TO MY LATE PARISHIONERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 978, 26 March 1862, Page 4

TO MY LATE PARISHIONERS.

(By favour of the Lyttelton Times.) My dear Friends,—Though I write to you in the language of reproof, I must begin by saying that I still take a great interest in your spiritual welfare, whilst any letters from the colony, mentioning the temporal prosperity of any of you, give me pleasure.

I often go into the cottages of your parents, and sometimes see a good deal of poverty, arising from old age or sickness. I am then led to enquire, has this man or this woman got a son or a daughter living in plenty ? I am often asked by those kind friends who have lent money to intending emigrants, to enable them to leave Stoke, "Will that money ever be repaid ?" Had that money been returned it would have been lent again to help others ; so that, by ; this ; want of punctual re-payment, you have been injuring your old neighbours. Returning colonists inform me that the Suffolk labourers are much valued for their skill in husbandry, and for their general good conduct; but the pleasure of hearing this is greatly diminished by the fear that the love of money has made you forget the claims of honesty, and the wants of your old relations and neighbours. There is still much money owing to different people in this place, and I trust that, without mentioning names, those to whom it was lent will take the earliest opportunity of repaying it, and, where God has blessed their labours, they will remember their parents living in poverty at home. Your sincere well-wisher and friend, o ■ - - T C. TORLESSE. btoke-by-Nayland, Jan. 18th, 1862.