"NOW" AND "THEN."

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2043, 22 July 1875, Page 3

"NOW" AND "THEN."

A. writer in the Dunolly Express on Victorian experiences refers, in the subjoined extract, to his first acquaintance with a gentleman whose future celebrity was then certainly not foreshadowed :— "Nuttall, who was then publishing the Advertiser at Maryborough, brought a plant to Dunolly, and the paper was called the-Maryborough and ,Dun6lly .Advertiser. Great difficulty was experienced in obtaining, an - editor and reporters,'and Mr Nuttall applied to mo to supply the . paper with articles and news. I was then .so much engaged that I could not -spare the time, and told him so, when he said that the same contributions I sent to. other.journals would do for him. I did not exactly see the force of this ; brilliant idea, and he had-to seek elsewhere for the help he needed. He at length obtained an . editor,. whose articles created great fun in the town, being- among the richest things -ever seen in print. Subsequently a gentleman,' rwho :has since made a great stir in New Zealand, and who has there mounted to, the very top of the political ladder,..assumed the editorship of the paper, and it was then one of the best conducted provincial journals in the colony. ■ Prior to' this the gentleman referred to kept a small chemist's shop at Hard Hills, and the difference between both his fortunes and appearance then and since is somewhat remarkable. Certainly no one would have thought that he was likely to be the Premier of any colony, and much less that he would 'make one of the most daring statesmen that the colonies have, ever seen. Not only has this been the case, but he has actually .received the honor of knighthood, and his aptitudefor negociating loans is. something surprising even to those who have considerable experience in that line. Victoria has overlooked the merits, of more than one man, who, when he was lost to it, developed extraordinary talents. That the gentleman of whom I speak is a man/of consummate, ability, and that his talents were much underrated in this colony, there cannot be. a doubt.: He did commence a political career here, but it was "under .the wrong auspices arid,he never managed even to get into the House. Little did the party whose cause he espoused know their man, or they would have moved heaven and earth to get him elected.