LOOK ON BOTH SIDES OF THE PICTURE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 194, 7 June 1860, Page 2

LOOK ON BOTH SIDES OF THE PICTURE.

... Sir, — J udging from tfie' numerous replies : that you have inserted to Mr. Fox’s letter, ; that you lpave changed your tactics, and do not .intend to follow the course you adopted in the case of the Key. R.; Taylors letter, I haye presumed to solicit space in your columns for . a few observations on the writers of both sides ; * and as some of them are new chums, and'do ' not know thp, character of the man they have ‘ attempted to ridicule, it will not be out of : place to put them, in possession, of a few facts, that may be of use to them, should they at any future time consider it necessary to fiotifeO ' that gentleman’s 'doings. And as he- stands the most prominent in. the correspondence-, I ’ shall begin by stating thqfc Mr. Fox is neither a man of yesterday, nor a bird of passage, but an old, well-tried, colonist, who has. always , been foremost in the cause of the people,, and has at all times boldly; and fearlessly exposed those in power, whenever they ventured to ; trifle with the feelings of, tfie people, or withhdd from them what as British subjects they ;

were entitled to. And on the other hand, who

can deny that one possessed of the talents, and * ability of Mr. Fox could have beenan a different position from what he is at, present,.if, ' instead of devoting them to the cause-offliberty and freedom, he had been contented to swallow ; the baits that have been held out to him by ' those in power; as in the case of Sir George, | Grey making him Attorney General, whicK.‘ office he only held a few weeks, having fesigiieffi | it at niicQa.when. learnfeiP -it whs the Go-vt _ •yernora;intention, not to' atioW'TmrpieijpitrTor'?- ~ select the Council; but select them himself from the ranks of the would-be aristocracy; who he ■'* knew could be relied on to support his arbitrary and despotic government, I might go Ott' v enumerating many other instances where. Mr. Fox has m?ide personal sacrifice rather, than/’ hold office under, a corrupt and- timeserving; government; but i mqst now proceed tp.qotice- ‘ his opponents, or gather those whose vanity to - see their name in print has tempted them to show their true colours. And on referring to : your columns I find fpremost in the ranks our learned friend, whq, one would . suppose, had a Retainer on behalf of his Excellency,' for he at, once assumes the privilege of liis cloth, and misquotes, misrepresents, and mis-' ‘ tifies, to. the best of liis.-ability, like fa true 1 advocate, whp keeps steadily in'view the cause’ of his client, regardless of the consequences to, ; his opponent* lam not so well acquainted! ; with his previous -history as I am with that of' 1 Mr. Fox, bujt-I believe he once had a slice of official bread and butter in a neighbouring ' colony, and seemingly does not despair of being indulged to a taste of New Zealand ham and

egg (not, as formerly, pork and potatoes), as is evident from the hitter part of his very long and ambiguous letter, in : which he has laboured hard to make the wrong appear the better cause.

Following suit at thp heels of the gentleman just referred to, we find another undisguised, and yet undistinguished, name, P. G. Wilson, who figures as a rising lieutenant in the Wanganui Volunteer Cavalry. His youth and thirst ■ for military glory, as well as his being descended ;! from ancient naval, and military dependents,* in a good measure excuses bis rashness ; and being a believer, in. the divine right of kings j more than in the voice of. Unpeople, we may m expect him to be ready, to slay at a moment’s : notice any representative, of the people that would venture to question, the. Queen’s repreby what authority h,e does these things. And following the same scept as our young lieutenant, we find the bold,.and!honest John Treweek, Senr., of Kai-iwi, whose indignation seems principally to have been roused against Mr. Fox for presuming to introduce three parsons without a God, and who is rather inclined to attribute Mr. Fox’s hasty, production to tne error misplaced confidence in missionary experience, and winds up by handing him over to the impotent eloquence of Mr. Richmond at the next meeting of the General' Assembly. ' ■ - - r Next in order, arid in contrast to the three gentlemen whom I have just noticed, comes a. snake , in the grass,, Fairplay,” who dateshis bilious; at: Rangitiki. . -Now* sir, I am much deceived if “ Fairplay ” ever saw Rangitiki, or even knows much of Mr. Fox or his constituency ; but as he no doubt took an active part in getting up the Address which he alludes to, be would be highly pleased to see it followed up by the resignation of Mr. Fox, and instead of his place being filled by a better man, would like ‘ to see the

Gove wort have power to fill it • by- a Nominee, or perkatps" gouUS,”--“ i who, let me remind- you^jare-'v-muchv more'•-to be dreaded than foxes. • t;• v I now come to what I may call a friend ef Mr. Fox’s,, and one of our oldest and most respected settlers, Mr. -W-. B. Taylor, a man of modesty, whose. production does credit to the cause he has at all times firmly advocated ;j and although he does not attempt to justify Mr.-Fox for publishing what he considers an ill-timed letter, yet be givesi him, what every unprejudiced reader of his letter would, credit for honesty and candour, and congratulates himself and his fellow-settlers at being so fortunatej in ■ having a man to represent them who can and will-at all timrs stand boldly up for truth and justice. y Now, Mr, Editor, I expected tohave wound -cn .this* picture;--but I find in your issue of the fallowing week another subscriber praying for u little room; in iyour •-paper (about a column and a-half) to throw some light neitbertbe meeting-nor .‘.'the;;-host of ! subscribers |to your paper, noticed what to liim appeared the most objectionable part of Mr. Fox’s letter. Nov:, air, I must confess, that although the subscriber 3 am referring ’to signs himself “ a Fellowsettler,” yet the term is quite unintelligible to me, for I am .puzzled to discover his whereabout, and but for liis quoting scripture, and thinking Ezekiel had-Mr. Fox’s three friends in his eye (instead of his bosom), I might have assigned do him a situation under the cloth but I fear I must leave him to enjoy that obscurity he covets under the very general appellation of “ a Fellow-settler,”—although I must inform him that I have handed him over to the kind: care of. a “ Countryman.’ 5

I was just going to enclose this to yoa for publication, when, mark my astonishment on seeing q> your issuo of this day a second production from our aspiring / lieutenant, who. seems,to be writing for promotion; for certainly, unless he has sslf-esteem largely developed, I can see no other motive that would tempt him to venture so often in your columns. In this secoud production he shows himself completely enveloped in fog, and seems not to be aware of what Mr. Fox said at the meeting with reference to the misquotations he complained of. Mr. Fox stated theyfewere made by Mr. Ross, whom lie regretted he did not see present at the meeting. Our lieutenant does not seem to think Mr. Fox’s explanation sufficient; but Mr. Fox answered all, and was ready to answer as many more questions as the meeting wished to put to him; and had lie (our Heuienant) . attended,. lie would have had the straightforward opportunity of, meeting Mr, Fox face .to face before people, instead of Writing about wha£rhe knows nothings or at .least ; up.t ; any, factsß^uneoted^toMcase, - TfovniciiU' Council fyias not been called together to concert measures for. the defence of the province. I would like him to explain what the Provincial Council has to do with the defence of; the province beyond volunteering or being drawn for the militia, for which they are liable when not in session. He also has a great deal to say about arms; but I would just ask him if the corps he belongs to has had arms served out to them yet ? Now, sir,,.one word more, and I have done with our first lieutenant. He has been lately at the seat of war, and was patted ■on the back by his Excellency, and sent a message by the Queen’s interpreter.. This tickled his vanity, and henceforth he has sworn to maintain the power of the few against the rights and privileges of his fellow-settlers; smd of course, had there been no war, we shoujd.lnot have had P. G-. Wilson second lieutenant of the .Wanganui Volunteer Cavalry; hence he is ready to knock down, the first man t hat will venture to say a word against it, or pven-inquire into the cause of it. I conie now to (I hope) the last; though not the least, of your correspondents; but as you, in your last issue, pointed out to him the mess lie got into about the meeting, I shall not take up your valuable paper by going into detail with his production. Of Course you are aware I am alluding to our self righteous Taranaki man, John Morgan, who seems very much annoyed at not having been called on to open the meeting instead of Mr. McComish, who lias,awfully disgusted him by his honest admission; that Mr. Fox had satisfied the meeting, as 1 well as convinced himself, that there was no real cause of alarm, and that Mr. Fox showed himself still the right man in the right place. Honest J>ohn seems very anxious to getrjup! a, requisition for TMr; Vox to resign; but I would just a?k your readers what sort of a representative would we have were we to be content with one pf John’s choice. One thing is certain, that we would not get a man who would dare to have, or express an opinion on any matter whatever contrary to the views of his Excellency 5 consequently, there would be very little use for the press, and John would have it changed into a press-gang to catch all those who have not like himself volunteered to serve tlie Queen, although some are of opinion he thinks more about saving himself and keeping his powder dry. “ God save poor John,”

Now. Mr. Editor, I have no doubt but many of your readers will wonder who has written all this, and whether I am a missionary or not; but suffice that I am “ ready, aye ready,” with-r^v

** Whate’or apoiotance I liave power to bring, To oblige my country ; serv6 my Queetn; Whene’er,.she calls I’ll readily afford, My purso, my pen, my counsel, or my y.. sword.” ‘ And for %,present, 1 remain, yours, '\ ' ' Pingo, a Volunteer. • May-31st, 18G0.

. June 4th, 1860. ■ thucli Jias’t»eeri Avritten ■ Mr. Fox’s letter, that I am afraid to venture on the subject. 1 As, however, what I have to say has not yet been said, and as I shall compress it in the smallest possible space, perhaps you may allow my opinion to be published m your columns. And it is that I, for one, shottld not have been'surprised if Mr. Fox, j instead of reserving' his- opinion, had boldly declared his conviction to be, that the present war was unnecessary, and in some senses unjust. Mr. Fox is one of those, who, knowing the character of the natives and the circum- . stances of the colonists, have set their face all along against the abolition by the present Go- . verrior of Sir G. Grey’s restrictions on the ] sale of firearms. No further back than the 30th August last, at the opening of our Pro- ( vinclal Council, Dr* Feathevston sanl—(l <juot6 from the “ News of the World” of 13 th No- ( yember last; which seems to rate the statement ' mitted by all, that so far as this province is , ' concerned, Sir Geo. Grey’s scheme of disarm- ; - i'rig the natives was successful to a degree ’ ' which ho himself could not reasonably have ‘ anticipated ; for, three or four years ago, the ■ native's were to all intents and purposes dis- > armed ; so that another native war was ren- ‘ dered well nigh impossible. Unfortunately, l for reasons which it is difficult to conceive, his 5 Excellency the present Governor suspended f Sir Creo.'Grey’s regulations. The result has 3 been, that the fruits of Sir Geo. Grey s wise f and beneficent policy have been entirely thrown 1 away; for the natives are at this moment 1 better armed and more amply supplied with 1 the munitions of war than at any previous period of the history of the colony. And while r I repeat that the recent alarms are groundless’ 1 —(alluding to meetings of natives in the Wai ■ rarapa)—•“ still it is impossible not to perceive, * that with the natives thus armed and in a state ‘ of uneasy agitation, the merest accident might ‘ endanger the peace of the whole colony.” Mr. Fox, as one of the Executive, must have fully •concurred in this statement; and when he found that all the warnings, public and pri--3 vate (for I have reason to believe that our ? Superintendent did speak to him on the subject ' privately, and received a not very courteous 13 rebuff), given to the Governor were ineffectual, 1 and that the consequence of his ill-advised course has been what we now see, it Would 1 not have been wonderful if Mr. Fox, now that 3 public attention is' awakened to the subject, 3 had protested against the policy of which this 1 disturbance is the issue ; and I have no doubt, 3 that while he was unwilling to do anything to 5 embarrass the Governor in present circumf stances, his knowledge of these facts had great f influence in causing, him to. hesitate before he * him from'recording his opinion of this policy 'at a more; fitting opportunity. And can any 1 one blame liim for not putting himself into a 1 position which would have precluded him ? from branding with his disapprobation the ? infatuated conduct of the Governor on this 1 point ? I, for one, am glad that we have a P representative who. considers the consequences e even of his less important acts, and who is not 3 afraid, with true English boldness, honestly to I avow his sentiments to those whom he repres sents, even though at the moment they should not be popular. Let us honour such men, aud a give them our confidence and support.

A JFanganui Elector

[We have thought it proper to give admittance to the communications received regarding Mr. Fox’s letter, because we considered the subject of considerable importance, especially to the district which lie represents, and we have felt especially bound to insert the above, as being the only letters, except Mr. Taylor’s, that have appeared on that side. But now that further discussion does not seem likely to shed more light on the subject, we shall not insert any. communication regarding it, unless it contain some, new idea or argument bearing on the question. Any little personalities that appear in these letters will, we have no doubt, be taken in as good humour as they are intended.-: — Ed.]

June 4th, 1860

' Sir, —Will you allow me, as the Treasurer of the English Church, to correct the absurd, yet mischievous blunders of “ a Churchman,” and “No’Churchman ” in your last two nura-. bers. " r J'lieibrmer entirely mistakes .the duty of the committee appointed some time since ; and the latter again misunderstands him, and represents him as stating what he did not state, or even imply,—namely, “ that the minister of the Church of England was not paid his salary.” Under the present provisional arrangement, by which a clergyman whose time is partly oocupied in other ways acts as minister at the church, the congregation has only to make up the difference between what lie receives for such partial occupation and the amount to which he is entitled under the diocesan scale of stipends. This difference has been regularly paid, without difficulty, out of the church funds.' The committee had merely to get the names to a guarantee list to cover any possible deficiency that might arise by reason of certain proposed alterations, which, would necessitate a larger contribution from the-congregation ; and T believe that a suffix cient amount has been guaranteed. ! There is every reason to believe that a weekly offertory, instead of the present monthly one, will yield ample, fupds to. cover the increased expenditure,, without recourse being had to the guarantee which has merely been given, because required by the Bishop and. Synod, as a security and conditipn of making thq alterations referred to., !

To turn to another; subject. ill of ;arg»s, j\yliits3ij;• : he yeariago.;, If.,suc Jl «L n ; offer :th^eper^i- > i|p.vern^%i t public by, its one, should like to it* aud wliy ? Plenty of us would to avail ourselves of it,, s \yben French war would have ..enabled.it»Hj. S teer, without endangering'the spt\*pi»4yjb|! exciting Maori suspicion. I can ’ that such an ofter ever was made^J^T, mischievous as the Stafford policy. of -ajKOgrtlie Maories has been, it seems Government 'should have been so conscious of it, as to take steps to arm us too. .There I .can hardly be two opinions as to the utter unfitness for office of' men who could deliberately..arm the two races against each other. ,;X am sorry to see that Mr. W. commits himself;-,to such statements as that a war,, which could and ought, to have been wiiicn-YriH'iro-iiiuot- i'uinous to the-'COloiiy for many years, is “ necessary to its welfare and still more so, that, in liis letter of May sth, he should have given the il/aories grounds for their worst fears, by proposing to take their land without'their consent. He seems utterly ignorant of the fundamental law of commerce, that “ the fair price >of a commodity' is the utmost it will fetch ih open market,^ - Or . lie never could have used the term in "connexion with the land, which its owners are not allowed to sell to the highest bidder. It is, perhaps, only natural, that Mr. W., and the other settlers who have migrated frPm New Plyraotiilr|iither, shbuld. be strongly biassed against j but I think they plight to be more guarcle’d in their language respecting our nativb£ f |sfio are a widely different class fi’oin the and Taranaki), and at all events not fb ! abuse £n old settler, like Mr. Fox, for talking ;:feaspnably, and tryiiig to keep tliis part of tfig polony free from the war. If Mr. W./find &H’ those who seem so anxious to embroil this” (Tis#ict, really wish for a row, let them go to-Pliraiidki and take their fill of fighting. the only dangerous element here ; find', if their _ backs were turned, tire old settlers'ivdfild have no fear of being able to hold their own with- ’ a blow, or even an angry word, to a Maori. 1 Your obedient servant, ; H. C. Field.

Pilot Station, Waingariui, May 28, i860.'

Sin,—As you, in yoiir last week’s paper, mentioned that I was to blame for riot reporting the steamer touching the bar going out the last time from here. I- enclose you a correspondence that has taken place relative to the matter, which I hope you will ‘print for the public satisfaction, and- trust thelexulanatioii. :wm* De satisractfiry:’ " I remain, yours, <s*c., William Aberne'Jhy, Pilot.:

To the Committee in, charge of the, Pilot ..Station :.

Gentlemen,—Relative to the stearper touching the ground going over the bar* op. her ..last voyage here, and in explanationfil can only say, that I and my men were pn-tlie heads attending the flag-sjaff while the -vessel. was going out, and on seeing her alter her position in the channel I thought she must, be on the ground, and as she did. not alter her -bearings for ten or fifteen minutes I was convinced she had caught the ground by tbe ; stprn ; but as she seemed to get outfall right;,-and pro.ceeded on her voyage, I concluded tbafc,npthing serious had taken place ; and wjth regard- to the sheep being thrown overboasdy if seems strange we did not see them; and Pam surprised the captain did not make:a signal of distress, or communicate iii-lhe usual \vay with the Pilot station by Marryatt’s code ofsignals-; and had he done so, I and. my* :\inenf'. would have proceeded on board at once, hhd rendered all the assistance in pur power ;sand'4ad lie done so, probably the: greater partof the sheep might have been saved--: 1 may afeo add; that the bar has very much changedralafcly, and that the water is not so deep in dhe/ehannel just now as it generally .is; and it ibeing neap tides when . the steamer went outbid her being heavily laden, is the only account I can give for the accident.; . vq . I remain, jour obdt. servant, William Abernetiiy, Pilot-