ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 171, 3 June 1862, Page 5

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Daily Times. Sin, —I thank you for the ample publicity given to my letter. Will you now allow me, with reference to ynur comments thereon, to point out, that if it were •'unpatriotic and disloyal in " a handful of ambitious colonists " to look forward to the time when a nation should exist in these islands capable of taking full care of itself, and worthy of the parent country from which it sprung, their disloyalty arid their want of patriotism were shaved with some of the foremost men af Kngland, both of that and of the present day. Will you allow we to call to your notice the roll of illustrious names composing the various associations by which the settlements of this colony were undertaken, from no motive of gain, from no spirit of eommci'cial enterprise, but with the avowed purpose] and with the lofty hope of successfully founding a nation worthy of its origin, and capable, from its resources, of becoming a " New Britain " in this hemisphere. Will you allow me, if more recent authority be required, to call to your notice a leader in the London Times, of March 5, on Colonial fortifications, and to make from it the following quotation : —" We feel as a nation, says the writer of that article, that the colonies are an element of our glory ami of our power ; individually we all regard them as a means by which we spread our race and language over the earth, affording scope for industry to our sons, and sowing the seeds of great nations." Will you allow mo still further to refer to the speech of the l)uke of Newcastle, at the Australian Annivei'sary dinner, a few months ago, when his Grace, in wise feeling and noble words, alluded to the future nationality of the greater colonies, and declared that when the day came, that they felt within themselves the power to support that nationality, the mother country would oppose no obstacle to their friendly separation. These, sir, are a fair reflex of the views of English statesmen of the present day. The old idea of colonies for commercial uses only, has passed away, and in them, such men see now, a higher political end — the founding of free and powerful nations, who will add to the strength and the glory of that great and venerated country, to which they owe their origin, and whose fostering care is extended over them in their days of infancy and peril. On a great crisis such, as this of separation, it behoves U3 also not to lose sight of the future. We feel and admit the necessity of I ome change ; but on the manner in which tlat change is effected, we also feel that, to a great extent.the future will depend. Therefore, in no light or hasty spirit, but with full forethought of what we are about to undertake, do we desire to see this momentous subject approached. In all this, I for one. am still blind enough to see nothing " unpatriotic" or "disloyal." I hold that we are bounc' to think of the great, the peculiarly distinctive features, of New Zealand Colonisation, and to forget not that the time must eoine when the people of'these Islands will <vdd one more to the claim of England, to he recognised in History as the " Mother of Nations ;"—of nations which will look to the prosaic London of these days, with the same reverence and the same ardent affection as the Italians, on a smaller scale, now look to Rome. Influenced by such feelings we would fain hope, and if the Northern people are influenced bythe same feelings we believe that a friendly separation,—" a separation by mutual consent, with a customs and a postal union, whereby rancorous divisions will be avoided, and the way kept clear for future reunion," —is not a viuionary scheme. On the other hand we believe that if rashly and hotly undertaken, it will not be separation butdis-meinbermentweshall have accomplished. Nothing would then be left to us but the hope that New Zealand may prove another illustration of the truth of Do Tocqneville's assertion that " some nations, like some individuals, possess cinstitutions so strong as to be proof, not only against disease, but oven against physicians." I am, Sir, Tour obedient servant, A New Zealand Colonise.

To the Editor of the Dailt Times. Srit, —Tf anything were wanting' to prove the loyalty of the greater portion of the inhabitants of ttiis much abused city, it might surely be found in their catrer imitation of the Vice-regal example set them. What you.in your profound wisdom, judge to b3 a love of the mysterious, simple people like iiiyself might have foolishly fancied to be, what at one time was considered as something less venial, viz : — a want of punctuality. Now, as I lovo to look on the bright s'Ju of things, you may judge with what readiness and pleasure I entered into your vi.ws, for truth compels me to admit that previously the rather unaccountable habits of some of the "quid folks'' ofDunedin in almost invariably breaking their appointments, considerably annoyed mo. If one arranges to meet an acquaintance, it i,sjust possible he may be at his post, but as for giving any specified time for transacting business, the custom seems to be Betting obsolete, as few would be found confiding eaoHCli to expect the appointment to be kept, while with respect to Government contractors they, as in duty bound, seem to be particularly fond of astonishiii" pc ople At one time they lead vis to believe that certain public works, the cutting to wit, will be comnleted imiuedi itelv, and anon acting as if such things as main tliroagliiturea were neither required nor "i nave ever heard, but can scarcely credit the assertion, that some carry out the principle so far as to promise to pay their little accounts, and then astonish everybody by neglecting to do so. However, now we may rejoice in the discovery that so far from such conduct being an offence to society, it is really a virtur- and proceeds from motives whose loyalty none may impugn, though its desirability'even yet is not at all times quite clear to Yours, &c, Old Vonctuahtt. Dunedin, June 2nd, 18G2.