LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 207, 6 September 1860, Page 2

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

To the Editor of. the - Wanganui Chronicle generally, find to ihe».Rev. 0. Hadfield in particular. . ; : - , •- ; ;

Sin.—-I am a settler m.this district, and a staunch member ;af tlieJ Church of England ; and alt hough -that church never pave me anything beyond a name, and a wife, still I do 'Strenuously;, protest that she : is better) or at any'rate fully as good, as her opponents.. My neighbour, old Coulter, is not a chnrcliman ; he is a dissenter, though L do noti know to what, branch ot: the dissenting body he belongs, and I very much 'doubt if lie knows himself. Coulter and 1 generally meet two or tjireedevehin'gsi.in |tlvecweek.?aifd? discuss a pipe, a glass of something, and the -affairs of the nation,- generally., y’ft'e, .pretty geneiully" agree on most . points, believing that the country,is going to. ruin, and that’everybody and everything is, going to the deuce with it. Rut oh one point ,we cannot agree, and that is respecting religions observances... Coulter the other evening waxed very warm because 1 would not go ami take tea with hiin'at Ehenezer chapel. Now, having .but last Sunday week given my boy Jd the first chapter of St, Matthew to learn »hv- Jteiiyt, because be employed bis devotional olimch by etiting lollypops, how ! could I, as a parent, conscientiously go and blow with tea and , muffins at J'.benezer, as I do, that it is set apart--for- religious ..worship ? Of course I. refused! Now,-.hitherto <1 -have held my ground with, old Coulter, and .generally heat him, pig-headed as he is; hut of late he has pushed me rather hard. I’ .have.-been learnt to believe that I owe my present happy condition in this colony to -the sole efforts of the missionaries, ' and that but for their labours my head would long ago have been cooked in a Maori oven, and summarily devoured, instead ,of being safe-on my shoulders. ' 1 therefore stick to my church, and appeal to old.. Gopher., as* where be wmild have been without;file missionaries, and lie thereupon,instantly “shuts up.” But as I said, I have been .pressed bard of late.. He comes over here, and to the handsome mamier we have treated our late pas|qr, Mr. Xioholls, winding hp .with the gene||l conduct of the missionaries.since 1840, when Mr. Damleson Coates, the -Secretary to the Society: wrote to the .chairman of the New* Zealand Company, that. “ he was opposed to the colonization of New . Zeahmll in . any, shape, and determined to thwart it by.every means m bis power.” He then cmsorily glances at the missionary cry of. No land sales by the natives, and points.to a; Rey. Archdeacon, who lately put .in a modest claim for a few thousand acres to the northward. Well, Coulter is, an ass. 1 admit, but. the-fact is, 1 have hard work to fight for my church even with him ; hut I managed, to keep him down, and for some time dropped the subject. .Believing him beaten, what,was/yny,:astonishment when, the other night, he at me again, and finished me off with a newspaper,paragraph respecting the Rev. Mr. Hadfield ami, the ’ Wi Kingifcorrespondence. I confess T was taken aback. I put*dld;Couiter down with, the remark!, that the Rev; gentleman would have .produced the .correspondence, luit lie. the..'pair of troiisfere in the pockets' of which),jt.be lettej s were ; ‘ and fin ding this excuse did not satisfy the ilockhead, Lnext-'told jlrim that, the Rev. gentleman liacl left th’ein in the lining <4 his shoveL hat, which was in Wellington ; hut. the fact is, I cannot explain it,- and I take the liberty of asking Mr. Hadfield to do it for me tbr-o.ugh-your columns} for the-fact is, old Coulter is having’ such a flourish of trumpets,

r.tfp'Y 'Fcum stand it. no.iouger.; ■» . fieldjbe sot good*?. .i >( ja': .v--i - • ...Mh- •'jc • John Furrow.

[ApVEKtISEMENT.]' • -I ; j ; ’’ • 1* " ' *'\ Wanganui,. Sept] 3f, JB6O. * "J ’ Snt,~CHriosity' lied me into Market ’•Place; last Friday, tb‘see*'“tlie','Milifi?i‘' muster. T was ' much ! pleased with the' general appear* a ace of the triehp (although a cold stormy ; day): turned but'very heatr 'iind‘clean. 1 I widlr 1 could report' favourably of : tlie‘ Gjlptaiiii—liis conduct Caused me ltd repeat mentairy—i., -- ; “ Proud ! maii''l : ' ;. s ~.Pressed ini a lit.tle.brief authority; ’ • : \.! .Most ignorant of what lie’s most assured, H ,His. glassy/essence, like an angry ape, jPlays r such fantastic titricks ..before high . .....Heaven .. .i-l-n. As.makes the angels weep,” . v Perhaps bullyjng and-sweating may.be' tallowed in the Spanish service—(in which 1 believethe ; gallant Captain , gained... some laurels, and a Major’s.. Commission) .but the .men pf the fFangamii Militia are of, a ; very .different class, to the mercenaries of the Spanish,/Region.:,. .. .L may add, that my feelings of just indig.nation .and- .disgust, are : shared by all who witnessed the scene.... >•-.v,, Yours, -respectfully,- ' A Hater ,of Tyrany.

•: < T - - :[Advertisement.] • . - ' Sept. 4, 1860. Sir,—f-Will you favour us l>y inserting in ‘yourHssueof* Thursday next* these few lines. Ori Friday, ‘3lsf‘ ; ult./ ’the No. 1 Company 'of Militia mustered near the Court-house for : inspection and parade,' and in spite ‘of the bad weather their general appearance. was very creditable,'the majority haying evidently taken ■great pains to look smart. ' After falling in,, arid the roll having been' called, Major Dune, their captain, in a most unintelligible and angry manner issued some few commands, and - proceeded at once to inspect. the arms, fyc. Upon doming up to one of the men, who had been on the sick list for •some time, lie (Captain Dune - ) so far forgot wbiit should have been the conduct of a gentleman arid an' officer as to Ah 1 is that you ? I shall Hot forget you— damn you ! Tie also-addressed others in air-insulting manner.- Now, if officers are thus to abuse the men in the ranks and under-their 'command in this:outrageous manner; and sd far forget, what ■is their position ; as to act in the way in which Captain DurieTias done, it is'high tilde that they should learn what is due to a body of men; their ftdlow-settlers and townsmen', some of them their equals, and although serving'iii the militia to— certainly not insult /" Officers in the British army are liot'allowed to swear or curse at’ the men in the ranks, and -it-is "to be hoped that these few remarks Will • have*kh’e effect*of preventing such an instance and breach of discipline in future from occurring to *a body of-men, who have no other means of defending themselves from insult hut by exposing it.- . : * ■ Yours obediently,- ! ■'"} ' ‘ Militiamen.,

- ■ September 5, 1860. Rib. —Tn reference to “• Open Sessima ” and the Putiki Bridge, I would only say; that the •reason it had not been ’ offered to public comipetition was, that it, would have caused a delay of some two weeks, or perhaps more ; and how'were the public to get their driiys across ? .The’ gentleman who has superintended the i work, and indeed all the public works, he they more or less,-sin’ce Mr. Hogg’s departure, has done so without any additional charge. / ; ' Yours' - 1 f