THE "PICTURESQUE ATLAS."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9130, 1 June 1891, Page 4

THE "PICTURESQUE ATLAS."

i Sir, —Weare a simple folk living in a littie village far from the madding crowd, living together in unity, trusting and trusted by each other, knowing nothing of the tricks and deceptions of the world. Even the legal fraternity, usually thought to he hard-headed and incredulous, combine the softness of the dove with a Uttle, only a very little, of the wiliness of the serpent. Four years ago a gentleman, pleasant of appearance with agreeable manners, appeared among us. Little did we think that the poison of asps was under his tongue, and that he was to set a trap to lighten our pockets and reduce our banker's balance. He introduced to our notice a publication called the " Picturesque Atlas of Australasia," and to induce us to subscribe used as a bait our most respected leader in literature and art, a man also of high integrity and benevolent disposition; one in whose footsteps we could all feel it an honour to tread. He got his signature to head the list, telling him it incurred no responsibility, and that his name would induce bis fellow townsmen to subscribe, thereby greatly benefiting them by encouraging a taste for art and literature and giving them a knowledge of the colonies outside their own narrow limits. Four years have elapsed, and another representative of the firm is now among us to bag the quarry. - We were told the publication would be issued monthly at 5s per copy, acd the impression left on us by the agent was that we could stop taking them by giving a month's notice. The fiend, as he is now styled, is delivering them wholesale, demanding immediate payment for the lot. Can it be wondered at tbat at last self-restraint broke loose, and that, headed by the village Hampden, the community threatened him with a good hard knock if ho continued to persecute us. Will not Parliament legislate to protect Arcadian simplicity such as ours from the arts and wiles of worldly and designing men?—l am, &c, May 28. Verdant Green, . .