THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 94, 20 April 1878, Page 2

THE WEEK.

As a rule Sir George Grey's counteuance is like a mask, giving not the slightest indication to outsiders of what is passing through the active brain behind it. But on Wednesday night the Premier was betrayed into displaying suf prise, aiid ti, look of triumph passed swiftly over his face; -Which could only have been called forth by some extraordinary fcirchmstance. This y/da how ifc occurred— At the fclose -df Sir Gebrgfe'a speech a resolution expressing cbnfldehde ill hia dnd his Government was, as we all know, proposed, and this was put by the chairman to the meeting in the usual form: Proposed by Mr Acton Adams and seconded by Mr Atkinson. Then it was that the look of which I have spoken was observable on Sir George's countenance,' and it might have been interpreted.thus-. — '* Good gracious me, have I actually- talked over one of the Atkinsons? Well, I must have been in fine form to-night."' Afterwards there was a whispered colloquy between the Premier and the chairmau^bufc whether or" not it was in connection with this matter I cannot say, but it seemed to' ui-e that the latter was explaining that the seconder wns not a brother of Major Afckinson'spbut "Little Ered." Ihave not up tothe present time any personal antipathy to Sir Johu Coode, but I feel that if the sort of thing to wbich we have been subjected of late continues much longer I shall learn to hate that distinguished engineer with a bitter hatred, nofc from any fault of his own, but as the result of the conduct of those who will insist upon reporting every little trifle in connection with his travels through the country. In one paper the other evening I observed no less than three telegrams about him. One conveyed the interesting information that Sir Johu Coode made a cursory, examination of.the Lytteiton Harbor works in spite of the Harbor Board, who had'Jdeclined his services; another told us that several of the Timaru ratepayers considered thafc Sir John Coode's opinion upon their harbor works should be obtained, and from the third we learned that the action of the Harbor Board in allowing Sir John Coode to leave Timaru without obtaining a report from him had been freely discussed. What have we done in Nelson and the other parts of the colony that we should be thus bored to death with Sir John Coode, what he does, and what other people think aboufc bim? And then the last straw was placed upon our already heavily laden backs when we were told lagfc Wednesday that Sir George Grey's visit to Nelson, to which he had been looking forward with such pleasure for the last six weeks, was to be cut short because the Hinemoa was required to transport Sir John Coode from the West Coast, from which place I suppose we shall soon be receiving a lofc more telegrams about his movements and sayings and doings. I really think he ought to protest against being made such a nuisance. Returning from a walking tour through the Waimeas the other day I arrived afc the now hridgeless Wairoa river, aud was just about to take off my socks and tuck up my trowsers preparatory to wading the icy cold stream when a friendly voice hailed me from the top of a grain cart, offering me a lift, which I need scarcely say I gladly accepted. Two fine horses were drawing the load, but it was as much as they could do to drag it over the stones, and &9± now one wheel, now another, came in contact with some boulder bigger than its fellows, which momentarily checked our progress, my friend the driver became more and more excited, and cracked his whip and shouted to his horses— " Hup, hup, Alexander, pull you skulking wretch, pull her up, pull you lazy beggar, pull." A pause. Theu, "Gee up Gcrtschakoff, walk her along you old dodger, walk her along," These and similar exhortations to the horses, some of which will not bear repetition, accompanied by furious crackings of the whip, continued until we reached the other side of the river, and as I had been a little puzzled by them I took an early opportunity of asking my friend, as soon as he had cooled down a little, what he meant by giving his horses such names: "Why, it's all along o' them Rooshians," said he, '• and so 1 likes to ease my mind by making believe that I've got the Emperor in the shafts and his Premier in the lead when I can shout afc 'em and speak out my mind." This was as unintelligible to me as I daresay ifc is to ray readers, so I asked him: "My good fellow. what's all along o' them Rooshians; why does it do you good to shower abuse on the Czar and his Minister?" His reply was ready: " Why, aiu'fc it their fault thafc we haven't got a bridge? You go and ask Sir George Grey for the money to build one, and he'll teii you that he'll give it to you as soon as he's got the loan, but can't do it before, and then you go to somebody else who reads the papers and ask why they can't get the loan, and he'll tell you it's because the Rooshians and Turks have been fighting each other for a long time, and now want to go in together to larrup old England. Ain't I right in walking it into tbem Rooshians whenever I gets a chance?" I was con viuced, and when I bade him good bye, I felt thafc my experience had heen enlarged. I had no idea before of the extent to which European politics are studied by the carters of the Waimeas. A story. reaches me from the other side of the Straits that is too good to be kept to myself. A young man from Nelson had gone to seek his fortune in the North Island, aud kept up a correspondence with his aged mother here, to whom he also occasionally sent a copy of the newspaper published in the district in which he had settled. The other day he was astonished on coming across the following sentence in a letter received from tbe old lady:— "Be it really true, Johnny, that -when a butcher dies in them parts where you be gona they always sells * his skin, and what do they paint 'em green for? I don't like it, Johnny. I always said you should'nt go away from Nelson, and now I'm sure of it, for they must be wicked people there to do such things." "Johnny" was sorely puzzled, and for days could nofc make out what on earth his aged mother was referring to, and he began to entertain occasional doubts of her sanity. One evening after work, however, a solution of the mystery dawned upon him. He was sitting reading the newspaper, and on coming to the market reports he found as follows:—" Butchers' green skins bring from 3s to 3s 9d." Then it flashed across him' that there must have been a similar notice in one of the papers sent to his mother, and thafc the poor simple old soul had interpreted the worda literally. A full explanation was posted to Nelson hy the next mail.

My own correspondent at the camp reports the folloiving incident which occurred yesterday. Thei : B had beeh drill in a distant part of thfe piiddock,- and tbe battalion befog ilbdut to tetui-'ri to the camping grdtitifl the bt'der ttas giren " Quick march." * Thefe wis nb rfe'sbdnSfe f^ Ul { hfe £ and . th(J thffifl taps oh the drum Were wfthtihg, tthd the' officer in command began to grow wrath. " Quick march " again rung out from his lips, and this time there was a sternness in his tone thilfc showed thafc he was nofc to be trirfed witH. Still the TBaild gave no sign, and nothing -wd-d heard frdrii the position occupied by them except a sound which Wita obe-tbird grunt, one-third groan, and the other third - well,- we'll say a naughty word. An aide de camp was despatched to ascertain the cause of what looked so like mutinous conduct on the part of the musicians, and to bim was soon made known the reason for the disobedience of drdefa\ the tfoop's wfer-S fronting to the south-west, iinil tb-e gehtlfetiiau who was fastened to the big drum found himself utterly unable to face the furious gale that was blowiug, the huge protuberance in front of him presenting so large a surface to the wind that his strength was insufficient to propel it, despite the most frantic struggles on his part to move forward. Whether, on the state of affairs being made known to the Major, he ordered a countermarch, or whether the homeward march was postponed until thd wind lulled at sundown I have not yet heard from my correspondent. E.