THE WEEK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4739, 2 September 1893, Page 7

THE WEEK.

♦— .The reports that are annually presented to Parliament include some which are full of interesting information. There is, for example, the Police Report— a catalogue, alphabetically arranged, of eveiy variety of crime perpetrated in New Zealand, from murder to dog-stealing. There ".re no fewer than ninety -four items in thia comprehensive list. Esther Bhould it be said that there are two lists, oue for the North and the other for the South liland, each being thus directly charged with the responsibility for its' own sin?, In each, the paths of wickedness are pretty much the same; but it would seem that the Httmbers who tread therein differ considerably, Thu3, the record, of enterprising burglars in the North during tli9 year 1892— t0 judge from tli9 cases reported— Waa 102 ; while in the South there were bnfcsutKyrthree. Waa there an emigration of the knights of the centrabib and jemiry from the South to the North ? So ib would appear to have been, for whilst in the one island there waa a decrease of twenty-four cases, in the other there was an increase of twenty-two. !

In arson, the South Island stands first with twenty-two cases, while tbe si9ter isle has only siste:-n; bub if the Ncrili haa fewir " firebrands/" it oontains more than double tho number of persona prone to the j committal of assault 3; or, at any rate.blowa j are more frequent and fre e. For the North Island 418 ias«3 of common assault are reoordeJ, Bgainst 209 for the South. In the matter o£ larcenies, agVin, the North has unenviable preeminence, 94-3 cases having been reported therein, againet 803 in the South. On tbe other h*nd, thieves in the North had fewer a ; d<jr3 and abettors ' by the receipt of etolen goods; the number of cases of that particular calling known to the pupils. of Mr Fagin -as " fencing " was eight in the North' and ten in the South, Ana again, if the .northerners are less exact in their interpretation of oneum&nA tuum, they ara Shown by the report to be a more humane people, since- there were only sixty-two cases of cruelty to animali?, and our record ia seventy-sis. To their offspring the inhabitants of both Islands were equally unkind. In their marital relations, the men of the colder climate were much happier, apparently, during 1892, or perhaps they were more faithful; jxist seven o? them deserted their wives, while in the wicked North thirty-two cut the nuptial knot.

The cases of attempted suicide were nine in the South and thirteen in the North. Seven r Cadca''of murder wera reported, two case 3 ©f being accessory to murder, and one of attempted murder. In the South Island only four case 3 of the dreadful deed are set down, whilst in the North there waa an incxeaae of four as compared with the pretious year. Of robbery under arms not a tingle instance was reporbed in tkiß Island during 1892; but in the North during that period thrae persons took to the road, or at "leaet used a weapon of some kind to enhance their persuasiveness. In cattle or iorae stealing the Northerners had the comparatively extraordinary number of fility-nine cases, the South, having only fifteen. In sheop-stsaiing, however, the South, was most prominent, the figures Jteing fifteen and eight respectively.

Bat the item that at the moment has greatest interest is drunkenness. If we cannot make people sober by Act of Parliament, we can and do exercise a large meaaure of . repressive force. The " running in" waa more active in the North, the figures there being 2899, against 2461 for the South. But it wculd occupy too much space to institute comparisons between the two Mands in all the ■departments of crime. Comparisons are odious— moat odious, in this case, to the North. ' One turns with a strong sense of relief to a Departmental report of a vastly different nature.

In the annual raporfc issued by tho Department of Lands and Survey, there ia embodied the record o£ explorations undertaken by those splendid fellows, the pioneer surveyors. One o£ these men, Mr Charles E. Douglas, .was sent out to determine the piaoticability of a route for a borae or mule track from the Hermitage at Mount Cook, across the Alpa | to the West Coast via tbe Hooker Valley I and-Baker'a Saddle. His line of operation was the Copland river, which, receiving ita water from the Copland, Strauchon and other glaciers, falls into the Karangatua, and so finds outlet on the Westland bench at Balsigh. ' There • was not much f us; about the work of preparation. 'Mr Douglas had with him one mas, a dog, about six weeks' stores, and the et ceteras of rifle, ice-axe, bill-hook, rope and scientific instruments. " His are the mountains, and the valleys hio," this pioneer surveyor, and to him Nature reveals some of her mightiest aecrets.

A new Wonderland wa3 found. In the Copland, " the river cataracts com© ru9hing down out of the mont unlikely placs3 and over gigantic rocts. "worn into fantastic shapes by the action of the water. Thirty and forty. feet np, ansgß and.fragments ;d£ trees are perched on rocks or caught fait in living trees, thus nhowing the height of the water in time of flood." And what boulders ! Everything is in a Cyclopean scale, and to judge from Mr Douglas' graphic descriptive notes, one might easily imagine that " The mighty family of one-eyed brothers" had disported themselves in this Westtand gorge. Mr Douglas measured one of these boulders. "It is 300 ft by 200 ft by 110 ft, with large rata trees growing on it 3 flab tap," and the trees have enfolded their roots about the great stone and anchored them in the eoH below. Near by is a large rock hollowed and shaped like an arm-chair— a chair that would suit admirably for that' huge Theban Btatue ■of Memnon, only, remarks the explorer, Tie" would have had to tuck His legs up/" "Prom the. dark gorge, out into the appropriately-named Welcome Flats, •where the surrounding scenery ia wonderfully grand; Mount Little'a tent-lite ridge towefjj up, and from a glacier on its slopes avalanches are continually descending. "In wintor the scene must bo magnificent •-a towering pesk above, with a glacier beneath, terminating in a long serpentlike slop 9 of snow flanked by dark bueh and still darker cliffs."

•; Far from the wonderjt of thia Copland Wonderland being in any degree exhausled &y the things that have been indicated, jtheir emuner3tion is barely begun. Perhaps the chiefe3t of them is " The Bierraa," away to the south of the Welcome Flats, more remarkable in their fantastic forma than the Waketipu Eemarkabl93, a range of broken, shattered cliffa, topped by a serrated ridge. In one place, a mighty rock-splinter "standing out for hundreds of feat"; in othera, point 3 and slabs " looking as if the slightest touch would send them tumbling inlo Bpace." " All that I have read or seen of cogged langes and moantaia scaute," says

Mr Douglas, .." sinks into insignificance before this wonderful" .Eight. Other countries may show finer glaciers and higher mountaine, but 1 doubt if anything like 'The Sierras ' exists out of the moon." The pioneer surveyor is intuitively a naturalist. Mr Douglas laments that tho Westland coast-fringe baß been deplete! of bird-life by " the digger with his dogs, cats, rat 3 and ferrets.'* The Welcome Plats, however, brought back to him the Halcyon days; they were swarming with birds ; the kiwis and wekas were as fearleßs as they were numerous ; the boll-bird sang it 3 "chorus sweet and clear?" the blue duoks looked at the new comer with unruffled quiet, and the robins ate from his hand. Flowers thereabout are scarce, but the Copland shows an extraordinary variety of shruba ; holly, fuchsia, ake-ake and others, grow into respectable treea. tr l wonder," he says," if the heath which grows on the hills, the lemon plant and other Bhrubs and flowers, could" not be cultivated into gardan planta."

Aitist perceptively, naturalist intuitively, and a trained scientific observer — that ia Mr Douglas" threefold qualification, and the scientific observer saw some curious things. He had been examining the country from the geological standpoint ; he could not raise the colour of gold anywhere; nor could he gab tJia slightest indication of any other metal. In connection therewith comes one of the curiou9 things, related as follows .—"One Ihitigl noticed up the Copland that may have something to do with the absence of mineral lodes— that is, on the hilltops and high epurs there were no tracas of lightning strokes. On Mount Rickarts and the Red Hill country the spurs are full of holes shattered out of solid rock by electricity. Many of the trig stations were repeatedly destroyed by lightning. Now, all that southern district is full of iron. On the peak of Mount Bertha, where the Okura and Blue rivers head, I counted seventeen lightning stroke?, all within a short distanca from the summit. Through that hill run 8 a large dyke of ironstone. I have noticed tha same peculiarity ail over the country where lodes exist."

Mr Douglas failed to discover that which be eet out to find— a practicable track-route across the Alpa from the Mount Cook Hermitage to the Weatland coast ; for one of the many barriers is a sloping icefield which i 3 continually swept by avalanches. So for the present the Copland Wonderland must remain a sealed book to ordinary mortals.