THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 136, 8 June 1878, Page 2

THE WEEK.

That was a bad example set by Sir George Grey, when, iv trying to render null and void an Act passed by both Honse3 of the Legislature, he endeavored to assume autocratic powers, arid to overrule the will of the people as expressed by their representatives iv Parliament assembled. True, he did not succeed, but, as most of us know by experience, there is something much more infectious in a bad than in a good example, and the followers of the former will generally be fouud far more numerous thau those of the latter, especially if he who sets it is one in authority and occupying a high position. Now, tbe precedent established by Sir George iv flying in the face of generally accepted rules, and, I may almost say, of ordinary common senses has been closely followed in Nelson on two distinct occasions this week, once at the meeting of the Licensing Bench, and again afc the election of Local Committeemen on Thursday nighfc. Iv the former instance a man applied for a license. The police objected ou the ground thafc the applicant waa nofc of such a character as to justify his being placed in charge of a public-house. All that they adduced in support of their objection was a slip of paper signed by a district constable, who was not present to give evidence or to reply to questions in cross-examination, whereupon tbe solicitor for the applicant applied for an adjournment in order to allow the accuser to attend and his client to bring forward witnesses as fco his general character. Ifc was a reasonable enough request, bufc the Bench took upon itself to say nay, aud to refuse what to ordinary people sitting in less elevated positions appeared to be no mote than common justice. Then again, at the Provincial Hall, the chairman of the meeting, called for the j purpose of electing a Local Committee, took I upon himself to rule, without any attempt to I support his ruling by any recognised authority, that because a candidate proposed was nofc present therefore he could not be elected. They talk about the growth of democracy in New Zealand, but it seems to me thafc if such extraordinary decisions are to be given, and to be accepted in all humility, there is another " cracy " from whose growth in our midst much more is to be feared. When the term " boor " is made use of, ifc will frequently be found thafc the word " country " is prefixed to it, the two together being intended to signify some loutish creature utterly devoid of anything approaching to good manuers. On behalf of the residents in the country I desire to raise my voice against the commonly accepted belief that ifc is outside the boundaries of towns where ill manners most prevail, aud my reason for speaking of it now I will give in a few words. I was last night reading the reports of the elections of Local Committees in the " City of Nelson " and the Waimea districts. In all the latter I noticed that the householders who were present were courteous enough to place on record an expression of their thanks to those who had served them to the best of their ability during the past year. I do not give them any special credit for this, for surely such a small return was the least they could make for the work that had been voluntarily undertaken and faithfully carried out by the moribund Committees, but what did strike me as peculiar was that in the town no such courtesy waa displayed to those who were goiug out of office, not even to the Secretary who must have given up a considerable portion of his spare time to the duties devolving upon him. Of course the house-holders, if they thought fit to do so, had a perfect right to elect others in his place, but they needn't have kicked him out in that unceremonious way without a single word of thanks for his past services. It there is one more exacting ungrateful taskmaster than another, it is to be found in the public, who will take all they can get, be most unmerciful in their condemnation of every error, no matter how trivial, and the last to say •* Thank you" for time, labor, and thought expended in their behalf. When reading the Aus 'ralcuian the other day I met with the following paragraph : — " Among our stable exports the wool trade must always be of exceptional interest, even to those who desire to see all available land devoted to agricultural rather than to pastoral purposes." The italic?, I may say, are my own. Now, as I never, in all my experience, heard or read of wool being classed as a "stable" export, lam inclined to the belief that the Australasian proof reader had suffered himself to be caught napping, and had allowed a printer's error to go forth uncorrected, a very rare occurrence, indeed, in such a paper as that in which ifc appeared. Old Crusty, a water-drinker of* the severest type, to whom I pointed out the mistake, says that it should be a warning to all to refrain from strong liquor, for he is sure that to P.B; alone can be attributed the substitution of the " b" for the " p." It won't do, your Worship. So long as there are respectable tradesmen in the place you will never be able to advertise over the Council Chamber "Mayor, Clerk, Surveyor and Co., Importers of Gas Stoves and General Dealers." I include "general dealers," because if you once set up in this line, why stop at gaa stoves? Brushes and black lead will be required to clean them, meat to cook in them, beer to drink with the meat, glasses to drink the beer out of, dusters to wipe the glasses, soap to wash the dusters, and so on ad infinitum. No, Mr Mayor and 'gentlemen, you had far better confine yourselves to your legitimate duties. If you really want to encourage an additional consumption of ga3, as I believe you ought to do, work with the tradesmen instead of competing against them. You lower the price of ga3; let them import the stoves in which to burn it. A witty friend has sent me the following problem, which he says will have to be solved by Mr Stout before drafting his Manhood Suffrage Bill:—" When is a man not areal man? — When he's a China-man." From my knowledge of the sender I should say there, is more injthis than a mere riddle asked for the sole purpose of affording amuseme it. There is a deeper meaning than appears on the surface, and I should not be in the least surprised if the question is put, and answered in the same way, in real earnest when the Bill is before. the House. F.