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Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 277, 12 June 1886, Page 2

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We are at all times ready to give expression to every shade oj opinion, and the discussion of all matters of public interest, but in no case do we hold ourselves responsible for the sentiments of our correspondents. " KORARI " AND MR. BURNETT. [to the editor of the lyell times.] Sir, —As a subscriber to, and reader of your paper, and one who has its interest at heart, it is with some regret I note the remarks made by your Nelson correspondent in your last week's issue, concerning Mr Matthew Burnett, temperance lecturer. The writer, " Korari," commences by questioning what special claim this individual has to travel about and draw large audiences. Common sense, if nothing else, should tell him that the effort in the cause of humanity, to raise our fellow creatures from a life of infamy and degradation lower than the brutes, to one of respectability and comtort, commands in itself a special right to address public meetings which are not obstructive or demonstrative in any civilised community. If this is not obvious to him, he has our sympathy. He then proceeds to compare the elocutionary abilities of Mr Burnett with Mr Booth, another well-known temperance lecturer. Now, comparisons are odious at most times, and " Korari's" has proved no exception to the general rule; for if he has considerately succeeded in showing Mr Booth's oratorical powers to advantage, he has been equally inconsiderate of the feelings of Mr Burnett's admirers and friends. Now, could your correspondent himself reflect, and compare the benefits society is likely to derive from the ungramatical lecturer, together with the cynical injudicious use of his (" Korari's") pen, he might perhaps overlook the rough voice caused by much out of door lecturing, and the ungraceful action the result of extreme rheumatic afflictions. If so, I much regret the torture your contributor suffered on that inauspicious occasion of his visit to the temperance meeting. But it would strike one that the torture was mental, and perhaps not physical, or one so sensitively constituted would regard with more care the feelings of others. My prescription then for such complaint is a blue pill and Epsom salts, or even sterner treatment if necessary, trusting the effect of such will produce something sweeter and more genial to the public taste in connection with your next Nelson Notes. Criticising local J.P.'s, reporting on copper mines, or slating city councils may be amusing, if not instructive, but a slight variety after all the dirty Nelson linen that has been washed in your columns would be agreeable after the said nig-nagging for months past. As for " Korari's" threats to scarify those who disagree with his remarks, in this instance it is courted, as his acrid temperament is apparent to most of your readers. But for the Yorkshire temperance man we cry, like Mr Gladstone on Home Rule, fiat justitia ruat coelum. Raspberry Vinegar. Lyell, June 7th, 1880. " KORARI" ON THE GOSPEL OF INTEMPERANCE. [to the editor of the lyell times.]

Sir,—There is high authority for saying that " a soft answer turneth away wrath," and I take shelter under the wing of that apothegm. Your Nelson correspondent* wiHX certainly has the gift of writing well, d<w not, in my humble judgment, as a poor outsider, always and every time do his talents justice. He is capable of much better things than indulging in what, I hope you will allow me to term the vulgar abuse which, in your issue of the sth instant, he upon the head of a man by whom I am pretty well certain he never was, and never will be wronged, and a man who has been accepted as a great authority in quarters even more influential and authoritative than the little capital of our Provincial district. Does your correspondent not perceive that, even granting Mr Burnett is not an educated man, he has proved himseli a power for good in every land where he has planted his foot and his flag. Mr Burnett is by no means the first person in the world to " turn it upside down," although he has not had the inestimable advantage of a libera!

education. Did 44 Korari " never hear of rlie twelve Apostles ? How many of them, I would ask, were educated men ? Speaking from memory, and under correction, I unhesitatingly assert that three out of every four were illiterate men. And yet even 44 Korari" will allow that they did good work in their day, work of which the fruits are visible even now, and will continue to be visible as long as the world stands. Did he never hear of Dwight L. Moody (of Chicago)? He, too, is a poorly educated man, and )et it is matter of history that on his first visit to England with Mr Sankey, the late excellent Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Archibald Campbell Tait) one of the ripest classical scholars of the present century, took him by the hand and invited him to be his guest at Lambeth Palace, thus giving him and his work the stamp of approval of the Primate of all England and Metropolitan. And. many similar instances will occur to your numerous readers, many of whom I know personally to be men of great national ability, polished in the school of life, and quite able and most anxious to judge the tree by its fruits, and the man by his works. Cheap sneers and. petulant criticism are no answer to the good deeds of such reformers as Matthew Burnett (the new Father Matthew), and the leaders of the most remarkable movement of our time, the Salvation Army. Do {yourself justice, 44 Korari." Adopt the course of the scoffers, of whom the poet tells us: 44 Those that came to scoff, Beraained to pray."

I am not a paid teetotal lecturer. I wish I were. But Ido not begrudge the the workman his hire. On the contrary, I willingly contribute to the limit of my means towards the expense of bringing able men amongst us; and, let " Korari" say what he will, and in the most snappish way possible, Mr Matthew Burnett has proved himselt a mighty instrument for good in other lands and here. My own position is that of a man who earns his daily bread by his daily labour, and eats it with a keen relish and a thankful heart—thankful and grateful in that the Great Father has seen meet, after many buftetings, to take away the accursed craving for stimulants wliich held him in thraldom, and to give him a not unhonoured place amongst the respectable citizens of New Zealand. Dear " Korari," it will not take a great deal of waipero to kill a man, but it will take an enormous quantity of temperance to do so.

A Blue-Ribboner Of five years standing, and for life. Buller Road, 9th June, 1886.