REGINA AND THE GUARDIAN VERSUS WHETTER.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 14, 16 February 1870, Page 5

REGINA AND THE GUARDIAN VERSUS WHETTER.

To the Editor of the. Cromwell Arcjus. Sir, —When the Aug US aurl Guardian started into being some months ago in Cromwell, those who were most jealous for the peace of the district were apprehensive of a fierce rivalry, if not a deadly war, between the two new-born interests. The peculiar circumstances attending tho birth of the twin-brothers seemed to foreshadow some, such result. News must be collected from a very sparso, scattered population. The task of supplying reading matter for sixteen pages per week apparently half suggested, if it did not justify a standing battle to fill up the empty spaces. But when the danger seemed most imminent, the threatened storm passed away, and instead of the old spectacle of the Kilkenny cats, the two papers now fairly keep the peace towards each other. Yet there have net been wanting occasions when the Guardian has half hinted a desire to do battle in another direction. These latent tendencies, though timidly put forth, were sufficient to show that the hidden fires were collecting, and the munitions of war ready ; and as soon as the case licgina v. Whetfcer came to a crisis, the Guardian opened its vials upon the head of the Mayor. His office and all mercy from the Guardian came to an end together. He may expect a weekly Guardianship for the future ; but it must be such as the wolf shows the lamb outside the fold, or the savage shows his viqtim of war whom he scalps, and whose skull he polishes for a drinking cup, or from which he pours out a libation to his gods. A victory no doubt has been gained, and the Guardian wishes to make the most of it for his friends. But he ought to know, and does know, thatmeanmindedness always minimizes the value of such things. Haman's gibbet would not have been seen if the mean coward had not made it so high. He over-acted his part: his success was his misfortune. To low minds victories are always worse than defeats. The law by wliich this result is reached is unerring in its aim, and all but universal in its operation. And there is no reason to think that the achievement over which the Guardian makes merry with his friends will be an exception. Could prophecy anticipate history, this would he seen. If some old seer could write a sub-leader for the Guardian next week, showing the outcome of the whole thing, something like the following might be expected : On the , at a large meeting in Cromwell, it was moved and seconded—--Ist. That the Municipality of Cromwell has ceased to fulfil the conditions of a useful institution. —Carried. 2. That it be voted by this meeting a public nuisance.—Carriod by acclamation. 3. That a tombstone be raised over the defunct remains of the Guardian, duly marking the public appreciation of the services it rendered to the good cause. 4. That the monument bear the following inscription :—i SACRED TO THE MEMORY of the late GUARDIAN; Begotten by mistake, \lih Novemljer 1869. Bom a Jacob. Live/1 an Isfimqcl. Fed upon the sore plates of Society. Died of Inanition. Buried too deep for a Resurrection, Afiscrrimi I When history shall have recorded what prophocy can only anticipate, somethiug like the above may be expected the " locals" of a Cromwell paper. In the meantime, as wo cannot read history from the upptf en- 1 . V) "

kvo will take the link nearest to hand. Tho Guardian tolls hia readers, after heaping hi» wrath upon the ox-Mayor, that he is afraid to proceed inl'ther. Why, gentle reader ? Has he discovered hia mistake 1 Is his purpose of extermination open to tha weakness of any mural considerations ? Have tile lost prejudices that some men are apt to feel where a good husband and father, an industrious tradesman, a peaceable citizen, and an honest, sober man is concerned, brought him to a pause ? No—nothing of the kind. Ho hints at a law of libel. This only restrains the gall and bitterness of his pen. Brave man that he is ! How magnanimous ! Ho would roast his victim alive, but he will not singe his own bacon. He has driven him on the broken ice, and will push him as far from shore as he can ; but ho must have his own feet upon terra, Jirma. The medal of the Humane Society only can reward such noble conduct. But again, the Guardian wishes to show that in his zeal for the good of the Corporation, and desire to see the Whetter game played out, he is not at all peculiar. The world think on this subject as he does. He can bring evidences of this from Invercargill-citm-Tuapeka. If he were standing alone in this battle for right, he might perhaps hesitate. But he has only to look in that direction and he finds a bottle-holder to back him up. Unfortunately, however, it is but a dead body -of his own planting,—a pet child he made a present of to himself and then galvanised it into life ; and at the point where it was expected to lend its first support, it was found, as in the case of the Italian doctor, to have the wrong head on. And here it betrayed its paternity, feature for feature, a very facsimile of its parentage ; but as soon as touched by the loader of last week’s Abooh, it collapsed: tbo fancy man “caved in,” and all that is left after the experiment is the bespattering of his own bile.

There is another subject gently touched by the Guardian, and upon which I may venture a few remarks in conclusion. Before any steps had been taken to initiate the Broadsheet in this district, the Council minuted a resolution to the effect that any person or party venturing upon such a bold stop should have a lease on easy terms of a suitable building site on the Town Reserve. This was clone, not in favour of the Argus any more than the Guardian, but as a lure to the first who should fullil the above condition. The Argus was first: the lease was granted. The Guardian came in second, out of breath, and complained of this as one-sided, and tried his best to have this minute rescinded for his special behoof, but failed. '1 o the Guardian this was the wrong of all wrongs, and must be avenged by any means, fair or foul, that may keep him on the safe side of the libel law. He steps back, and he bestows patronising glances on the Councilmeu : they may be on a level with most of their class ; but all the while he is collecting his might to run a muck at the arch-traitor that headed all the mischief. To have him hanged, drawn, and quartered would be all deliverances in one. Other successes that came short of this would count for nothing with the Guardian. With your permission, Mr Editor, I will return to this subject at another time. But lot not this, or any subsequent production, be regarded as an apology for the late Mayor of Cromwell. This would be to mistake the writer altogether. It would be a bad day for this district that would require an apology for a plain, honest man. It would be beneath the manhood of a community of British subjects to suffer the infliction of an apology for virtuous citizenship, inflexible sobriety, and average ability modestly and honestly applied for the public weal. Till such qualities need apology, Whetter may leave his cause in the hands of his countrymen. They cannot tell him that he will not suffer in law"; but they can and do tell him that he shall not suffer in the respect of all those whose esteem is worth anything. They can assure him that they are not unmoved spectators of the savage onslaughts of the Guardian, and if they cannot avert, at least they hope to mitigate, future attacks. And as for myself, no doubt the Guardian will reach my address weekly, and I promise him my best attention. My authorship is limited, and faulty at best ; but, such as it is, it shall be found in the defence of order agaiust rowdyism, integrity against all crooked policy, and an unselfish devotion to the public welfare against the scurrility of a hireling of yesterday.— l am, &c., Sckipsi.