THE 'TRIBUNE'S'CORRESPONDENT.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 2426, 7 May 1874, Page 2

THE 'TRIBUNE'S' CORRESPONDENT.

{To the Editor of the Chronicle.) Wanganui, sth May, 1874. Sib, — The Wanganui correspondent of the ' Tribune,' in his letter of the 20th April, to gratify a little private spleen, casts a most undeserved slur upon one of the hotel keepers of this place, and also, upon a number of respectable young men who are endeavouring to cultivate manly and athletic sports. He says — ''Some time ago a number of youths, encouraged perhaps with the best intentions of present amusement by older heads, got up what was called a juvenile regatta, probably intended to mean a regatta, not necessarily or possibly a young one — for juveniles, which passed off in good earnest, and no one was the worse. But soon after, and with a precocity which suggests anything but commendable immitatioii, these boys, like any other gamblers, must have a " settling," whidh, to people of the fading generation, may be explained as the distribution, of the money prizes won at the different sports. But', as falsifying all open air freshness and manly candour, the lads, who must have their * honorary Secretary, and honorary Treasurer, and what not '? must ape older courses, hold their meeting at night in a sporting hotel. Does any one suppose for a moment that all the money which, we will assume, had been fairly won, comes out of that hotel? Does not this parasite, or that old head on young shoulders, or that, hanger-on who had no claim to share in the prize money, but who

had been attracted by the advertisement, or who has an understanding with the " head of the house," hint that it is mean or unmanly to go without " shouting for all hands, or some such Devil's evil as that." Now, Sir, I have made very close enquiries into (jhis matter, and the result is that I have no hesitation in saying that the statement contained in the letter in question is a lie pure and simple, and has no foundation whatever in fact, Our own correspondent, smarting under defeat, has drawn largely upon his imagination, and under the mask of disinterested criticism, has conjured up this phantom scene. " A very old head upon young shoulders " niny be found by -.the ' Tribune's ' correspondent much nearer home, if he will but look for it. Were he, instead of wasting his time in contributing lies to a second rate paper, to spend a little more of it in the Rtudy of his profession he might perhaps avoid drawing upon himself . o often well merited jdiucial eastigaUon. — I am, &c. i Caustic.