THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 159, 7 July 1877, Page 2

THE W EEK.

Ifc may appear to be an humiliating confession to make, but I am compelled to admit fchafc I am rather bothered by the telegrams I see in the papers about the progress of the Russo-Turkish war. And I don'fc see fchafc I am to blame in the matter either, for I have provided niyself with every obtainable map ; I am surrounded by maps, I may almost say, inconveniently crowded with maps. Keifch Johnston's colored map lies before me j it is flanked by the Illustrated London News map, supported by the Australasian's map ; while in front, to the rear, and on each side of me are fche maps (whose name is Legion) published by, with, and for the various New Zealand newspapers, and ye. I cannot trace the movements of the contending forces. But; it's not so much the maps as the telegrams thafc are to blame. In these latter fchere is no continuity, and the context, as the message appears in its original form, is calculated to drive him who has to decipher ifc oufc of his mind. Ifc doesn't so much matter when places of note such as Kars (in Turkey in Asia) and Ruschak (in Turkey in Europe) are put into the same pot aud boiled down together, because each h_a some distinctive mark or association which assists the reader in his study when; picking fchem ou'fc of the hodge-podge in which fchey have gofc - I so abominably mixed, but when you. have I cleverly contrived to .race the movements in .-. Asia up to some hitherto unheard-of little * I village, and then in the same sentence are informed of whafc is going on in what turns oufc to be aa obscure town in Turkey in Europe, ifc surely i§ nofc to be wonderedtafcift ' you lo_e your temper, and hurl imprecations | on the' belligerents and telegraphists for nofc studying « the unities," and so rendering ifc possible for editors and sub-edifcorsr in the antipodes to put into intelligible shape fche cable messages thafc. reach this part- qf the world in so jumbled a form. ' ' By the* English papers that will come to hand by the next San Francisco "mail we shall be placed in possession of fche full particulars of. the proceedings afc whafc are known as the " May meetings " in London, the purport of which is fco create an interest in the heathen in the various uncivilised and un-Chrisfcianised parts of fche world. The object of fchbse who take parfc in .hese meetings is most praiseworthy, and the speeches made by the more prominent speakers will, we may feel sure, be excellent, able, and interesting. In New Zealand too we at stated intervals go in for the same sorfc of thing. We subscribe to the missions fco the isles of the Pacific, and a re large supporters of the Melanesian Mission in particular, owing probably to the associations connected with ifc, and the noble list of names of those who have devoted their services to ifc, some of whom have died a martyr's death in carrying oufc the task they had so unselfishly undertaken. To those who have provided the funds, and still more to those who have given up themselves, their present comfort, and their worldly prospects, all honor is due, and however great may be the praise aud approbation accorded to them, I, for one, do nofc think that they can possibly be exaggerated. But it seems to me thafc while we are laudably engaged in the endeavor to convert; the heathen in the wilds of the world, we are a little apt to forget the reform fchafc _3~sq urgently needed within our own boundaries. A little of thafc attention fchafc we bestow so profusely upon fche Melanesians and Fijians might be turned with advantage to the moral improvement of those who live

ae our very doors... When we see a.H..!e .crowd of settlers, in a district not; a score of miles from the capital fcown ! of tbis province' come infco a court of law and swear thafc they will teethe fcruth, and ask their Gad fco help .nen^ m\sa doing,; afc \fche .same \fcime. knowing well r fchafc v fch^ words fchey are about to utter are a deliberate lie (I do not; mean to point to either side in particular, but merely assert what; everybody knows, that one or fche other must have perjured themselves) ; when we "seepa father stating, without the slightest sense Of shame, thafc he do<>s riofc Relieve that his ten-year-old daughter is conscious of any difference between truth and falsehoodwhen we see and hear all this, lam temptedto ask— Are fchere nofc heathens nearer to our own doors, and in whom we have a greater interest than those who dwell in fche far off isles of fche ocean, who require fche services of the minister and fche schoolmaster quite sts much as do their dusky brefchren of Melanesia and Polynesia ? The~Sf;amp worry to which I have had occasion to ajlude oniprevious occasions appears fco he doing Us work effectually. I have been t'old'durihg the week of three instances in which men who had given permissioTrfco fcheir friends to nominate them as fcheir executors have requested fchafc fcheir names might; be struck out;, giving ifc as fcheir reason that fche hampering conditions now imposed by the Stamp Dep_.rfcriien_ entailed so much additional and unnecessary labor that they feared they would not be able to P^. orm the task fcQ ey had undertaken to their satisfaction. Thifis a pleasant state of affairs, is it not? "Of course I know Xhafcitis not allowable to express an opinion upon a case while it is *& w •.'^- I am n6fe & bfn S fco do anything of the kind.m reference to fche Happy Valley perjury cases, but I catmofc help looking for- . war<i. to the complication fchafc must arise in im. eyentroCali those, agki ns. whom informations have been lodged for perjury being committed for trial. Imagine the puzzled expression of the Crown Prosecutor's- countenance -as he pores -over ;tte arid realises the fact theoihe has to prove both sides . _o_be.gu___y.of fche misdemeanor laid fco their charge. I'm sure his face would be a study ¥„\ 7 ®^w mp - .I.^ i3 > a civil Bifc ting of the -DisfcricfcCourfc I have reason fco congratulate myself fchafc my name is «F." The " Disfcricfc Courts Acfc" provides that the jurv shall be summoned in alphabetical order as the names appear on the jury list. The District Court has been established in NeUon about a year, and never yefc have even the « A's " been exhausted, aud as a new jury list has lately been struck, a commencement will have once more to be made from fche beginning Messieurs fche gentlemen of whose names fche initial letter is «A," I hope you like your position as jurymen in permanence of fche Disfcricfc Court;. j?