FREE PRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1122, 19 June 1867, Page 6

FREE PRESS.

To the 3ditor of tli; Seiv ZeaEjYitd Hbbaxd. Silt, —On the 7th of last month your contemporary inserted a letter for me on the educational rate subject; a correspondence followed. Of the soundness of my arguments in this discussion the public can judge, fis the letters are before them. On. tho 29th tho editor thought fit to close the subject ; since then he has admitted sever,il letters bearing on the same subject, the last of which was one from Mr. McDonald of L'ukekohe, while during this time mine have been refused. I have written two since he professed to close tho subject, neither of which will ho insert : the hut, in answer to Mr. McDonald, t cncloso to you, hoping you will show us that nil our newspapers are not conducted on the one-si :ied 1 principle evinced to be tho c.iso by your contemporary. Is it liberty to allow one gentleman to ridiculo another and not allow the opposite party to refute false statements or contradict them in any way whatever? Look at his bungling excuso in this morning's issue; what does he think we subscribe to his paper for; if ho thinks it too expensive to grant freedom to public opinion he should siy so, and lot ' the public know that the Cross is a private paper, only one-sided, and whatever subject is not in strict ■ conformity to tho proprietor's or editor's mind can--1 not bo published in their paper. 1 Sir, the following is the letter which was written in answer to Mr. McDonald's of the 6rh instant, perhaps you grant it space in your free and in- ' dependent columns:— 1 In answer to Air. McDonald, I beg to state that. I am not in the least sorr ? that I entered on tho educational rate subject, I am only sorry to see our i editor admit letters from such a little-wit a; llr. ' MeD. I would rather be one of those unthinking people than one of those who sutler from exten-ive perception, whose brain understands nothing aright, I and consequently the tongue gives utterance to gross f aud !:i!!ujkul3 statements such as his Hor.or proved ' onthe lGtli April last as Wing tho case with the above unfortunate gentleman. His ideas on this subject aro equally foolish ; he. would not be content with a district school but would like a boarding school. I wonder ho did not think of a college. Surely a high classical education would not bo too much to givo to the children of our working settlers, su;h as cannot pay for the education of their own. And here let mo remark that some people never l would be able to pay for the education of their •' children so long as they c ,u!d find some benevolent i individual to do it for them. I know several cases c not many miles from your office, where the parents can't afford it. One case in particular, where the r man has been receiving from £3 upwards weekly a l e this time. I enquired tiie other day why the.o r children were not sent to school, when the mother ? told me Blie could not afford it. This is only one 0 instance out of many, iind -I am inclined to think 1 that the kind and j^ood-hearted are to a very serious extout engendering' a puupemi g disposition in our f midst. I hope our public benefactors will not miss understand me. God forbid that I should throw cold water in their faces ; their meaning is good and . deserving of all prai-c; if their benevolence miscarries it does net lessen tlieir li'mor, but charity' i loses its beauty when applied to the idle, the drunken 1 ) and the depraved. I am thinking tint much mire good would have been clone.had the value of all those good things which liivo been given away lately gono towards establishing an industrial farm or something of the kind, ttowever, this does not concern the unfortunate gentlemin at Pukehoho. His brain just now seems agitated about policemen 5 and acreage taxa ion. Why, I bel.ove I was tho 3 first (if not the only onej that advocated acre- ' age taxation at the time the District Boards Act was under discussion, and if are | to have an educational rati/, I wish to be understood to be on'the same side; out before 1 such a bill is passed I beg of our Legislator"' to peruse my first and the tail part of my second letter, 1 which appeared respectively on tile 7th and 16th of April. What has been written eince is mere arguemnt and T w:iuld say to those who are so re idy to fly in > • m.i f.ice, please to prove my statement false before 1 you give me the lie. 1 think Mr. Shepherd will have seen long before this that ive are of one mind on this subject, and in reference to the district roads 1 board I beg of him to walk over to my dear friend ' Mr. S. at ttanksfee farm, ho will there hear that when I was last at his place I tried to lay before that gentleman and his son, the necessity of forming a road board. I feel confident that Mr. 3., also his son T, love 3 truth too much to gainsay what I hero state. Mr. Worthington is, I think, slightly wrong when ho otxlcs that it wa3 the want of education that ' caused threo men to commit crime, "not knowledge, tbey have that" how in fho world did they get 1 knowledge without education. This I should think is not only a narrow but a most curious view. It is ; absurd. These recent instances (if they are recent,) tend to prove the truth of my assertion, i'essrs. C and Anthropos are both gentlemen of good sense and bound reason, and I am much obliged to them for ' taking my subject up so sprightly, an<X will add that i will not take the lie unless it can bo proved.— I am,&c , R. O. Cooi'EE. ' Carlton Lodge, Oruawliaro, Jane 12, 1567. j ~