Correspondence.

Colonist, Issue 37, 26 February 1858, Page 3

Correspondence.

OTHELLO'S OCCUPATION IS GONE,

To the Editor of the Colonist. Sir, —In reading Tuesday's lt-ader concerning ihe. neglect and bad management of-the town cemetery, one cannot help feeling struck with a few fine combustible expressions, more particularly as regards the Feejee savages. To bring a Feejee to calculate a Britisher, appears rather too bad; you certainly do not want us to bury tin pots and teakettles to show respect and reverence to departed our friends. The comparison may hold good with the higher ranks we left behiud us in the old country; they, I believe, inter crests, coats of arms, and other imaginable tinsels and follies with their illustrious sires and grandsires.

This is certainly the first time I have heard that we Britishers here are backward in respect to our departed friends and relatives, and such curious causes to constitute the grave charge ; witness—if a goat, or sheep, or porker shall happen to take a bite of grass, or a stroll over the sacred deposits, then are we undoue, our reverence and respect are gone. Yea for this we are brought to the level of cannibalism. A mere joke I suppose. I calculate our good friend, the leader, must bo playing the comical with us, something after the style of the song in the cock-loft. ! '

The suggestion about the best means to obtain the needful to keep the cemetery in repair is very good. So at last we are brought down to the charity system. Well, then, let me advise you, Mr. Leader, to get us the first collection. I have no doubt you will gather a large congregation together; draw, tears from oar eyes, and money from our pockets.' If you do that, you will be as clever as the Wizard.

Now let rae throw out a suggestion or two for beautifying the cemetery, namely, to ditch and bank, plant a quickset hedge, and two rows of blue gums, all round the cemetery. Then have the grand entrance in the middle of one of the sides, to go straight to the opposite side, •and a cross road, exactly in the middle again, fit right angles, thus forming a cross, and for a border to the cross, plant another row-of blue gums. The gum trees will soon make it a secluded spot, and to appear a beautiful and desirable place for us to rest our weary bones from the toils of this life, as soon as we can find time to go ; and the trees, perhaps, will remind us of our own ancient and glorious yew tree. As regards the site, although elevated, it is one of the most lovely iri the town, and the sea view is splendid; a sufficient answer, to the query as to whether we do not show all respect and reference to the " inhabitants of the other

•woi'ld...

I think the hint thrown out in the concluding paragraph is out of pace. The grounds at the Beich, in.my opinion, would be the worst possible place for a grave-yard. Consider, in the case of contagious disease, hundreds- of. people passing and repas9ing daily close to it, and all funerals to proceed to it by the Beachroad, and the harbour full of shipping. Why, Nelson would be clear of her inhabitants in a very short' time; and instead of being the lovely, lordly Nelson, with itswharves and hotels crowded, and business transacted in every nook and corner, we should be a second Tyre—a city

of desolation, of broken nets, and of sackcloth and ashes. I think the present cemetery grounds to be the best, the most healthy for the inhabitants, the most central for the town and neighbourhood, and away from all cental Hues of traffic; and though last, not least, it has a good stiff clayey subsoil, and therefore, I think it the best we could have selected fur our clayey bodies. I am, &0., PUMPKIN.

To the Editor of the Colonist,

Sib, —In reading your papers week after week, I constantly see some letter from one or the other of our fortune seekers in this new land of ours, speaking of the diggings-and diggers in general. Many of them I must say, as far as they go, are quite correct; but by reading them attentively one may easy glean from the contents that they have not travelled the diggings much, or otherwise they, do not know much what the diggers are doing. Therefore if you think my ditty worth inserting iv your columns, I will endeavour to give you as.near a correct account of what is doing as possible.

We will commence au<l go upwards, beginning aY what is called the diggings, nanely, G-ol.len Gully. Judging from the numerous tents pitched in and about the place, I should say there are upwards of one hundred and fifty diggers now in that quarter, and I may say on an average they are all doing well Many o" the claims have what we cull turned put welK--1 while others have done very middling; but the great drawback to that part of the ountry is the want of water, and I fear will he felt more before the summer is over, for even during the short season of dry weather we have had many of the diggers here been compelled to suspend their operations till the rain should again assist them.

From the Golden Gully we go on to the old field of all our glory, the S ate River; there again the tables are 'turned, for instead of haviug too little, they have too much water, in cjnsequenoe of which many have been compelled to leave, and I must say they have exercised a deal of patience in waiting so long for the dry season. I have known several instances where the dams have been put in, I may«safely say four or five times, and just when completed the flood has come and carried them away—thus have we had to contend with the weather for the last three months. .1 am happy to say we have been favoured with a short fit of dry, consequently the diggings are again on gui vive. We must now go on to the Big Boulder River, but I cannot say much about that part of the country, and perhaps the least said the sooner mended. My firm conviction is, it has yet to give us as much gold as the Slate River. Many parties have tried, I say tried: they have washed a few dishfuls from the surface and pronounced it done up; therefore all I can say for it will notavail much —only this, that to mycertain knowledge there are parties now taking out their four ounces a day regularly. We will now go on to the much cried down Salisbury Crock,— it. is taking up nearly from top to bottom, and all doing well.. Ido not think it is requisite to say anything further, for the nugget found a few days ago is a sufficient proof of what there is in that direction. It only wants a little more time to show us where the diggings-will be. Let the Government help us a little by bettering the road, then we shall soon see a good field opened up. As for the Ranges, they are at present in the same state as they always have been : very few have had spirit enough to go as far in consequence of the difficuliy of getting there ; but thanks to our indefatigable friend the road now is much more easy, and the distance rendered much shorter. One very good sign of the Quartz Ranges is that many are going and none coming back. Such is as near a correct account of the diggings as I think it is possible to give; and 'subscribe myself

J. B. B,

Mil. Bright and Indian Affairs.—Among the pamphlets now issuing from the press on Indian affairs is one entitled, "An address to the reconstructois of oar Indian Empire," byMr. Robert Davies Laurel, late of the Bombay Civil Service. From this pamphlet, says the Manchester Examiner and Times, we extract the following letter written by Mr. Bright, M.P., and published, as we believe, without the knowledge of the writer, in an -Indian newspaper, so far back as February, 1853. This letter was written in answer to a correspondent in India, who expressed his disappointment that the Government did not intend to make any real change in the administration of the Indian Empire. It shows how thoroughly the condition of the Indian Government was then understood by our late representative, and how clearly the present crisis was foreseen by him : —"You were in expectation of sweeping changes in the Charter Act, but to your ' horror and amazement' you find nothing is to be done. You seem to be as ignorant of England as we are supposed to be of India. Nothing can be done with or for India, until some great eventcalamity it may.be—shall compel it to be done. In Parliament, nobody knows or cares anything about India. ' Hobhouse, never fit for .much for any practical purpose of good government, and yin his old days more old and more slow than most old men, has been your ruler from 1846 to 1851, and he is succeeded by Herries, who could never, have been tolerated, except "as the successor of Hobhousa. If-a debate is attempted, nobody attends to it.; if returns are moved for, they are seldom made, and if made, are purposely so made as to be quite incomprehensible; if a question is asked, we are dodged to the Court of Directors and back to the Board of Control, and between them, are unanswered and laughed at; if a charge .is made, Hogg is at hand to deny it; and this .is done with security, when the proof is often only in 1 the hands of the court, or the board, or hidden in a waggon-load of papers. The people of England truely know nothing of India, except that hundreds of families among them profit by its patronage ; and these families, powerful in political parties here, will give no help to auy attempt to unveil the hidden mysteries connected with Indian affairs. The Whigs are much like the Tones, in this matter ; neither party wishes to undertake a great question of this kind; both are deep in patronage and jobbing of every sort; and unhappily, there is no statesman in England," at this moment, who has sufficient reputation, power, or position, to enable him on his own responsibility to grapple with the great Indian abuse. The' enormous expenditure of the Indian Goverament, in India and at home, deceives or. corrupts almost everybody, and they who are neither deceived nor corrupted, are not powerful enough to overcome it. I confess I see no remedy at present. You have aGovemment without respousibility, spending taxes which it does not pay, and turning the interests of a hundred millions of people to the profit of a small section of the English nation." I