CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 105, 9 March 1844, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor or the Nelson Examiner.

Mr. Editor — I was highly gratified with the perusal of Mr. E. J. Wakefield's letter. Whilst resident at Wellington I had frequent opportunities of witnessing the extraordinary powers of just discrimination which that young man at all times exhibited in matters of business, and of social conviviality in those hours of relaxation from the cares and troubles which all new settlers in an uncivilized country are necessarily exposed to. His departure will, I feel convinced, prove to his fellow-colonists in general and his friends in particular the truth of the adage, " We never know the value of a thing till we miss it." If I mistake not, sir, there are few amongst the many he has left behind him (though with older heads upon their shoulders) who would exhibit more talent or sound sense when placed in any situation of emergency, or who possess more firmness of purpose or moral courage in bringing them into action when occasion may require. Having paid this tribute of respect to an absent friend, I inclose for your perusal (and, if you think fit, for insertion) an extract from my scrap book, which I think not inapplicable to our present or future prospects. It is said '• a straw thrown in will show the way the current sets ;" and, as very truly observed in your answer to your correspondent, Fiat Justitia, " Expressions used by public men on important public matters, may surely be taken as an index of their opinions on such matters with perfect fairness."

j " A good Government (or a good Governor) cannot be brought into contempt. Government is, or ought to be, impersonal. It consists, or ought to consist, of Institutions, Rules, and Principles. A Government is not free if these cannot be subjected to the test of reason,- and it would be insulting to common sense to maintain that freedom can exist without the privilege of proclaiming, examining, and characterizing all the * official and public acts of all the public functionaries engaged in administering the government. We confine our position exclusively to public and official acts. I These belong to the public ; and of these truth cannot be a libel. And such truths, instead of degrading or tending to degrade the Government, must always tend to purify and protect it. If the public measures of public men be bad, the publication of what is true respecting . them may expose, degrade, and bring into hatred the administering officials ; but it is for the interest of Government as well as of the public that this should be so. No Government can be secure when it is maZadministered — when it is surrounded only, by venality and corruption. Servants of this description ought to be driven away from the Throne. But how can this be done, or how can Ministers (or Governors) be made responsible unless their ministerial acts can be laid open as the light of the sun at noon day ? Juries, who have the law of libel in their own hands, should laugh at the idea of Government being degraded or its interests affected, except for good, by the truth and the whole truth being told of the official acts of all or any of those who are concerned in the administration of it. They are called upon by all the great principles of the Constitution and Government of their country to protect every one in the exercise of this right, in the performance of this duty of free and full examination." * And therefore, Mr. Editor, be not intimidated by the sensitive expressions of anxiety for your fate by your over-anxious friends from affording your fellow-colonists the opportunity of canvassing the acts of the officials; and, by giving insertion to the foregoing, instil into the minds of our fellow-colonists a proper sense of the duties which, as jurymen, they will shortly be . called upon to exercise. Yours, &c. George White. * From my Scrap Book.

To the Editor of the Nelson Examiner.

Sir — As one of the supporters of the protest published in your paper of the 24th February, I feel called upon to reply to a statement made by Mr. G. White, late police magistrate, in a letter appearing in last Saturday's Examiner.

He states that, at the close of a sedulous canvass, out of a population of three thousand persons only thirty-five signatures could be obtained to the protest in question. Now it must be evident that this is a most unfair way of putting the caae. Of the three thousand inhabitants the greater proportion consist of women and children, and working men employed several miles out of Nelson. Besides, it was not the object merely to obtain a long list of names, which could have been easily procured if thought necessary, but only those of a class which might be considered to represent the property and independence of the settlement, and this end was fully and satisfactorily accomplished without having recourese to a " sedulous canvass." I am, sir, Your obedient servant, One who has Confidence in the Governor.

Pionbebs of Rsfin«mbnt.— -Whenever woman is strengthened in virtue, and admired in the chute conduct of household duties, there will society progress, and become refined ; there will all the affections blossom in beauty, and the passions be reduced to tenderness, docility, and reason. No country has ever arrived at greatness in which the women are kept in slavery — where their redeeming influence is not permitted to circulate through social life ; but where household ties are strongest —where the women are elevated most, there all people was mighty in inherent strength, and cultivate themselves to a glorious advancement. From a society so reared and adorned by good women, come forth patriots, scholars, and religionists; ay, even although in the midst of that ■ociety, in its capitals and crowded cities, there , may be many who unblushingly proclaim that sin and shame still fester in prurient growth.-—CAam-bers't London Journal.