THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1859.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 229, 30 December 1859, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1859.

At the close of the year it is ,nofc to gather some fragments from the ,day.s that have feeea passed. A little egotism: may be pardoned ia a journal, which, though young in years, has a during its existence worked a wonderful change. Some two years ago, an office was opened, and the public were given to understand that the rights of a class the more generally neglected, .were for the future to be advocated In a colony the labor is essentially the important interest, the word capital is at first little known, and only after 19 years, begins now tp ks-ve some meaning here, but that capital is oply the result of the profit which has been ma4e ,p;# of former years labor. We find that land, .{^eh/but a few years ago furnished only a sustenance jtp theferoe naturm is now the home 6? an and industrious race, every rise in v^lue^ which has occurred in our land is due,' s simply .and honestly to the energy which has ma^ie the'desert a city, and the swamp a cultivated field. Progress must be always adyancipg, anci .the last twelve months shew us how rapidly she progresses where her pupijs are sedulous, jygn.. _ jasoyements which it has taken l the appli-?; cation o.f centuries of science to develope in Europe,"(ihe mother of Art and Mechanics, are daily brought our notice. We fittda harbor tfiileii wi^ jy^els from all parts, md amongst Xk&pi ,we,fin^ jtijfi |epresentatkes of vone class, the steamers, wMck ; have enabled us to bridge the Atlantic, and to make the voyage to jti&9 former distantl land of Prester John a of days, and not of months or years. With Itijyem they bring us intelligence, and furnish us | with tne jti^tjsrial upon which to work for! futura ioapravi3p9Bnt« v In the annals of history the present fieatury will be noted aa- one of the most remarkafelej we have conquered py ptud^in^ the l&w of «torr»s^

the difficulties of navigation; we have fiiade servant of a power which has laid dormant from the hour when the first sun rose upon a riew world to provide us with means of trarisit from shore to shore, from city to city, and even the lightning is now writing at a thousand miles the words which , man dictates. It has been from the fertile womb of the earth that the necessaries for this advance have been dug. Ages long ago the sculptors of Greece could find the marble of Paros; but it was left to a later age to develope the resources of that which, like a provident mother, Nature had stored up for the future wants of her children. That mineral is coal, and we find it scattered over almost the whole habitable globe. The application of it to the use of man : is of recent date, and coeval with its^use are the greatest strides in science which have the education of former years tojnduce them to advance, and perhaps prosper in the newly cultivated land. A new discovery, which, in future years may be acknowledged as an advantage is not to be disregarded, and we may say this, that the existence of fuel sufficient for the require^ merits of our steam communication is one of those points. The enamel 'of Rome has been lost, but the highway prophesied by Isaiah has been completed. , With regard to our own local advancement during the last year we may record much; a retrospect of the buildings whose foundations have been laid should be sufficient to please the most fastidious. Law, justice, science and education have, during the past twelve months seen the corner stones laid which represented the desire of the population to welcome them to a home. The report which the last Home News furnishes us with of the meeting of the directors of the Inter-Colonial R.M. Steam Packet Company tells us that they seem to ; think ihe success of their enterprize almost too great. This is alone sufficient to prove the rapid advancement we have made, and is an earnest ot future success in Nelson Companies, we have already suffered severely enough in character; they have failed by incapacity or indolence, and we have to give some proof that we are not so sanguine in our undertakings as to attempt impossibilities before we can expect much more English capital *o be expended upon our improvements. We have, within the last few months done much towards that desirable end; the line which is now submitted to the approbation of the Dun Mountain Company shews at least a practicable means of receiving the mineral which experiments have shown to be highly valuable. The difficulty which the Wairoa saddle was supposed to offer to a railway has been proved to have had its origin in incorrect data, and an easy gradient has been surveyed. This will be, we need hardly say, a great benefit to the town, for the road which, now -is the greatest cost to Nelson is the Haven Road, the #ost of carriage making nearly every price double. A tramway will make the land carriage and the water nearly equal. We have advocated a new system of drainage, one more complete and general than that new culvert in Trafalgar-street, and one which would, whilst benefiting the town, give the inhabitants an opportunity of connecting their house drains with the main sewer. When the first surveys of a town are made, it is but natural to expect some errors. We had our share of these, and must now rather attempt to improve than appropriate. If the actual inhabitants of the town whose benefit lies in the advancement of it will but do their share, _tber,e cannot be much doubt but that we shall be enabled to realise a sufficiency to amply repay us for any outlay we may make and furnish a report which shall be looked upon in England as the result of a well conceived and carefully digested examination of the advantages which our province offers.