CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 377, 26 May 1849, Page 50

CORRESPONDENCE.

To thb Editor of the Nelson Examiner.

Sir — The intimation you conveyed to your readers last week, that Nelson was to have a fourth " representative " in the august Assembly now sitting in Wellington, has created surprise — and particularly at the individual who, you inform us, has been entrapped into a participation of the honour (or odium) of joining the Grey squad in their crusade against the opinions of the whole body of their fellowcolonißts. The time, however, will come, and, I hope, is not far distant, when the people will have the opportunity of showing in what esteem the conduct of these email-fry politicians is held, and when the system of government will be pulled down which they have bo arrogantly assisted to erect. It will then be Been that they have been the miserable dupes of their own vanity, which, "by the strength of its allusion, has drawn them on to their confusion/ for in lending themselves to perpetuate a system declared by all thinking men to be radically bad, they have for ever forfeited public confidence. It will then matter little what excuses are urged on behalf of their conduct — whether one has been actuated by a desire to give the councils of the colony the benefit of his wisdom, Another to look after the interests of his employers, a third to promote some crotchet of Maori advancement, or a fourth to be able to better equalize the influence of the two settlements — all will be taken for just as much as they are worth, while the fact that they became Nominees, when the people asked to be represented, will not be forgotten. There was another notice in your paper which also interested me — it was the allusion to the expense of Government under these Provincial Councils, created to legislate only on what you properly designate mere parish and vestry business. Only take the " Heads of intended Ordinances," lately published in the Govern*, merit Gazette, and say if there is one of them which a local board could not discuss and enact for its own district, as well as a nonsensical ! Provincial Council, composed of a Governor, : his Executive officers, and several weak-headed individuals who believe they add to their dignity by acting the imaginary part of legislators? These " intended ordinances/ paraded forth in a Government Gazette, are in reality as great a burlesque on real legislation as some otfier notices in the same publication are a burlesque, of another kind :— " John Stiggins promoted to be a full corporal in the Armed Police, vice Scroggins, discharged for drunkenness ;" and " Abraham Newcorae created a private in the same force, vice Stiggins promoted/ 1 are samples of the littleness I allude to. Why, what a piece of trumpery folly is the whole system of Government pursued here I One might laugh at the folly, if it were not for the cost, but even paying for it cannot save so vapid an affair from contempt. Instead of simplicity and economy of Government, suited to our small numbers and Bmaller means, we have one complex and costly, and as little adapted for us as any which could well be designed. I am, 6ir, &c, Andrew. To thb Editor or the Nelson Examiner. Sir— -Is it not amusing to witness the rapid strides we make in literature ? Gentleman — A Nominee. — JV*. Examiner, May 19. Nominee— A. Puppet.— W. Independent, April 28. What would Johnson say to this, think you i after telling us that a puppet is 1. A small image moved by wire in a mock drama ; a wooden tragedian. 2. A word of contempt. Surely, Mr. Editor, your gentlemen of last week leaves far in the shade that of the Irishman's, which you gave us a few weeks since. I remain, sir, &c, Nelson, May 24. Yopr Reader.

A Ludicrous Scene in Court.— There is a point beyond which human forbearance cannot go, says an American paper, and the best even of tempers will become ruffled at times. At the assizes held during last year, at Lincoln, in England, both judge and counsel had much trouble to make the timid witnesses upon a trial speak sufficiently loud to be heard by the jury, and it is possible that the temper of the counsel may thereby have been turned aside from the even tenor of its way, and the more likely, perhaps, owing to hit feeling himself to be a man of considerable importance, since he had gone through the various stages of bar pleading, and had coaxed, threatened, and even bullied witnesses. There was one called into the box, a young ostler, who appeared to be simplicity personified. " Now, sir," said the above-named counsel, in a tone which at any other time would have been denounced as vulgarly loud, " I hope we shall have no difficulty in making you speak up." " I hope not, zur," was shouted or rather bellowed out >by the witness, in tones which almost shook the building, and would have certainly alarmed any timid or nervous lady. " How dare you speak that way, sir?" said the counsel. " Please, zur, I can't speak no louder, zur," said the astonished witness, attempting to shout louder than before, evidently thinking the fault to be his speaking too low. "Pray, have you been drinking this morning ?" cried the counsel, who had now lost the last remnant of his temper. " Yes, zur," was the reply. " And what have you been drinking ?" " Corfee, zur." " And what did you have in your coffee, sir-?*' shouted the exasperated couuseL "A spune, fur," was the answer, innocently spoken, amidst the roars of the whole court, excepting only the new thoroughly wild counsel, who flung down his brief and rushed out of court. Characteristic. — An American l&dy who had been sick at Marseilles, and had received many kind attentions from many of her sex, French and English, was asked to give her opinion respecting the two classes of her sympathisers. Her reply was, " They were both very kind. The French ladies brought me flowers all day ; the English ladies sat up with me all night"