The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1883.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIX, Issue 6874, 12 March 1883, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1883.

The weather seems never to weary of tormenting the unhappy English farmers. Of course, it is inhuman to rejoice at the misfortunes of others, though such feelings are not unknown in the breast of man. From Lucretius, who was of opinion that it was not an unpleasant occupation to watch from dry land the straggles of those tossing '> on the stormy deep, and Eoohefou- | cauld, who found something delightful in the troubles of his dearest friends, J down to the coach passenger, who I consoled himself for the discomforts j i of an inside seat in wet weather, ► by reflecting on the infinite discomr fort of the poor fellows on the top, ■ philosophers have noticed the existence r of this sentiment. But if New Zea- * landers experience a sensation of not f utterly nomixed grief at reading the * telegraphic reports of the ruinous J behaviour of the weather in the United r Kingdom and Europe, it must be ad* I milted that they have substantial 1 reason for a little hardness of heart. It s is difficult to feel completely miserable |* at what brings direct advantage tf to one’s self. The succession of bad * English harvests which is now becoming o cruelly monotonous for the sufferers in « the Mother Country, brings nothing hut >• good to us. We may be sorry for the a farmers in the Mother Country, but they are a long way off, and the improv- ~ ing price of wheat is very near, and comes home to all of us. t. We suffer a little from rain at harvest I time once in a way, but our English country cousins seem to do nothing

else at all times amd aeasans. A month ago wo were told that incessant wet waa threatening to rot the very seed lu the ground. By latest advices these fears had Wen homo oat to the letter. The Tinm t which is not usually given to making gloomy forecasts, with good reason apprehends the rain of the autumn sown crops. As the proportion of autumn to spring towing is much greater in the Mother Country than here, this means that the Home harvest of 1883 is something like a (predestined failure. Unloas the climate during next October should bo very different to any October vouchsafed in England since 187*1 the spring-sown crops may grow, but they will stand an excellent chance of never being gathered in. From the Continent of Europe COmo reports of floods and storms equally disastrous, and bearing almost equally on the future of the wheat market. From America we hear of terrible floods in the Mississippi Valley, with consequent damage. This is not indeed a sign of any direst injury to tjm American wheat crop, which does net come from the banks of the father of rivers, bat it may bo an index of severe weather over that large portion of the States which the Mississippi drains. Taken together oil this, depressing enough in itself, points to a rise in the wheat barometer, or at least to a maintenance of its present level. Those Canterbury farmers, fortunately a majority, who have bad the sense to harvest their ■wheat while they could instead of haggling over the price of labour, or trying to do without it, have cause to mb their hands just now. They have long wanted a good year, and now they have got it at last. It never rains hut it pours is a proverb as metaphorically true in a happy sense at this end of the world, as it is literally correct at the other.

New Zealand la sat so much one large Colony an an aggregation of email Colonies. This reflection, though not absolutely new, has the merit of being absolutely true: and yet is not recognised so often as it might be with advantage. It is always coming homo to individuals without appearing to do much in the way of impressing the community as a whole. The latest individual to whom it has come home with force ought, we should think, to be Sir William Jerroia, His new Excellency, on halting at the Bluff at the conclusion of bis South Island tour, may have sighed to think that he bad no more loyal hearts to conquer by adroit compliment or genial oratory. But he may also, and this is more likely, have sighed to think that he bad only, alter all, “ done ” three Provincial centres out of the seven or eight which New Zealand boasts. Nearly the whole of the North Island yet remains terra incognita to Sir William . Heaven knows how many addresses, receptions, bannets and inspections that must enill. Everywhere he will be expected j be polite, pleasing and fresh, and owhere will he be allowed to repeat imself. The Press Association will og hia heels with its unrelenting eports. A Governor of New Zealand esemblea a young gentleman whose allroom partners are sure to compare icteo of bis conversations with each, therefore, the pretty speeches poured ato the ear of one cannot safely be itilised for a second or third, on pain exciting jealousy in the breasts of he fair. Sir William has to be xcessively cautious and horribly origiml. Nero wished that the Roman >eopie bad bat one neck. Sir William nuat wish that the people of New Zealand h&d but one city, one corporaion, one banqueting hall, and one set >f after-dinner speakers. He must (fish, in fact, that centralisation could >e something more than a theory in his lew dominions. As it is, the most rague and wary Governor cannot telp being occasionally tripped up. Kn Australian Governor makes hia en;ry into Melbourne, Adelaide or Sydney, sxpressea himself charmed with all he jees, astounded with the signs of the material progress around him, and convinced of the unshaken loyalty of the Colony to Her Most Gracious Majesty. His oratorical troubles are then pretty well over. Not so with his unfortunate Now Zealand brother; hia have but just begun. His mind is expected to resemble an ocean of compliment, from whose contents be can draw by the bucketful at the shortest possible notice. 3o far Sir William Jorvois has done remarkably well. His remarks to the good folks of Invercargill passed the bounds of the vague to come somewhat perilously near the region of the doubtful. But loyal criticism should not be captious. Sir William bus now a little breathing time; we have no doubt his lodress to the citizens of Auckland, when it comes, will be not less sparkling than unexceptionable.