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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4118, 1 June 1874, Page 2

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —Permit me to say a few words, through your columns, to the subscribers of the Independent and New Zealand Mail. I had intended addressing them earlier, but was advised to wait until the change took place, that being considered the most fitting time fordoing so. Through various circumstances this has been delayed longer than was at first anticipated. As the subscribers are, no doubt, already fully aware, I have disposed of the sole proprietorship of the Independent and New Zealand Mail to The New Zealand Times Newspaper Company (Limited); but still retain a cohsiderable interest in the concern. In making this announcement, I beg to tender my most grateful thanks for the liberal support that has been awarded to me during the past twenty-nine years that I have been in business, and to assure the subscribers that their kindness will never be effaced from my memory. AVhcn the Independent was started in 1815, it was only a demy weekly, but it has grown with the growth of the Province and Colony. Prom a demy weekly, after various changes, it became a double news daily, and a weekly of twenty-four pages demy. The growth of the Colony, however, has been so rajfid of late as to require extraordinary efforts to keep pace with the times. A general desire was expressed that a colonial paper should be established, one that would embrace the interests of the Colony as a whole ; and Wellington, from its central position, was considered the most fitting place for its publication. With this view a company was formed, Including a majority of the leading citizens of Wellington. Being equally anxious to advance the interests of the Colony, there was no difference of opinion in this respect between the projectors ami myself. Under these circumstances, when an offer was made to purchase the Independent and New Zealand Mail, I was strongly advised by my friends to accept it, and I did so, thinking that I was thereby consulting the beat interests of the Province. The Independent has not ceased to exist, but has been incorporated with the New Zealand Times ; and I fondly hope that, with increased means, and a larger sphere of usefulness, it will sustain the honor and credit of the Colony, and jealously guard the rights and liberties of the pco]fio. For a period of nearly thirty years the Independent has been the exponent of public opinion, and has largely assisted in bringing about tho prosperity which we now enjoy. It has had amongst its contributors some of the ablest writers in New Zealand ; men who have left their foot-prints on tho sands of time. The first editor of tho Independent was E. B. Hanson, Esq., now Chief Justice of Adelaide. A. T. Holroyd, Esq., now a Judge of the Supremo Court In Sydney; tho lafco Dr. Evans, who afterwards became PostmasterGeneral of Victoria; tho Hon, W. Fox, and other leading politicians of tho day, have all contributed to its columns. Dr. Fcathorston, through its means, succeeded In obtaining justice from the New Zealand Company for its landholders. It was in tho columns of tho Independent that tho resolutions inaugurated by the Constitutional Association first appeared, were discussed, and advocated—•resolutions which were the basis of tho Constitution conferred upon New Zealand by tho British Parliament, and under which wo now enjoy our political privileges. But tho instances in which It has served tho interests of tho Colony during the past thirty years arc so numerous that it would bo totally impossible to recount them in your limited space; suffice it to *ay

that its columns have been thp.history of the Colony during its existence. ■: * In conclusion, I would solicit from the public a continuance of that patronage, so generously awarded to me, for Tue New Zealand Times Company, and I fervently hope that the high objects the projectors have in view—namely, the advancement of the Colony, and the peace and prosperity of the people—will he fully realised.—l am, &c., Thomas McKenzie.