MR ARTHUR CLAYDEN,

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5349, 20 November 1885, Page 4

MR ARTHUR CLAYDEN,

The following is an extract from a letter from Mr Arthur Clayden, who has just returned from England : — "Nelson, November 9, 1885. "Your letter duly reached me at the end of a tolerable ramble round the world and then round the colony. We have been coasting for a month, landing at Port Chalmers about a month ago, and then on to Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Auckland, Tarnaki, and here. " I am sorry to find so much depression all around. I suppose things really are bad, as ' what everybody says must be true. It can only be a passing phase. Nothing can hinder permanently the progress of a colony so rich in natural products. I should much like to look you up before ynu leave, and shall yet bide my chanc* of doing so. I want to see the West Coa<?tto complete my education. The old home seems going to decay. You will feel an infinite depression in visiting it. Intense poverty and extravagant wealth confront you on every hand. One wonders how the various social problems

will be solved without a revolution. My conviction is that great changes are impending over there, and it is only a question whether those changes are to be peacefully brought about or by open revolt. The g>-eat reform measure just introduced, whereby two millions are added t© the electoral roll may save the country by broadening the base of the constitution. God grant it may ! " I had a very busy time at home. My paper on "New Zealand in 1884" at the Royal Colonial Institute gave me a sort of standing colonially, which involved more than I bargained for. For one thing, it led to a three months' lecturing engagement, which took me all over England and Scotland. The correspondence was the heaviest part of the work. 1 suppose I must have received and answered over 500 letters. I think I did something towards helping on the colony."