THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 220, 27 September 1879, Page 2

THE WEEK.

Somohnrly ovor in VfoHington, I can't Bay who, is clearly at fault in his arithmetic, for it is s self evident fact that 46 won't go into 88 once and leave 44 over, and yet this apP o«.ro to bo *j, c : «uU ot the calculations as to the strength of parties. The Government, at their caucus, had 34 present, and twelve others were answered for as being safe to vote with them. The Opposition aay that they have the promises of 44. I once heard a defeated candidate at an election of a member of the House of Representatives say that his cabs had conveyed to the poll just Beventy-two more than the total number of those who voted for him, but then there was the ballot on that occasion. How the members, who have to vote openly, will account for their duplicate promises it will be interesting to learn. I wonder what the result of introducing the ballot box into Parliament would be. I fancy there would be occasional surprises. A friend who was on a visit to Nelson the other day told me of a knotty question that bad arisen in the administration of the Land Tax Act. He didn't see how the difficulty was going to be got over, but perhaps some of my readers will be able to suggest a solution. John Thomas owns certain lands valued at over £500, and is allowed £500 exemption. So far so good, but John Thomas is also a partner on equal terms with Smith in one business, with Jones in another, and with Robinson in a third, and each of the firms possesses landed property over £500 in value. If the exemption is I allowed in every instance, John Thomas, | whose share of it in each partnership concern will be £250, must be exempted in the aggregate to the extent of £1250, including his own private property. If it is not, then his partners are not justly dealt by. Although the names used are fanciful, the case ia not an imaginary one, so that anyone disposed to take the trouble of working out a solution of the difljculty may possibly confer a benefit on the Land Tax Department. One of the most surprising events in Sir George Grey's career has happened this week and yet It does not appear to have been taken the slightest notice of. This, I think, is wrong, so I must take upon myself to call attention to it. A deputation from the Working Men's Rights League waited upon the Premier last Monday and asked him to grant them> series of favors. Now, whether it was that he was for the time a little dasjed by the long name of the Association they represented, and so was not quite so ready as usual, I can't say, but the astounding fact remains, that he absolutely refused to make one of the promises the deputation desired to extract from him. I must repeat it, or I am afraid some of you who read these lines will think I am mistaken or have been mis-ioformed— Sir George Grey actually declined to make a promise J We have all heard of his neglecting to keep those he had made, but of his refusing to give one— no, never J What the deputation wanted was that, in nddition to being settled on the lands of the colony upon easy terms, the Government should supply each head of a household with a plough and a cow. Now everybody who read this must have considered it a very moderate renuest indeed, but Sir George Grey, it no\y tor the first time seemg— nobody ever suspected it before—things that there should be a ljmit even to his promises, and so he ha* drawn the line at a plough and a cow. Whether this is to be regarded as a sign of improvement, or as a symptom of faij(ng powers, I cannot say, but, at all events, the fad is, I think, worthy of record.. I have asked the printer if he can contrive VO find room to-day for a correspondence between thirty-three College boys and Mr Acton Adams, M.H.R., which appeared in the Cokmist last Thursday, and he has promised to let it appear in the fourth page. I am glad of this, because I am a thorough believer in the sentiment that you can't have too much of a good thing, and this I look upon as a very good thing indeed, a better thing, in fact, than I have seen for many a loug day. What mischievous fiend, I wonder, could have put it iato the heads of these youngsters to select this' particular M.UR. as a fitting subject for a practical

1 joke? Bat, having conceived the idea, they certainly carried it into execution effectually. I like the way they commence operations. Presuming that their first object in view is to hare a bit of fan, and the second to get a holiday if they can, they display a considerable amount of shrewdness in first of all recalling to the memory of their victim his own school days, when probably he was as fond of fun and holidays as any of them, and they then pull the first pound of butter out of their pockets and lay it on thick. The delicate allusion to his having been "head boy," and the fact of their having raked up this record of the past from the annals of the College were calculated to produce their effect, and they evidently did their work well, for they seem to have " fetched " him at once. Then there is more stroking down the right way in their endorse* ment of the M.H.R.'s political views. He i3 one of the Opposition, and so, " we, of course, are opponents of Sir George Grey." But they haven't secured their prey yet, so another dose ot flattery is administered, and he is spoken of, not only as the distinguished schoolboy and the eminent politician, but as the true prophet who had predicted that "the people would reject the followers of Sir George Grey." The web being apua to perfection, the reason for having taken so much trouble in its construction, hitherto carefully concealed, now erops out. In order to commemorate the return for the second time of the once distinguished leader of the Nelson College, they consider it " to be their due that they should have a longer vacation at Michaelmas." A little pressing of their case, a well timed reference to the « brilliant future " in store for him whom they hope to convert into a holiday asker, and then follow the signatures, and these are not the least amusing part of the business You, « E. P. Bunny," for instance, what will papa say when he learns that you " heard of the defeat of the Grey Ministry," of which he is so ardent an admirer, " with great satisfaction." And, Hercules, my boy, what will "the guv'nor" think when he finds that his young hopeful has given public expression to his want of confidence in hia father's principal responsible adviser? Then I notice the names of four sons of Civil servants. Will the sins of the children be visited on their fathers? Let us hope not. Bnt while I have been speculating on the paternal view of the case, these crafty young spiders have been keeping watch upon the web so cnnningly devised and so cleverly constructed, to see whether he for whom it was spread ia to be caught. To their surprise, perhaps, but certainly to their intense delight, the wary old fly, whose twenty years experience of the ways of the world since he left school does not serve him in good stead at this critical moment, buzzes straight into it and at once becomes hopelessly entangled. Tell me now, Acton, had you really that simple faith in the genuineness of the youngsters' professions of admiration of your past career as boy and man, that you could honestly sit down and write, « To find that after twenty years I am still remembered by the present boys of a College of which I was head boy for two years, is indeed most gratifying "? Is your recollection of your own school days so faint that you cannot remember that when a " lark was on " a schoolboy's memory could be tenacious or treacherous as the occasion required ? However, you have been caught, and how you are going to extricate yourself, I do not know. But to these « young Liberals of New Zealand, 1 ' who have been so merciless in their joke, I would like to say one word. If I , were in your place, bovs. I wouldn't do this sort of thing again. What you have already done will go abroad throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, and there are 7°[ pwpie iroo won't regard it as a joke at all, but who will look at it more seriously, and they will form th6 opinion that the Nelson College boys are prepared to stoop to any amount of flattery, cajolery, priggishness, and humbug for the sake of getting a holiday. That is what I don't think myself of them, and I don't want others to do so. F.