TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 40, 21 February 1852, Page 2

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS.

The present number closes the Fourth Quarter of the " Witness." All persons desirous of becoming Subscribers are requested to forward their names to the Printing-Office. Present Subscribers will be continued as such, unless notice is sent to the contrary.

We have to call the attention of all parties indebted to the Proprietors that their subscriptions should have been paid in advance, and to request they will settle their accounts immediately.

Dunedin, Saturday, February 21, 1852,

The present number of the " Witness" closes the fourth quarter, and consequently the first year of our existence : properly the Bth of February should have been celebrated as our birthday, but owing to the efforts we made to publish a supplement in the early days of our career we were thrown back in the work of the next number ; and our yearly issue consequently terminates on the 21st of February. A public journal is licensed to be egotistical ; and we shall not deviate from the usual practice, or become conspicuous for our modesty ; and we at once congratulate the public on the advantages they have derived from the publication of the " Witness." We cannot cast our eyes back to the first day of our publication without being struck with Che manifest alteration in public opinion since that time : we had long to contend with the apathy of one section of the public whose love of political freedom had become rusted and dormant. We have also had to resist the blandishment of another section who were desirous of being allowed to pursue their own mischievous course without comment; and have also had .much to undo of the work of our predecessor. We have exposed many abuses, and have made many enemies in the discharge of that duty — a majority of the Justices of the Peace withdrew their subscriptions ; one of our godfathers deserted us and threw his shares into the market ; another enraged proprietor threatened us with destruction ;

I — but we have survived all our difficulties, and have risen from a fortnightly to a weekly issue. Our circulation is gradually increasing; many who at first disapproved of our sentiments have become converts to our views, and the " Witness," though not started as a purely mercantile speculation, has proved the truth of the proverb, " that honesty is the best policy." Our fearless attack of all abuses without regard to persons, notwithstanding the prediction that it would be our ruin, has contributed greatly to our prosperity. Well, our year of infancy is over, we have " cut our teeth ;" and though we may have been somewhat troublesome during the process, we are now healthy and strong, and trust, that having accomplished the object of stirring up the lethargic, and given direction to the vigorous portion of the public mind in political matters, we may have a little more time to devote to local statistics and descriptions of the colony. Local Self-government being nearer at hand, we may tread less heavily on the toes of elderly gentlemen, whose opposition to the public wishes might have, at an earlier date, done mischief; but their influence having gone, we may pass over their vagaries more lightly than we have hitherto felt compelled to do. But while blowing our own trumpet, it will not be uninteresting to refer to the opinion of us by our contemporaries. The "Wellington Independent" speaks of the Otago public — viewed through the medium of our columns — as being " more politically alive and spirited than any of the other settlements." The " Spectator" speaks of us " as dull and uninteresting as usual." The contrast presented by these comments upon our community are extremely amusing : dullness is clearly comparative, and j that which is dull and dreary to one may be lively to another ; indeed we J cannot see how the editor of the " Specj tator," with the present prospect of New Zealand before him, could be otherwise than melancholy; he must be a peifect Mark Tapley, "jolly under ere- ; ditablc circumstances," if he could see I anything cheering in the account of I the proceedings of the Otago public/ j where every word, every step, expresses | utter contempt for, and hope of, the speedy downfall of the " Spectator's" patron ; add to this the withdrawal of £20,000 of the Parliamentary grant, cutting off the hope of jobbing, perhaps, too, with a little remorse for his own unlucky advocacy, making yet worse a thoroughly bad cause, and we have an explanation of the dreariness of the " Spectator." The v Spectator" may be an exceedingly lively publication to some readers ; and no doubt the chief joke consists in the frequent reference to the " Government Brigg !" perhaps one of the worst jobs in the. settlement. The editor of the " Spectator" is welcome to. make what comment upon the " Witness" or the public of Otago he pleases ; but it is a different matter when he garbles the report of public proceedings in a Court of Law, when, to give a basis to his arguments, he tells a deliberate falsehood by omitting part of the truth. How does he represent the case of Mansford v. Stephen ? He says that the case of assault was dismissed. So it was ; but he omitted to state that the decision was to the effect, that if the plaintiff had applied in time the Bench would have bound over the defendant (the highest legal functionary) to keep the peace, and that one of the magistrates, on behalf of the minority, ad- »' ministered a severe rebuke to the defendant for the language he had made use of in the Court. JS T o, this statement would have shewn the matter in its true light, and explained the state of the settlement — the Government officials guilty of great immorality and want of decorum, and the public protesting against the indecency. But this would not suit the " Spectator," the Government organ ; it therefore libels the whole' Otago community, and would, by its late style of argument in these matters, fain degrade the Press of .New Zealand to a shield for immorality, and a panderer to official licentiousness. ..