THE Observer.

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 68, 31 December 1881, Page 242

THE Observer.

Sattteday, Deceaibee 31st, 1881.

The ink on those lines will hardly be dry ere the old year -will lie a-dying, and the new year, approaching with the noiseless foot of time, will be waiting at the door of the death-chamber to step into the shoes of the dead. Let us hope that the year 1882 will inaugurate a new era of prosperity and happiness for Auckland and tlie colony at large. Though, the year that has now all but run its course has not been an uneventful or unimportant link in the chain of our history, it has left no break in that career of renewed commercial prosperity and national progress upon which the colony is embarked. As a community wo can take a retrospect of the past year without repining at its results. If other parts of New Zealand hare experienced checks and reverses in their trade and commerce during the year 1881, there has been no interruption in the sure and steady advancement of this Northern portion of the colony ; and as wo can look back upon the closing year without regret, so also can we look forward with renewed hope and confidence to that which is being ushered in. For ourselves and the Obseryeh. we can also share in the general congratulations. Through, evil and good report, despite the malevolent misrepresentation of our motives and objects by less successful rivals, and the indifference of doubtful or timid friends, avo have pursued the even tenor of our way. We have forsaken the old beaten tracks of journalism in Auckland, and struck out an

independent course tor ourselves. We nave had to encounter and overcome the prejudices and the obstructions of that numerous and powerful class which has existed in all ages and places, who i*e» gard any change or reform in science, art, politics, or literature as dangerous and objectionable. We have had to apply the scalpel with a firm and unsparing hand to old and time-honoured excrescences which the very patients have hugged with a species of blind infatuation, or have frantically tried to cover up from public scrutiny. Though the operation has sometimes been painful, and has evoked passionate protestations and remonstrances from the sufferers, we have the consolation of knowing that the treatment has been beneficial and ultimately restorative. Our conscience acquits us of any desire to inflict unnecessary pain, but if we have sometimes mistaken the diagnosis, and applied unsuitable remedies, it has not been wilfully or wantonly done. On the other hand, we have endeavoured to provide wholesome and harmless amusement and recreation, a3 an antidote to those ultra-bilious, irritating, and baneful weekly doses so profusely and unskilfully administered by some of our quack contemporaries.

♦- — ■ It is not given to all men to make friends without at the same time making onemies. He who %s goes out of the beaten track of journaliam is sure to incur the jealousy and rancour of the blind guides who, laoking either originality or the spirit of independence, or merely echoing the views and <J

serving the aims of superior minds, grope along in the old humdrum way, pushing and elbowing each other in the ruts, and often sticking hopelessly in the mud. Life is very much like a race in which the eager and resolute win the goal, while the lazy and supine lag behind on the road and curse the successful competitors. To be envied and perchance maligned, is the penalty which the victor pays to the vanquished, only the winner of the prize can afford to regard the beaten with complacent indifference, and even sometimes with pity and forgiveness. Startingaswe did eighteen months ago against long established rival md those deeply rooted prejudices to which ■we 3; .• ye referred, we have in that period achieved a de-roe of success which has not only distanced those rivals in the race, but greatly exceeded our most sanguine expectations. The circulation of the Observer lias so rapidly increased, and the paper has been so keenly sought after, that we have latterly been unable to keep pace with the demand. For some time past, our weekly edition lias been invariably bought up a few hours after its issue from the press on Friday mornings, and in spite of increased efforts to meet the extended circulation, the public demand has not been fully satisfied. This lias been in a great measure attributable to the fact that, along with the increasing local circulation, the Obsehyeu. has been rapidly pushing its way in public estimation in the South, in the neighbouring colonies, and in Great Britain, so that on more than one occasion the entire edition has been quickly absorbed in the city and suburbs, and distant subscribers, for whom it was too late to make provision, have not been supplied. We hope, however, ere long, to meet the extended demand, and meantime we must crave the indulgence of distant readers. As to our advertising columns, they speak for themselves.

We point to these matters in no vain spirit of self-glorification, but simply as a vindication of the character and tone of the Observer itself, and as a complete answer to those persons who, from various motives— all more or less selfish and unworthy- — have been vainly carping at our success, and endeavouring to misrepresent our motives and aims. There is no quarter in which a public journal is so sensitive as its cumulation. It is the surest test of its hold ujjon public favour, and its value as a medium for the dissemination of every sjjecies of literary and commercial information. Upon this test we are content to be weighed, and to rest our claim to a continuance of that generous support which it now becomes us to gratefully acknowledge. Heartily thanking our numerous readers and advertisers for the liberal patronage and confidence they have extended to us, we wish them one and all A Happy New Year.

r Wlieu Mr Eees suddenly left for the East Coast before the polling for City North various rumours -were set alloat as to the cause of his departure. Amongst other alleged reasons it was industriously hinted abroad that an unwelcome personage had visited his residence, that various documents* of a most imperative character awaited his arrival, and many other rumours, more or less exaggerated, such as the fancy of the moment suggested. We have, however, learned from a thoroughly reliable source the precise motives for Mr Eees' sudden and unexpected departure before the poll. A number of important cases in which he appeared for the defence had been set down for hearing in the Appeal Court at Napier, and he felt convinced that his presence was necessary in order to prevent a victory being snatched by the other side. Two steamers were announced to leave for Napier, one before the polling, and the other subsequently. The latter would have suited him had there been any absolute certainty that it would sail on the advertised date, but, as some doubt prevailed on this head, and any delay might have resulted in a miscarriage of justice, Mr Eees, at the risk of sacrificing his election, took Ins passage by the first steamer, leaving with his proposer a paper containing in his own handwriting a list of the cases in which lie was engaged, which were as follow : — Bank of New Zealand t. Wi Pere ; Same v. Pelca Kerekerc ; Same v. De Lautour ; Same v. Cameron ; Wi Pere v. Chambers ; Barker v. Eees.

Some of the statements made on the strength of a communication from a correspondent in last issue regarding the New Zealand Land, Colonization, and Settlement Association, Limited, were not altogether accurate. The Hon. F. Whitaker and Sir William "Fitzhcrbert are not on the directory, but the other gentlemen whose names were mentioned, beside some thirty or forty more, are included in the list. The only way in which Mr Whitaker is connected with the proposed, undertaking is as a member of the firm of Whitaker Russell and Buddie, who arc the solicitors to the Association. The propectus has been printed, but is not yet circulated pending certain preliminary arrangements which are all but completed. The proposed capital is £1,000,000 in £5 shares, of which 30,000 shares have already been taken up by twenty capitalists. We are not at liberty to enumerate in detail the objects of the Association, but may state briefly that the proposal is to buy up freehold, leasehold, pastoral, aiid other lands, as well as native lands, to cut them into blocks suitable for townships and farms, and to sell them by auction. When a sufficient number of shares have been privately floated in New Zea land, a further batch will be similarly placed in Australia, after which the remainder will be offered to the public. It is expected that four times the requisite capital will be 'subscribed.

In the course of tlie case Bathbone v. Weston (which will be found referred to at length in our sporting column) the counsel .for the defendant made some remarks about, the conduct of the Observer newspaper, which it is impossible for us to pass over without a few words of remonstrance. We make no complaint about the majority of insulting questions put to us during this trial. Great licence is, without doubt, permissible on such occasions, and wo admit with regret that our own side set a bad example byopening the ease with unwarrantable intemper-

ance. The fault, however, was not the learned coxinsel's. When describing the defendant to him in instructions, we spoke of him (not maliciously, but believing we were telling the exact truth) as a professional bookmaker, who kept public billiard tables and had taken lessons in boxing. This our counsel, anxious to do the best for his client, very quickly transmuted into " gambler and fighting man " — terms which elicited a stern reproof, from the Bench, and brought down upon us later on a cross-examina-tion of a most disasterous and expiatory character. Mr Laishley having asserted Mr Weston was a bookmaker "and a gambler, it became Mr Whitaker's duty (and, we are afraid, his pleasure also) to prove we were ditto, and, by dint _of not allowing us to explain anything, and closing us in by a few skilfully put 'queries, he by-and-bye achieved this desirable end. As a matter of fact, onee — -just once in our lifetime — we did make a small book, and the counsel for plaintiff, having ascertained the fact from someone present, put the query to us with excusable triumph. After this our character with the Bench was virtually gone. It seemed in vain to attempt to urge that between making a small book once for pleasure, and making a book regularly and professionally for a livelihood, there was some slight difference. Our single essay in the "laying" line did for us altogether ; in fact, Mr Macdonald, with agreeable candour, announced that the only difference he could see between plaintiff and defendant was that the latter appeared to be a larger operator than the former.

All this, however, is not what we intended to write about. Even if Mr Whitaker did say a a number of nasty things about the Ojjsekveh, with evident gusto, they were only " retorts courteous " to Mr Laisbley's accusations re Mr Wcston. Moreover, knowing his (the counsel's) bitter (bxit wholly inexplicable) animosity against the plaintiff, it is scarcely to be wondered at that when at last he got that gentleman in the witness box, and under the thumb-screw of cross-examina-tion, lie gave him a mauvais quart d'heure. We think, however, that in his subsequent speech, the counsel for the defendant overstepped the bounds of fair pleading, and made at least one most unwarrantable assertion, which, as even Mr Macdonald remarked, had no justification whatever. We refer, of coiirse, to the statement that "if ever Mr liafJiboiH- took a dislike to a person he hounded him do ten till lie drove him out of the country." Now, many imaginary sins have at various times since this journal was initiated been laid at our door, but never have we felt so hurt and injured as we do about this one. It is not only untrue, both in spirit and in fact, but Mr Whitaker must know it to be untrue; and unless his enmity to us for the moment got the better of his natural frank honesty, we cannot imagine what malign demon inspired the false statement. If the editor of this journal possesses one fault less than another, it is — vindictivencss. No man or woman ever came to our ouicc and asked iis either to drop a vendetta or avoid mentioning a name, or to cease chaffing somebody, or to omit mention of a painful circumstance, in vain. Even foolish requests, which most folks would laugh at the idea of o»;v listening to, are generally granted ; in fact, we have invariably tried to be friendly and obliging when we could be so without cither deceiving the public or making ourselves ridiculous. Occasionally, no doubt, illnatured persons manage to make the paper a vehicle for venting private spleen. We have half-a-dozen regular, and nearly twenty casual correspendents, so that one cannot aliccu/s prevent this happening. It is, however, the victim's own fault if it occurs twice. lie can come here and complain, and if the correspondent is proved to be in fault he is immediately knocked oft: the list and paid up to date. As to hounding a man down, we never did such a thing, or dreamt of doing such a thing. Where we have attacked we have attacked, and do at tack, freely and openly. If an opponent wishes to drop a discussion he has only to say so. Once let him confess himself either wrong or beaten and we give way instanier.