AGAIN THE LAUREATE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 28, 5 August 1871, Page 9

AGAIN THE LAUREATE.

The Wellington Independent, of the 12th July, makes our article on the comparative merits of Wellington and Nelson the pretext for a long tirade on Mr. Eichmond, to whom it imputes our remarks, some of which it asserts to be inconsistent with Mr. E'chinond's election speeches. We do not usually contradict writers who irake these shabby attempts to identify auonymous writers, but iv justice to Mr. Eichnioud we depart from our custom. He is not responsible for what appears in our columns generally, nor for the article referred to in particular. The laureate is a poor critic, and as reckless as he is silly to make such an assertion. Mr. Richmond has never written a word in ourcolumns disparaging Wellington, or, so far as we know, inconsistent with his public statements there or elsewhere. "We are rot curious enough to ask who writes or inspires attacks in the Independent ; it is enough for us to know that they come from mere partizans. Even this much however is of secondary importance. Our business is not with the writers, but with their words. We have to recognize and circulate what is wise, well-informed, andtrue, come whence it may : but we have to laugh at silliness, to expose ignorance, and to denounce falsehood ; and the Independent, by its ridiculous " hot-water cure," its ignorant rose-coloured pictures of native affairs and finaucial prospects, and its unscrupulous slander of individuals, forces itself on our notice oftener than by wit, wisdom, or fair-play. We trust some Wellington contemporary, honester than the Independent, will reprint this vindication of Mr. Eichmond for the information of his personal and political friends in Wellington.