WEST COAST ROADS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 113, 16 May 1867, Page 3

WEST COAST ROADS.

To the Editor ofthe 'Nelson Evening Mail.' Sir — Knowing that you take a. daily interest in the well-being of the town and its inhabitants, T send you on their behalf the following anecdote communicated to me by a friend at the West Coast, and illustrative of the state of the roads in the Canterbury portion of that coast. The private comparison which each of your readers will no doubt incontinently institute in his owu mind between the state of things I am about to describe, and that which exists in our West Coast, redounding as it will so largely to outcredit, as a province, will flatter ourself love and ~put us in good humor, thereby promoting digestion aud consequent health, the cloacine and pleuro-pueumouia commissioners, notwithstanding. A digger on his way from Hokitika to — the VVo-me-a, we will say — met at brie of the bad parts of the road, a man up to the armpits in mud but still paddling along steadily. Happening to be himself not deeper than thß knee in the mire, he offered the other "a hand up" to tbe Bounder ground. "Oh never mind me," qjboth he, H 'it'B all right, I've a good horse under tpe." ....... ■' ' Yours crowingly, ■ , „, . C. 0. Q. .

/We perceive that tenders are invited for the erection of a new Anglican church at Appleby, to b.e dedicated to St. Alban, jthe protomartyr of England. The early jEuglish style has, we understand, been sejlected for the building, which will, when icompleted, form a very picturesque object lon the Waimea plains, aud has for some |ime past been much required by the fastincreasing population in that neighborhood. It seems that the South Australians and the Queenslanders are not to be the only colonists who are seeking to found another colony in this part of the world. Public attention in Sydney has lately been drawn to the advantages to intending settlers and others, by the island of New Guinea, which lies at the head of Cape York, the most northerly point of the Australian mainland, Mr. A. Keith Collins, an old and experienced explorer in Australia, has been lecturing upon the subject, whicb has been favorably treated by the Sydney press. At present, little is knowu of New Guinea, beyond the fact of its beiug a very sparsely populated tropical country, with a great variety of climate in its high lauds and low lands, consequently, favorable to the growth of all sorts of productions to be found iv those regions. But when the Government of Queensland carry the telegraph to Cape York, as they undertake to do under the new postal arrangements, and settlement Vproceeds a little further there, we shall doubtless hear more of this magnificeut island, which is said to be three times the size of Tasmania, and whicb, from its contiguity to the Australian, mainland, more properly belongs to Great Britain than to any other country. It will probbably afford advantages to traders of which few vow dream. An interesting letter appears in the columns of the Argus from Mr. Kingston, the "agent" of Arteinus Ward, of whose death intellegem-e was received by the last English mail, describing in pathetic terms the last days of the humorist whose works bave afforded much genuine amusement to their readers. The extract is as follows : — " Hartley's Hotel, Southampton, February 25th. -—I am detained here beside what I have, unfortunately, reason to believe is the death-bed of Artemus Ward. The doctors bold out no hope ; in fact, his decease was expected ""'two or three days ago. Consumption bas a frightful bold upou him. Th^BglTsinking rapidly, be revives, flares,, and flickers — one day bright, chatty, and clearminded, the next prostrate, deathlike, and delirious I have been his nurse night aud day, until I am pretty much worn out myself. He is a mau oflwhom lam very food, and his death will be to me a real affliction. Around his bed some of the . best and brightest minds of the day congregate. Yesterday for iustance we had around him Tom Hool, Andrew Halliday, the editor (actual) of AU the year Round-, Bayard Taylor, the American traveller, and Bruntou, who does glorious etcbiugs on tbe back page of Fun. Artemus has endeared himself to everybody; he is loved rather than liked. Only thirty-three years old, yet called for already to join the shadowy corps ! The most rapid form of con-uinptiou haviug seized him, he had to break off lecturing suddenly and tiy if he could not recuperate. To this cud he went to Jersey. There he got worse rapidly, aud is now here at Southampton, dying. If streugth had enabled him he wished to embark for the States, to go home to his mother, and iv the arms that nursed him give up his short, restless, brilliant life — truly i a life too short for friendship, not for fame.' " The number of emigrants who left the .ports ofthe United Kingdom at which. Government agents are stationed, in the year 1866 was 200,037 ; from other ports 845. Of the"204,582 emigrants, 58,854 were English, 12,307 Scotch, 98,890 Irish, and 26,691 foreigners : the origin of Sl3B not being distinguished. In 1865 the total number of .emigrants was 209,801, including 100,676 Irish. In 1866. 161,000 emigrants sailed to the United States, of whom 86,594 were Irish ; 13,255 to the North American colonies ; 24,097' to the Australian colonies ; and 6530 .to all other places. In eacb of the three years 1 660-2 the numbers emigrating to the United States, chiefly Irish, were; .87,500, 49,764, and 58,706; while in each ofthe four years 1863-6 the numbers were 146,813, 147,042, 147,258, and 161,000. A question. — Is a recruit supposed to be raw until he ia exposed to the fire?

The following paragraph is clipped from 'the Oamaru Times: — A few weeks since, it will be remembered, we mentioned that the overland journey from Otago to "Westland had been again successfully performed by Mr. Thompson and party. We are now able to announce that Mr. Thompson, who is manager on Messrs. Stuart and Kinross's station, aud Mr. Macalister, who accompanied him on the journey, have returned safely. They were only four days travelling from the Haast Diggings to Lake Wanaka, and their opinion is that an available cattle track can be made to the "West Coast for a comparatively inconsiderable sum. The road appears to be pretty easy all the way. "We may also mention, as a piece of interesting intelligence, that the Maor 1 ' Jack, who acted as guide to Mr. Pyke on his journey, has been to the "West Coast by what he considers a more easy and practical route than any yet discovered. He proceeds up the Matukituki River to Mount Aspiring, which he kept on his right. He found an easy pass there. Maori Jack is the first man who has accomplished the journey in that direction. Dr. Hector, we believe, attempted it, "but failed: The road is said to be a shorter one than by way of the Makarora. The following passage from a private letter, received by the last English mail, seems to point to the probability of an approaching Royal visit tothese colonies : — "H.M.S. Galatea is expected to be abseut two years. After staying awhile in tbe Mediterranean, she will start for. a voyage round the world. She is to go direct from Malta to New Zealaud and Australia, then call at Japan, China, aud the East ludies. And if the rumor be correct, that her youthful commander resolves to do the cruise of the Galatea, you may hope to see our Royal Captain shortly. Truly an officer and a gentleman, the Duke of Edinburgh is every inch a sailor. His rare qualities have endeared him to us all, aud we heartily wish bim bon voyage ; and gratifying as it is tbat outdistant friends should have au opportunity to welcome the distinguished visitor, we shall be glad to see him home again." The resident population of the United Kingdom in the middle of the year 1866 is estimated by the Registrar-General at about 29,935,404, 1,013,070 births and 665,859 deaths were registered in tbe year 1866; but it is considered necessary to add one-third to the births and one-fourth to the deaths registered in Ireland to compensate for defective registration, and this brings the births up to 1,061.819 and the deaths to 689,273. This leaves a natural increase of 1020 daily, which is reduced to 459 by deducting the recorded number of emigrants — viz., 204,882, or 561 daily. There is no record of additions to the population of the United Kingdom by immigration. The birth-rate fof the year was 35*47 per 1000, and the death-rate 23 03 The Nelson Lions.— The main defect in these sculptures is the evidence they present that, although the work of a great artist, and, above all, of a great master in the representation of animal life, they are not the work of a sculptor. "We seem to trace the very sweep of the brush or stroke of the crayon on the mane ; we miss the vigorous impact of the mallet. It could not be expected to be otherwise. We do not speak merely of the technical education of the band, for the eight years devoted to the work would have been enough to accomplish this in a younger artist, but in the essential difference in the style by which the painter and sculptor seek to attain their object. You can conceive of the sculptor painting. He is then only sketching his real work; but for the painter to assume the chisel is, for the most part, a mistake. Da Vinci and Michael Angelo were not merely painters — they were finished and perfect artists. In the Nelson lions we think that a sculptor would at once recognise the treatment of Landseer's animals as that of a painter. In these remarks we by no means seek to depreciate a very noble work of art. lt was a hold act on the part of the Government to entrust the execution to a painter; it was a bold act on the parfc of the painter to accept it. The public are the gainers. — Builder. The revenue returns show that in the nine fiuanciai years endiug with April, 1865, the latest date to which detailed returns are complete, while the population of Great Britain scarcely iucreased 10 per ceut., the number of taxed meu-servants increased from 140,092 to 163,697, or uearly 17 per cent.; aud the number (not j included in the former) of male servants under 18 years of age, with under gar-. !

deners and under gamekeepers, increased from 69,420 to 96,535, or 39 per cent. In the same nine years the number of horses on which tax was paid in Great Britain increased by nearly 23 per cent — from 498,637 to 612,929. * In the financial year ending iv April, 1865, duty was paid in Great Britain on 242,013 horses used for riding or drawing carriages' charged with duty ; on 220,080 horses used in trade; on 128,990 horses used by farmers bailiffs, and shepherds; on 13,380 horses used by common carriers; on 3553 horses kept by medical men ; on 4345 horseskept by rectors, vicars, or curates; and on 559 horses kept by Roman Catholic priests or Dissenting ministers. The number of dogs on which tax was paid in Great Britain increased in the nine years from 333,252 to 375,749, or nearly 13 percent. In the same period the Dumber of persons in Great Britain paying tax for using armorial bearings increased from 39,193 to 54,034, or nearly 38 per cent. Never be critical upon the ladies," was the maxim of an old Irish peer, remarkable for his homage to the sex; "the only way that a true gentleman ever will attempt to look at the faults of a pretty woman, is to shut his eyes. Nature is more polite than the generality of mankind. If you walk into the woods the very trees will greet you with a profusion of boughs. " I do not say that, man will Steal," saida wituess on a trial, kS but if 1 was a chicken I'd roost high when he was around."