THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 255, 27 October 1877, Page 2

THE WEEK.

The Parliamentary see-sa»v is now in fulJ swing, Sir George at one end of the plank and Major Atkinson at the other, and for the next week, or perhaps fortnight, it will be one up aud t'other down, until the division which it is to be hoped will settle the matter for the next year. Two to one oil "the Grey" now. The late Opposition saw him 3lip into office to their intense surprise, and in the face of all the promises made to them and the expectations they had formed. The present Opposition have made a huge mistake in commencing the attack ,before the delivery of the Financial Statement, for the cry will now be very fairly raised against them, " You are afraid to give us time to go into the accounts carefully lest we should detect the many blunders you have made " Of course there is really nothing in this, as the Colonial Treasurer will reserve himself until he is quite ready, and then in taking his share of the debate will introduce the statement into his speech, but for all this the cry will be a good and an effective one. And besides, the haste in bringing forward the noconfidence motion has given Mr Keyuolds an opportunity of introducing an amendment that is sure to catch the "doubtfuls," and supposing it to be carried the House will not be in a humor to wait for a third no-eonfi-deuce debate. Admirable tact on his own part, and the utter absence of it on the part of those who did not agree with him have i seated the ex-Governor in the Premier's chair, and, if 1 am not very much mistaken, will keep him there. In reading a Sydney paper the other day I came across a paragraph which interested me, and perhaps will iuterest others, as. showing that political parties iv New South Wales are situated very similarly to those in New Zealand. Wouldn't the following give a very fair idea of the state of our House of Representatives at the time of Mr Larnach introducing his motion which resulted ill the defeat of the government ?— " The worst of the present political crisis' is that it will probably onlj" perpetuate the evil that has been so much deplored— Jack in jflarry out, Harry in Jack out; for the cross-beuch party which promised so much, has shown something worse than impotency. The cross-benches were arranged to establish a neutral party, but unfortunately this neutral party have been as hungry for office as either oi the parties-jo-chief ? and have voted too often against the Treasury benches iv hope that a few of the perquisites of office might fall to their own share. But they have beeu wofully dissappointed. It would really seem as if Mrs Gruudy was correct when she said that the two leaders of the House were leagued together to keep out the third party. The neat way in which the leader of the crossbenches was jockeyed out of his opportunity had the air of premeditation about it," This i 3 a most wonderful country for fishy stories. Not many years ago when trout were a rarity in Nelson,, and anyone catching them would have rendered himself liable to a heavy penalty, a horse that was being ridden through the river most uufortunately or fortunately— l scarcely know which is the more correct word to use — set his foot on a real beauty, and inflicted such injuries |as to render it useless for anything but culinary purposes. And now I see that a Christchurch dray horse has distinguished himself as an angler. A local paper says: — " While a cart load of 3tus was being removed on Saturday last from a cutting in the .centre of the Antigua street works, one of the horse's hind legs got stuck in the soft peat, and he was unable to extricate it. On the cart being unloaded and pulled away from him he managed, with help, to struggle out, and jn doing so fished up an eel eighteen inches iti

length with the end of his shoes." Being somewhat sceptical I called in a P.D. to ask him what he thought of the story, and whether he believed in the j eighteen inch eel being fished out. With a wink of the eye he merely replied "With a hook," and disappeared. I don't think we can learn much from Wellington in the direction of waterworks management. A fire breaks out in the dead of the night when it is specially necessary that everything shall be in readiness to repel the attack of the dreaded foe; with praiseworthy promptitude the firemen rush to the spot, fix their hoses, and turn the taps. With what result? Just about the same that attends the vocal efforts of the Nelson bailiff when on Wednesday after Wednesday he stands at the door of the Court House and sings out "E. L. Shaw; E. L. Shaw; E. L. Shaw." We all know what comes next; how the officer returns to the Court, and in the stereotyped phrase informs the Bench, "He doesn't answer your Worship." So it was in Wellington when the cry was raised for water. There was no response. And now there is a terrific row in Wellington, and people are enquiring earnestly why the answer was not forthcoming. So they are in Nelson about that other matter which I casually mentioned by way of illustration. Of all the Provincial districts in New Zealand Canterbury is the one that has taken the lead in contributing to relieve those who arc sufferers from the Indian famine, but, as to the means adopted for " raising the wind," there seems to be a difference of opinion with regard to their beiug consistent with the end in rievr. Last Tuesday there was a general holiday, a muff cricket match, and sports and jollifications of every description, an entrance fee of course being charged to the public for the benefit of the famine fund. Whereupon an irate citizen wrote furiously to the papers asking whether that was the most fitting way in which to show sympathy with those who were dying of hunger. He has at least some show of reasen on his side when he says: — " If cricketers and footballers wish to play, let them play; and if auy desire a fling at ' Aunt Sally' let them do it, and do it heartily, but don't let the community make asses of themselves by * grinning through a horse collar' their expression of sympathy for the starving millions of India. There are contemptible beings who can laugh at calamities in which they are not themselves interested, but what will the world say when they read that, as an expression of public sympathy for the famine-stricken myriads of India, all Christchurch turned out for a glorious spree— Cricket, Richardson's Show, Aunt Sally, Tumbling, Horse-collar Grinning, and goodness knows what? Will they not say we are gone mad?" I should be sorry to answer this very plain question in the affirmative, and at the same time I am not disposed to gi7e it a direct negative. F.