The Obserber.

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 76, 25 February 1882, Page 370

The Observer.

Saturday, February 25th, 1882.

If the private lives of many of our most respected citizens and politicians could by ? sp^^ freak of Providence be suddenly revealed ifi all their hideous nakedness to the confiding public who adore and believe in them^jvhat a revolution there would bo ! We have heard a thing or two lately, and it is our unhesitating opinion that despite all the pretended particularity and mock snobbishness of certain coteries at Parnell and Eemuera, Auckland society will overlook and condone more unmitigated rascality and coldblooded villainy than one might expect in a community comparatively so young. This is strong language, and may, perhaps, seem unjustifiable to a majority of innocent " know-nothings j" but if there are three honest men who : ..hay e been dragged into the vortex, and ■who^understand what a mass of moral corruption- settles beneath the well-known surface of smooth propriety and respectability, they will confirm our statements with vigour, not to say — imprecations. The worst of the Colonial society scoundrel is his meanness and his heartlessness^ We have a man in our mind at this moment, whom, at the request of a girl he had basely deceived, we very reluctantly screened a few weeks ago. The story was as bad as it well could be. In England, the orthodox gay deceiver usually contents himself with one victim at a time, but the amours of this Auckland Oomus seem to be simply countless, and have sown sin, sorrow, ruin and degradation through the length and breadth of New Zealand. A very vulgar and contemptible idol too is this invincible gay Lothario nowadays. Once upon a time indeed he had the ball at his foot, and by abjuring sack and living cleanly might have ascended msrc than one rung on the ladder of fame. That possibility, however, has long passed away for ever. His vices have become whips to scourge him for the rest of his life, which, judging by present appearances, will neither be very long nor very merry. From a casual tippler he has become a confirmed sot, and from a jovial youth, carelessly sowing a few wild oats, a diseased and worn out roue.