Correspondence.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIII, Issue 957, 29 August 1856, Page 2

Correspondence.

*** Our correspondence columns being impartially open, we are not to be identified with any opinions expressed therein.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir, — I have not taken much nntice of the 'New-Zen* lander 1 lately. I did not see its issue of the 20th inst. until another pointed out the liberty Mr. J. T. Boylan had taken with my name. Nor was it until yesterday that I discovered he had been lent out by the 'NewZealander' with a rams-horn to sound "the note of warning of an approaching day of reckoning." What folly it was to blow the first, and then a second blast, when he knew the reckoning was paid ; but, never mind the past, "success awaits the brave." A "loud and deep" blast is very much needed in the 'New- Zealander' office.-sjyhen his "grandmother gooseberry," as he once called the old lady, is very sick, and much more sad, and really requires something strong •• to keep her courage up." The 'New-Zealander,' of this morning, exhibits an organized crusade against all real and imaginary crimei but their own. The editor says, "Mr. Carleton must be prepared, if he be able, to justify such unjustifiable donations out of the Provincial Treasury to private individuals, as that to which Mr. Boylan alluded the other day, and the receipt of which the favored party does not deny." True, I do not deny the receipt o,f public money ; but Ido deny that 1 ■ received it until months after I had given an equivalent for it. The fact is that, by taking the burdens of a public work upon myself, »ome months before the Government was able to undertake it, / saved to the Province the interest of the money expended for that period. But to talk about "unjustifiable donations," and "the favoured party," is in strict accordance with 'New-Zealander twaddle. I never asked a favor of the Superintendent. I asked him to pay me for value ieceived ; and he paid it. Did he not rightly ? I should be sorry to offend one of the 'New-Zealander's* correspondent*, a'nd therefore shall not reply to either ; holding myself at liberty to deal with the editor. Mr. Williamson and I were both City Councillors ; we went into office together, and continued together until that much abused Superintendent, Mr. William Brown, dissolved that Council ; it i» often »*id that I was his representative there ; the truth is I never had I any such honor. He persuaded me all that he could not to accept office. Mr. Boylan was the first who asked me to do so. In compliance with his request, and also with that of others, I, in the usual manner , was duly elected, and accepted office, (see 'Southern Cross,' 24th March, 1854.) I never sought or bought civic honors, never solicited a vote. The public put me in a j' position where I hoped to serve it. But so it happened that whatever I proposed Mr. Williamson generally opposed, but all this would have fallen into forgetfu lness had he not attacked my public character in the 'New-Zealander,' of which he is part proprietor. I now call upon him to prove the truth of his assertions if he can. If I guess right the 'New-Zealander* has put Mr. Boylan on a wrong scent ; and then sent him oat with a red-herring to play the same trick upon the public. He says, the grievances of which he complains are not "loud but deep ;" but in other quarters there are grievancea both loud and deep, and also "a day of reckoning" impending. The 'New-Zealander,' and the party whose organ it is, may, in turn, take this also as "a note of warning," for not many days hence I shall "return to the fruitful theme." Yours truly, G. Vailb. August 27, 1856. - "

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir, — What a pity all the writer" in the 'New-Zealander are not so honest as " One of the People/ He fairly confesses that " he will be deceived" to suit his purposes. Now the gentleman who receives the contributions of the small fry, who (altho' "no scollards") write beautiful letters on Provincial expenditure, and himself delivers elaborate essays on the information thus afforded, lies so very much like truth that one would really think that he was deceived against his will. I wonder if he is ? Yours, &c.

THE IMMIGRATION AGENCY. To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir,— Will you allow me a very small space to correct an error into which the writer of the leading article in the last issue of the ' New Zealander' has fallen, in reference to the office of Immigration Agent at Auckland. 'As areason for the Provincial Council raising the late Audit Clerk's salary of £250 to £300, the writer states that he, the Audit Clerk, also discharged the important duties of Immigration Agent, and leads his readers 16 suppose that this office has been abolished since Mr. Kempthorne'* services were dispensed with. Having had occasion to'trarmct business both with the former Immigration Agent 'and the present one, I should be inclined, speaking from my own experience, to say that the Province has not made a change for the worse in the officer now discharging the duties of the Immigration department, although I believe his salaryis £50 per annum less that of his predecessor who ditch arged the same duties. I am, See., Pater faxixias.

To the Editor of the Southern Croats Sir, — The variety of attacks which have been made of late on the Board of Works, have induced me to examin* the subjects of some of these remarks— the result of which, on examination, I have found to be literally untrue. Scurrility, abuse, insinuations, half-truths, are advanced to blind the unwary, and to throw dust in the eyes of the community. The aim is not to obtain the whole truth. Why not tell the whole truth, or none at all ? Some figures are brought forward, while others ire retained, wanting to complete the addition. Why, may I asjc, are the names of the late pity Council and. Harbour Committee so carefully omittei I—not1 — not an allusion to they: doings — not a word about the amounts p*id, them in the shape of salaries, &c. So goon as the. whole truth he told, and the full complement of figures be given, then I may have had time to ■how the falsity of the insinuations cast out. Why are these latter bodies excluded from the array of figuTea, when it is well known that the duties of these two departmentß devolve on the Board of Works? Is it because they cannot sliqw anything for the 43000 the City Council expended, or that they dislike to show the per centage qf salaries on the gross amount, to the tune of about £841 per annum, giving a per centage qf 28 ocr cent } "

However, I annex a statement which will occupy but a small space in your columns, and by which, friends may see that, enormous as may appear the 7£ per cent. of the Board of Works, how much more enormous does thaper centageof 28 appear of the nonpareil City Councillors ? The public may then judge if they would feel disposed to entrust the transaction of their business to similar agents for the small commission of 28 per cent. ' A remark in Wednesday's 'New Zealander' struck me ' as quite to the point, viz : " The Audit Committee was opposed to the principle of placing public funds in the hands of private individuals for irresponsible expenditure.' 1 You are sensible how the meanness of a cause gives an air of ridicule to the difficulties into which they have drawn themselves by such half-statements I have run my ploughshare in a furrow, upon a root of philosophy. I struck upon it accidentally, while ad ■ ministering consolation to a friend, whose muse had been consigned, alive and kicking, by a blundering undertaker of criticism. I read the review, anfPwrote on it with a pencil, 'So thinks one man in ten thousand.' A friend with a most boring solemnity, tak;s me aside, and pulls from his pocket a newspaper, containing a paragraph aimed at you— perhaps at your looks and manners. You catch the alarm from his face, and fancy your character is gone. Was it decided by a convention? No ! By a Caucus ? No I By a group at the corner of the street, by a club, by a dinner party ? No ! By whom then ? One small gentleman, sitting in a dingy corner of a printing office, who puts his quill through your reputation ft* the entomologist slides a pin through a beetle— in t^e way of his vocation,. No particular malice to you. He wanted a specimen of the genus J>bet, and you were the first caught. If there ia no head to the pin — as there often is none— the best way is to do as the beetle does— pretend to be killed till he forgets you, and then slip off without a buzz. The only part of the calumny that I ever found troublesome, was my friends insisting on my being unhappy about it. lil%l - , „ I dare say ydu have read the story of the German, criminal, whose last request—" that his head might be struck off while he stood engaged in conversation" — was humanely granted by the Provost. The Executioner was an adroit headsman ; and, watching his opportunity, he crept behind his victim while he was observing the flight of a bird, and sliced off the bulb without even discomposing his gaze. It was suggested to the sufferer, presently, that he was decapitated— but he thought not — upon which, one of his friends stepped up, and begging he would take the , . trouble to stir himself a little, his head fell to the ground. If the story be true, or not, the moral is — In the many times I have been put to death by criticism I have never felt incommoded till some kind friend insisted upo 1 it. And now, that I can stand on a potato-hill, in a circle of twice the diameter of a riflle shot, and warn off trespassers, I intend to defy sympathy, and carry my top as large as it will stay on, — behead as often as you like,— beyond my periphery.

So much for the proportion of overpaid Gerila, versus B. of Works.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sra, — Allow me to say a few words to the " Bushman from the Lone Hut," who exhibited himself in the • New Zealander' of Wednesday last, and who must certainly have been in state of clairvoyance, or " too highly elevated/ when he saw the " clay laid for forming the roads more than a foot thick," as it certainly was not in this Province, since the formation of the Board of Works, — who do not believe in such a system of road-making, and deny that it was ever done under I them. I quite agree with him, that tho roads woultl be better if metalled twice as wide, but it cannot be done without twice the money ; and the object has been to make a passable road for a long distance, rather than an expensive One for a mile or two. All his suggestions that we did not know 20 years ago, we have made a note of, and feel thankful for. It is .a wonder he has not, in his " too highly elevated" state, seen two rakes filling in the ruts ; which has been regularly done with a " doubly beneficial effect ;" viz. — preventing repairs, and exhibiting the truth-telling capabilities of the "Bushman." , _. r . . I trust that after the fright the '• Lone Bushman" received in passing over the bridge that did not fall down, he will be careful not to use it again, until he has quite recovered ; for should an accident oc»ur to him, his loss might be severely felt in the getting-up-grievance department of the • New Zealander.' With regard to the Ho wick road, his clairvoyance is at fault, as the road was not broken up for laying down the " faggots," — and it is possible that his assertion about the road " being destroyed for years,"— is at fault also. His lucid remarks about the Premier Duke, liquid water, underground barrel drains, &c.,*c, are, I have no doubt, very valuable and entertaining. As he appears to be very sensitive, I have endeavored to avoid any expression that might have a tendency to further " confound" his poor weak notions of right and wrong. Yours, &c, A Chip op the Board.

Statement — (Above referred to). Chairman £250 0 0 Clerk 150 0 0 Surveyor 300 0 0 Messenger 52 0 0 Rent 39 0 0 Inspector of Nuisances SO 0 o—£B4l0 — £841 0 Total Expenditure £3000 0 0 Salariei, etc. . . , 841 0 0 £2159 , 0 0