SOCIETY JOURNALS.

Evening Star, Issue 5589, 5 February 1881, Page 4

SOCIETY JOURNALS.

The K«w Zealand correspondent of the ' Ssath Australian Register' in one of hia letters says :—" An evil has sprung into existeao* ia mora than one town in New Z*al*a4 which is painfully aesooiated with lsgitiaiafce j»arDaliem. I refer to the starting af waa« is known a 9 'society papers.' Tneso are weekly publications in which the sayings and doings in private l.fd are brought to litfht of day—icanda's, in fact, and net ft it>w of tbem infamously ccurrikus. Hints are thrown oat as to Mrs jj . frequenting balls and pirtres durirg the ab»eao9 of her husband, but she is always sees attended by aMr ; or we Sad *hai Miss B , who wag affino d to Mr Y , has refused to ratify her engagwatafc in o.nsequenca of a liaison he bad oontract.d whh some woman whs has lenj been tabooed from asso«ia kig with virtuous wemen. Same emploje*, nicticaed cl*arly enough by his initials or by the rature at his calling, hj cautioned to look to hia cash-book, ae it cannot be understood how young S manages to live up to fivo time* his salary, and keep a horse and hindsame young housekeeper, if he runs on the tquare. These and other offensive personalities, written in fearfully bad ta&te and with dn eavanomtd pen, form the staple of cur society publications. It is quite probable that some few of these attacks ontain a grain or two of truth to a whole bushel of lies; bat they woutd, and searify, and lacerate, aad c«a«« exquisite pain; and the fellows who pea such articles are simply scoundrel J —mea without charaoter, without responsibility, without any worthy surroundings, bat Who are, same of them, as clever as they are uaierupulous and callous of feeling. Two or three of these men have been thrashed or have had their coatß torn from their backs ; but this ia what they ask for. It makes thsir papers sell. An action for libel has no terrors, for the scamps havo nothing to lose. An* p»opl«t of a better class do buy these priats and read them. It affords that kind of unwholesome excitement which people feel whea they stop in the street to witness a dog fight or a pugilistic enoaunter. Of course such publications ciu only be ephemeral, but they cause much mental agony and maoy bitter heart-burnings in households aid ramiliee."