MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF OKARITO.

West Coast Times, Issue 1663, 28 January 1871, Page 2

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF OKARITO.

To the Editor of the West Coast Times

and Observe?'.

Sir -In your issue of the 12th inst. a letter appeared under the above heading, signed " John H. L. Ralfe." embodying some very severe remarks upon the neglect of the residents in the Five-mile Beach in attending religious worship on the .Sabbath, v.hile also denouncing strongly their conduct in general, acciwng them of profligacy, addicted to quoit and billiard- playing, and guilty of langauage more becomi g Pagans than Christians. As a Five-mile Beach resident, I cannot allow the comments of Mr Ralfe to pass unnoticed, especially as they are wholly unfounded. The greatest poition of our community is formed of members of the Roman C itholic faith, and a better attendance of members of his congregation the Rev. Mr Goitnoir, when on his periodical visits here, cannot desire. Mr Ralfe, a lay-reader of the Church of England, is appointed to preach the Gospel in the Okarito district ; this gentlemen, however, combining politics with religion, cannot be said to be looked upon by members of the Church of England as a fit person to administer to their religious wants, though it does not appear ever to have occurred to him that his own want of religious principle and consequent inability to teach others is the true cause of the non-attendance of which he complains.

How meekly he hears his disappointment when the inside of his "little church" presents nothing more to his view than empty benches on the Sabbath, wi'l be seen when we refer to his letter where he makes use of an amount of abuse of a whole community tbat no minister of religion should be guilty of, nor will he gain the confidence of a congregation by abusing them through the c >lumns of a newspaper, such a course only tending to alienate his few adherents.

His statement * that the stores and butchers have always their doors and shutters open on Sundays, I most emphatically deny ; nor would he find it so very easy to gain admittance to the only two stores on the Fiye-m,\Je. U qfort Wtfdy as

regards the public-bouses there is some truth in his statement, and 1 share his wish of a stop being put to such trade eventually. His prejudices and sympathies receiving such a severe shock by bonic twenty-eight or thirty men and women duueim? to the playing ot bagpipes on a rcceut Sunday I deplore, while admitting such once to have taken place ; but this great offence might even be less harshly judged, when taken imo consideration that soin>? few young men and women were disporting themselves in boats on the lagoon at the back of the town, and in the exuberance of their enjoyment, so far overstepped the bounds of propriety as to land and have the dance mentioned Such incidents are not the rule but rather the exception here, and might occur in any other port.

A better conducted community than ours it would be very hard to find anywhere, crime is almost wholly unknown, and arrests of drunkards arc very rare indeed. Yet I would not undertake to assert that Mr ttalfe's religious endeavors are the cause of such good conduct, and until he becomes convinced that there does not exist a chance of an improvement in his own ability to teach the true principles of religion, I trust he will never again abuse the residents on the Five-mile Beach.

M 3' own desire to place ourselves right in the estimation of your readers, instead of being held up to contempt, must plead my excuse in requesting insertion of my somewhat long letter.

I am, &c, STOREKEEPER. Five-mile Beach, Jan. 27.