CORRESPONDENCE.

Colonist, Volume VI, Issue 625, 20 October 1863, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Colonist,

SlR —In your last issue a correspondent, who signs himself " Query," complains that certain comparative allusions in the Examiner of the Bth instant are both exaggerated and incorrect. Perhaps your obliquevisioned correspondent would have shown more wisdom had he made . enquires of some one connected with either of the two Societies, before he insinuates injustice and untruthfulness in the Examiner's remarks.

Allow me, sir, to vindicate the writer in the Examiner, by stating that his allusions to the Mutual Improvement Society are perfectly consistent with fact, and are neither distorted nor magnified; and although "Query" alleges that the Society is not " wandering houseless," it really is, in the qualified manner in which the Examiner employs that term, as the previous part of that article will show. It has no hall or rooms of its own, but is simply a tenant at will, liable to" ejectment at any time, To the second charge " Query " brings against the Examiner, evidence will, perhaps^ show gross misrepresentation in reference to the extensive library in the possession of that Society ; for I assure you, sir, that its shelves groan under the burden of. no less a number than about twelve volumes, most of which were purchased in Wellington by his Honor Mr. Justice Johnston, and presented to the* Society during one of the judicial visits of that gentleman to this city. It is quite true that the library of the Young Men's Christian Association is accessible to the Mutual Improvement Society, but it shows a sad dearth of scientific aiid scholastic works, or wp,rks of referencedclasses of books indispensable to tha efficient working of ;»:h societies. .

Why the Mutual Improvement Society does not merit commiseration your correspondent does not say, while his unsupported assertion savours somewhat of

narrownrindedness. Liberal-minded men, I think, all agree that any Society whose existence is to elevate the moral tone of our young men ; to prepare them, by an intimate acquaintance with the principles of social and political economy, to be useful and honorable citizens ; and to widen their views of general knowledge ; ought to be aided and supported in its ojDerations by the whole community. And now, sir, allow me to inform "Query" that the Mutual Improvement. Society is not an adjunct of the Young Men's Christian Association, but has a separate and independent organisation ; and that its conductoi'3 would gladly extend its operations and render them more effective, were their means less limited. But although from necessity thus circumscribed in its operations, it is nevertheless doing much, and is by no means so confined in its effects as your correspondent imagines.

I am, &c., SECRETAIRE,