LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 197, 28 June 1860, Page 2

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui, June 18th, 1860. Mb. Editob,r— l’m no-good at English, but. I’ll'do my best to say my say, and maybe you will be kind enough to print my-letter. 2’liis is a trying time for us, and I fear the gude time will be long of coming back. Nae doot the; authorities ken what , they’re aboot, but between one story and anither I’m fairly bamboozl’d. I hae been warned to send; my wife and family to town, because the Maories are coming upon us. Noo, Mr. Editor, it’s nae joke for a puir man like me, with a lot of bairns, to.break up his dearly bought hame in this way. But if Ido take them in, where are they to he housed ? I have got nae siller to pay for a lodging, so what can I do ? Will the authorities let me hae the use of the jail ? or will they cause bunks to be knock’d up for us in the English kirk ? My wife, puir thing, is greetin’ and sayin’ “ Oh Sandy ! let me and the bairns ,gahg, in ; :; ,w6 .c‘an live in a tent somewhere for a . week or twa.” “ Whisht, Peggy,” say I, “ you’re talking havers; we may° as well dee here as there.” Sir, I’m fairly perplexed, and wild feel muckle obleeged for some Information on this kittle point.

I am, sir, your humble servant, Sandy Fisheb,

Southern Grove Farm, June 19, 1860. .

Sib,- —In a letter signed “ John Treweek, Senior,” in your last issue, in answer to one by H. C. Field, Mr. Treweek wishes to make it appear that the Stafford ministry were in no wise to be blamed' for the :, part they took in advising his Excellency to cancel the restrictions imposed by Sir, George Grey on the sale of firearms and other munitions of war |o the natives. Now/sir, what tyouid be thb con* duct of a, responsible ministry, haying, the slightest pretensions to political sanity, on the representation, of a. number of .merchants, to the effect that munitions of war were .being smuggled to a considerable extent, and sold to the natives ? Taking the circumstances of the colony into consideration, I think; it would hhYe beeh to the effect'that they (the ministry) would have said to the deputation, “ Now, gentlemen, we will' cause."inquiry to be made into the matter, and you must give us all'the

'assistance, iii your power to bring the offenders to justice.” Had they thus acted, they would liave merited tlie confidence of the colonists in that respect at least. Instead of which, in order to place a few paltry pounds in the pockets of a number of Auckland merchants, they advise his Excellency to open the floodgates which lias, to a considerable extent, inundated the country with strife, .war,,, blood - shed, misery, and ruin. AH the political sins (ami they' are legion) the Stafford ministry have committed, sink into insignificance when compared with this their crowning offence against the peace, welfare; and .prosperity of the colony, And when they are placed •o n their trial, I sincerely hope they will have a verdict of (poiiti c&X)felo-de-se recorded against them.

J am, &c.

J. Handley.

June 12, 1860,

Sib,— l feel pleased, but not surprised, to hear that a letter signed “ A Settler in the Bush,” published in your paper of • the 26th April last, containing the suggestion that the military and militia, should act together ina wooded or broken country not known to j the former has been taken up by several other .papers, and highly approved of. jVow, sir, if yon permit me to propose a few preliminaries to Settler’s bare, but certainly I believe, original proposition, I would suggest, that the companies intended to act together should be marched to a common parade ground previous to an intended expedition, and fall in inline military on the right, then step hack the rear rank of the rifles or militia one pace, and face them to the right, and the rear rank of the military to the left, give the words * quick march/ and as soon as their flanks have cleared each other, ‘ halt, front, dress.’

This movement, yon will see at. once, will leave one half the military and one half the rifles or militia in front. Then, and for two or three successive days, I would exercise them in detail of formation and skirmishing ; on the third or fourth I would put them through as much companies drill as they might be likely to require, and all this riot to teach the Volunteer rifle or militiaman his drill (he would have learned that before), but to reconcile any difference that might exist in this respect, and bring the men technically acquainted with each other, thereby establishing a mutual confidence boili collectively, and between the files intended to act together. Then, sir, the military man, with his tactics and perfect knowledge of the splendid arm he carries, and the rifle and militiaman, inferior to a degree, perhaps, ,in the use of arms, &c., but perfectly acquainted with the artful customs of the rebel native, the nature of any part of. the country you wish to mention, and well up to roughing it in the bush, will form a combination from-which you may expect the most successful results. I, even I, know-what the military can do, if they only get'the chance—my word !

I am, sir, your obdt. servant, A Military Settler and a Yolunteeb Rifleman. ;

June 26, 1860. Sißj—We regret having to ask you to find space in the columns of your next issue for the following remarks, which we deem it necessary to make on your last week’s - leading article. Regarding the position in which we are placed as a very important one, conferred upon us by one of. the largest public meetings that was ever held in this town, and assuming that you aim at representing public feeling and opinion, we feel it to be a duty we owe to the public that we should not allow your attack upon us in the article alluded to to - go unnoticed.. We say our position is an important one, because the public, and the outsettlers in particular, look to us to devise means for the better protection of our homes and families hr the event of a native aggression,; and we owe an explanation to the public, because the charge of hastiness and heartlessness is such, that could we for one moment feel that we merited it, we should feel ho,hesitation in resigning the trust reposed iu us. You would dead your readers to believe that the excitement which was occa-' sioned by the receipt of the news in question was not warranted by the facts of tbe:case, and that, we, as a committee appointed to weigh the truth and importance of this.and similar intelligence;.were led away by an impetuous feeling alarm- and terror among our friends in the country. But, sir, you have magnified the excitement which did really exist-on the occasionfor? it ,is singular enough, that, as far as "we have learned—and we have made .some . inquiry respecting this matter-—that the : very persons to whom the intelligence was communicated are one and all grateful for the trouble" we took in conveying the same to them ; and we believe that the messengers who bore the intelligence were most cautious in the way they circulated the same, lest they might cause unnecessary alarm, but of this of course the country settlers are the best judges. We may add, that the circular letter from Major Durie was not written recommendation” of the Vigilance Committee, for tbe ; same would have been sent round if no,committ.ee had been in existence. Our first meeting took; f>|a;cte at mid-day, at the request of Major Durie and Colonel Wyatt, when we were fully acquainted with the oontents of the letter received’ by George King of Putiki from'William King of Utapu.j ; but preferring ?not to deal w ; ith tlie matter hastily, at the same time anxious that we should lose no time iu transmitting to our friends opt of; town* the mews which they bad no opportunity of hearing, unless* perchance some of them might be intown,vWO' adjourned till the evening, content with passing, a resolution requesting Major Durie to lose no time

in forwardingtlie news to the country. This we knew would take some little time to make the necessary arrangements, and, as it happened, Major Durie. on the veceipt of our suggestion, informed our chairman that he and Colonel JFyatt had previously decided on the step proposed. We also requested Mr. Deighton to make himself fully acquainted with the importance that it was necessary to attach to. the warning contained in the letter from William King, and report the same on our assembling again in the evening. When we met in the evening our chairman laid on the table a lettei which he had just received from Major Durie; covering ■ circulars and letters addressed to various parties in the country, which some of onr number had volunteered to be the hearers of; and Mr. Deighton reported, that he had seen the letter from William King, and had duly considered the contents, and that he concurred in the necessity of at once making the outsettlers acquainted with-them. The letters and circulars were, as most of your readers know, distributed the next morning-. But, Mr. Editor, you would infer that we were not warranted in coming to any such conclusion as the possibility of there being danger at hand, relying, as you say, “ on the supposition that the Pufiki natives said what they thought, and that you were inclined to believe their version to he the correct oneat the same time yon carefully avoid mentioning what the Putiki natives did say, or what their correct version of the letter was. We cannot, we must confess, join with you in grave objections to the circular issued by Major Purie to the settlers, ■which we hold was most carefully worded ; and we deny that those who received it must have at once concluded that it was the natives in this district who were referred to ; we would draw attention to the concluding part of the circular, which states that steps would be taken to obtain further information on the subject, which would he forwarded to them without delay.- We ask you, could that be construed into a warning to come into town without a moment’s delay, or the means of causing the greatest terror among those-who read it? Decidedly not ; r it was put in the very way toestablish confidence, and prevent persons coming to a hasty decision. There is one other .reason why we should take notice of your unkind and ungenerous observations. We have lately been endeavouring to impress upon his Excellency the Governor the necessity for as early as possible furnishing the settlers of this district with proper arms and means for defence, and the tendency of your article is to make light of our suggestions, and to show that we are a nervous, rash-minded people, who shake in our shoes at the very name of a Maori coming to invade our homesteads. There remain one or tw;o little points which we wish to correct you in. You state that Tamati Raukawa talked about dividing for

Taranaki and JFangamii, not, as the letter clearly states, for-the town of Wanganui. That, after all, tlie words were “ only a proposal” on the part of this man and about 60 natives of his tribe, although we cannot hut he amused at the most ingenious way you arrive at the number who were probably present. It was

more than a proposal; it was a declaration on the part of one body of men that they would * do a certain- thing* which was consented to by the Waikatos, another strong body of men. And as to saying that it is doubtful whether the letter from William’ King intended to intimate a hostile descent, is simply absurd, or why should George King be urged not to allow such a thing to take place, lest it might lessen the influence ol' the Wanganui chiefs. We will not trespass further on your space, and remain, sir, your obdt. servants, " H. Ross. Chairman. John Treweek, Sen. Wm. C. Hylton. Geo. Roberts. S. Deighton. Edward IjEwis. J. M. Richards. John B. Tuke. William Kells. William Small. Thomas 8.. Taylor. Stephen ! Cu ktis. •

[/t would be easy to answer the principal points in the above letter j but our object in the article referred- to—-which was, to quiet any needless alarm by a statement of the facts as they appeared in the report of the proceedings of the committee—would not be gained more fully by entering again into the subject. This one thing, however, we must say, that the article in question does not in the remotest degree, either directly or indirectly, impute heartlessness to the committee, who, we believe, were-actuated by the most kindly feelings in what they dith—Ed.].

Looking-glasses.-— Well, to my mind, looking-glfUses are the greatest enemies ladies have ; they ought all to be broken to ever lastin’ smash. It isn’t that they are false, for they aint; they will reflect the truth if they are allowed: But, unfortunately, truth never looks into them. When a woman consults her glass, she wishes to be pleased, she wants to be flattered, and to be put on good terms with herself, so she treats it as she would her lover ; she goes up to it all smiles, looking as amiable and beautiful as she can. She assumes the most winning air; she gazes at the image with ail the affection she can call up, her eyes beam with intelligence and love, and her-lips appear all a woman could wish, or a man covet.. Well, in course the mirror, gives back that false'fafee to its owner, as it' receives it; it ain’t fair, therefore, to blame it for being onfaithful; but as ladies can’t use it without deceivin’"of themselves, why, total abstinence from it would be better. —Judye Hallburton (Sam Slick) in Dublin University May.