good solid soil with grass growing beneath their feet, and they are friends at once. So, at least, it appears from the telegraphic news' we have had of Sir George's motion regarding the grasses and other herbage with which Nature has so bountifully supplied this country. He wants to bring all the available knowledge to bear on this subject, and so has proposed that a sum be voted for the best essay upon it. Acd Sir Julius backs him up with all his influence, and the result will be that the colony will reap, a decided benefit. What a pity these two men do not pull together in other matters in which the colony is equally interested. Would that that there were more grassy spots on I the floor of the House, on which our I political champions could meet on terms more friendly than those they have hitherto been disposed to adopt. Sir Julius is not half the man he was. Fancy his coming down to the House with a proposal to borrow a paltry two millions. All the pluck and daring for which he has acquired a reputation must surely have departed from him. A beggarly two millions! Why that will make the total of our indebtedness only twenty one millions, five hundred and forty-three thousand,' one hundred and ninety-four pounds^ and the interest upon the whole lot will not exceed £1,150,000. I had expected better things from Sir Julius, who has thoroughly disappointed' me. Getting, as I ara, to be what is termed " an elderly gentleman," it is a matter of perfect indifference to me to what extent we burden posterity: what I want to see is lots of money poured into the country and spent now, and bo I feel grievously disappointed by the minuteness of the proposed loan. Two williQßg{ Bajj!

A mad Chinaman, recently imported from the "West Coast, died at the Lunatic Asylum on Thursday, so an inquest had to be held, and twelve gentlemen who could and, but for the inquest, would have been otherwise and more profitably employed were duly summoned to hold a solemn enquiry into the cause of death. As a pleasing preliminary they were forced to " view the body," and then proceeded with their deliberations. The object of an inquest held under such circumstances is, of course, to ascertain that no unnecessary severity or brutality had been exercised by the officials in whose charge the deceased had been placed, so, in order to satisfy the public miud upon this point, the surgeon in charge of the institution, and "the keeper " as the Statute euphemistically describes the superintendent, were examined, and each of them having stated upon oath that there, was nothing in Ihe treatment of Ah Noon (the Chinaman's name) for which either could be blamed, the jury, guided by such information, and assisted in arriving at a conclusion by the further knowledge they had derived from a glance at the corpse, returned their verdict. Now, wasn't this a ludicrous farce in which to ask a dozen and more sensible men to take part? By all means take every precaution to prevent cruel treatment of the insane in our Asylums and the sick in our Hospitals, but don't leave it to the two men who would be implicated if criminal cruelty or neglect had been practised to furnish the jury with all the details that are placed before them. This is an instance in which one can give free expression to his opinion, because in the first place Ah Noon was a strauger and had no friends here to whom any general remarks of this kiud could possibly give offence; and secondly, because the surgeon and superintendent of the Asylum are too well and too favorably known for it to be supposed for one moment that anything but kindness and consideration could be shown by them to any patient — no matter how friendless he might be — placed under their charge, but there might be cases in which the surroundings would be altogether different, aud therefore I wish to point out the absurdity of the whole thing. But I have not quite done yet. I must give the .verdict as officially recorded, because it shows how strict the law is on these points, and how it takes every care to insist upon a jury putting into intelligible language the conclusion at which they have arrived after hearing the house surgeon and superintendent of the Asylum declare upon their oath that they had done nothing to accelerate the death of the deceased. The twelve men who viewed the body and listened to the evidence were of opinion that death arose from natural causes, but you mustn't talk in this brusque sort of way when you are on a coroner's jury, so they had to append their signatures to the following :— " The said Ah Noou, on the fifth day of July, 1876, and for a long time before, did labor and languish uuder a grievous disease of the body, to wit, disease of the brain, and on the fifth day of July, in the year aforesaid, the said Ah Noon, by the visitation of God, in a natural way, of the disease and distemper aforesaid, and not by any violent means whatever to the knowledge of the jurors, did die." And having signed and set their seals to this the jurors were allowed to go home. • . £ (/•or continuation of Hews sea fourth paye.~) i . — . — — j ILi