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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 2, Issue 65, 18 December 1858, Page 3

To t7ie JEdiior of the Haw/ce's Bay Herald.

Siv, — Passing over the first few sentences of a letter signed 'Veritas' (which appeared with some other correspondence in. your last week's issue), as a pretty little specimen of mob oratory, though, perhaps somewhat grandiloquent and scarcely pertinent to the subject on wh ich the writer has undertaken to give us his tlcws, namely, whether our late Kesident Magistrate and Commissioner of Crown Lands. Mr. Domett, is a fit and proper person for us to elect as superintendent of our infant province or not, — I leave it to the good sense and right feeling of the 'fathers, mothers, brothers,' and all and every that Veritas invokes, whether it is not a little indelicate, not to say unchristianlike on his part, to drag before the public the private family affairs of a neighbour, especially when that neighbour is residing several hundred miles away, and by surreptitious innuendo thereon, to endeavour his utmost to influence the public mind as to his political charactei', — whether, in other words, Veritas docs well in thus essaying to tear the veil from the sanctuary of private life, and laying bare to the public eye what for all he knows may be a false picture, looking calmly the while on. a home which his own folly and inviduous insinuations may for anything he cares tend to render unlvppy.

One would he led to suppose on comparing the effusion of Yeritas with that of another in the same paper signed Alpha that the gifted authors of these respective epistles had b:;on interchanging ideas on the subject of their intended communications as they dreamed over their papers and fortified their intellects with cigar 3 and brandy and water, cr whatever their peculiar tipple might have been, before edifying the Ahuriri public with the happy results of tl-.eir joint lucubrations. However that may be, the gist of the whole matter is that they wish a man to be put at the head of affairs who, from a want of knowledge in public matters, must necessarily be compelled to allow his council to go on just as they please, aud that they (the council) may do just what they like with.

Yeritas remarks that tlie powers of a superintendent have lately been muck shorn. Very true. And that all that is wanted in a person so appointed, in this province at least, is that he should be one of high integrity, and he then proposes Capt. Newman. No one, I will believ-e, -will question Capt. Newmans integrity, hut surely that is a qualification not possessed alone by that gentleman ; surely by every gentleman in the district, I may say by every settler, with perhaps as in all communities, some very few exceptions : so that in that point at least we are alike all eligible to the office in question. But Teritas tells us that in addition to being a thoroughly honourable man, Capt. Newman is likewise an untried one in public matters ; and seems to think and to wish us to think that a decided point in favour of that gentleman. The same argument holds; s we are all honourable men,' but all or most of us untried ones, consequently &nj one of us (according to Yeritas) is as well qualified, as another to fill this important post. And so any of us might make such a superintendent as Yeritas and Alpha seem, to have set their hearts on. But why not Mr. Domett ? Ho is a neighbour, as Yeritas himself admits, consequently one of otirselves,; and, in fact, an Ahuriri settler ; and by the same writer's shewing, a man of very great energy is not required in the superintendent of our young province j so what objections can he have to Mr. Domett's election as such, unless it may be, perhaps, his 'thorough practical knowledge and experience in the politics of N"ew Zealand,' which might enable him to guide his council in matters of difficulty, rather than be a mere puppet in their hands. I quote from memory, from He Kahu'a letter, (published in the same 'Herald'), 'of Mr. Domett's unimpeachable integrity no one who knows him can doubt one moment.' I am, &c., -Bustictts. ! Najpier, Dec. 7, 1858, 1

To tlie Editor of the Smoke's Say Herald.

Sis, — If we may judge from the correspondence which has filled the Open Column of the 'Herald* for the last three weeks, it is clear that we settlers of Ahuviri are not the public spirited- individuals who have just fought, and won, the battle of Separation, but rather a set of knaves and place hunters, who have banded together against a common enemy, not for the attainment of political rights, but only for the possession of sundry small pecuniary pickings ; and having defeated the common foe, we are now ready to tear each other into pieces, in a scramble for the distinction of our newly acquired honors and emoluments.

I have read some of these letters with regret, because, having seen the settlers so nearly unanimous towards the close of the late struggle, I trusted that we should be enabled to hold together for some time longer, so that the TSew Province might have a fair start, and retain the favourable reputation which we have acquired in New Zealand for the manner in which we conducted our late contest with the Wellington Government. I cannot help fearing that if every one amongst us who takes any part in public matters is to become a target for all the rotten eggs in the district, we shall soon find that those best fitted to manage our public affairs wißshrink from the task and we shall be at the mercy of those few who will disregard the political pillory so long as it is the nearest road to the loaves and fishes. I really do not think that the few limited salaries, and more limited dignities which will result from the formation of a New Province, need be the subject of so much envy, hatred, malice, and unchai itableness; and the author of Tracts for the Times' may calm the apprehensions which he appears to entertain regarding the motives which actuate hip neighbours. After this long preamble, I will proceed to the subject which was the cause of my taking up my pen. I wish to urge the claim of our New Province to be inaugurated with some sort of form and ceremony, not to glide quietly into existence nobody knows how, or when. In plain English I think after woriing for three years, or so, to get it, we are entitled to a 'jollification,' and it may help to keep us from quarrelling for some time longer. Wellington has her two or three days fete every year to celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of that Settlement, and here where we are so much scattered and where the country settlers so seldom meet, I think we cannot do better than follow so good a precedent. I propose therefore that wo get up a Sp-pakatiok ieie, and that for two or three days we try if we can drop politics, or extract the bitter element therefrom. I would suggest a public dinner not (as. usual with us), a guinea affair confined to twenty or thirty, but at such a rato as to induce every elector and every settler to join in the demonstration, and if ths expense be an objection to the plan, let us get up a subscription to meet the deficiency — a ball might follow, the nest evening, but as these details will be better left to a managing committee, I will content myself with throwing out the suggestion trusting that the Napierboys will follow it iip and carry it out, I am &c., A CotrinniY Settieb. Napier, Dee. 15, 1858. .

To the Editor of the Hawfe's Bay Herald. Sir, — As the exceedingly discreditable letter o Veritns has been so ably answered by several of your correspondents, and as I am glad to find that they so truly express the real feelings of the public with regard to the contents of that letter, which is universally condemned, I scarcely feel that I am particularly called upon to say that my long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Domett justifies me in asserting that a man more worthy of public confidence and respect, — and of whom the new province may be so well proud, — is not to be found in the colony. I remain, Sir, Your very humble servant, Edwakd Spencer Cpni/csrck Te Kopanga, Dec. 14, 1558.