BOARDING-HOUSES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 367, 27 June 1877, Page 3

BOARDING-HOUSES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING MAIL. j Sik, —In your issue of Saturday I see you have devoted yt T'" ng article to the abuse of Mr. John in particu'ar, and boarding-houses in general, for the reason, it would seem, that Mr. Cogvin had the temerity to withdraw his advertisement from your paper. According to my understanding of your article, I Bay that to be respectable a man must advertise in your rag, and the more he advertises the more respectable he becomes. As to your remarks with regard to boarding-houses and the vivid picture you have drawn of them, I can afford to pass by with contempt, merely remarking, en passant, that you might perhaps sleep in a worse place than in beds provided by some of them, and vou might also find worse fare in some of the licensed hotels than that provided by Mr. Cogvin, for instance. With these few remarks I will draw to a close, merely hoping, by the way, that Mr. Cogvm will not have to shut up in consequence of vour scathing article. —I am, &c., Weak Side. £Our correspondent "Weak Side" has, -we think, worked himself unnecessarily ißto a state of frenzy on account of the justice we have meted out to a section of the Oamaru boarding-house keepers, witli whom, from the sympathy he evinces for them, one would almost be led to conclude he identities himself. We have not the pleasure of " Weak Side's" acquaintance, but he must be very obtuse, or he would have observed that the remarks in oar Saturday's article in no respect referred to Mr. Cogvin's establishment, or his, if they are respectable, and we presume they consider them as such. Indeed, we fail to see how the most exacting person could be other than satisfied with the management of Mr. Cogvin's house, which has always had the reputation of being the perfection of respectability. We know that we implied that the beds in some of the so-called " board and lodging-houses" were mere shams ; but this could not apply either to Mr. Cogvin or his champion. We stated, too, that some of the proprietors of these houses sold intoxicating liquors, vilely tampered with, in contravention of the laws of their country ; but we cannot see how this could apply to jjf-". Cogvin or " Weak Side."' In point of fact, if we had a friend for whom we had the greatest appreciation. whose comfort and happiness we TT.iiid guard as the apple of our eye, we t.>:u<i 3eiKi him to one of these temperUriels. Now, we would do this i ... ise we happen to be acquainted with r excellences of these establishments ; LMi other evil-minded people, very impro--jlei-.y thinking them as bad as others of class, would, perhaps, give them a wuie berth, to the detriment of the busitheir proprietors. We thinh. it yenunfair that cribs kept by blood-sucking, •designing men should be allowed even to ;be under the same designation as the houses of reputable gentlemen, and that is why we took up the cudgels for such as Mr. •Cogvin, " Weak Side," and other conscientious and honorable board and lodginghouse conductors. W r e would rather cut off our right hand than that it should be the means of causing any injustice to these gentlemen ; and we greatly regret that we have been misunderstood. We really think we have been badly treated by " Weak Side." whose ill-natured remarks are calculated to hurt our sensitive nature. He calls our very respectable paper u a rag." Truly this is—to us—a new method of requiting favors, and comes with exceedingly bad grace from a man whose wrongs we have sought to redress. It cuts us to heart, too, to have to revert to the advertisement question, in reply to the remarks of our correspondent. A gentleman, whom we presume was Mr. Cogvin, •called at our offiice, and in an emotional manner, requested us to withdraw his •advertisement from our columns. He was quite overcome, and seemed almost ttoo full to speak. Now, we prized this gentlemen's advertisement, as it gave oui isheefc .an air of respectability, and acced for it as a kind of passport into polite .'society. We will not, however, further refer to this matter now, and trust that it will be buried with the bitter past. We have succeeded in filling up the blank ■space with the advertisements of those who will pay; this is an additional consolation.—Ed., jE. AT.]