OPEN COLUMN.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 301, 27 November 1886, Page 2

OPEN COLUMN.

0 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. A CORRECTION. [to the editor of the lyell times] Sir,—Permit me to trespass upon yonr valuable space in order to vindicate a most unjust assertion that appeared in the columns of your contemporary the Nelson Evening Mail on 4th instant, and furnished by some aspiring correspondent, wherein he states for the edification of those who have not had the opportunity of judging for themselves, that although the Owen reefs district is merely in its infancy, and there are only 14 miners at work in the locality, yet there are already two " grog shanties " erected at the junction of the entrances to the reefs, and three more are in course of erection at the reefs to catch the few paltry shillings earned by the sweat of the poor miner's brow. I*ow Sir it is quite evident from this statement that this enterprising and conscientious correspondent can never have seen either of them, for at one of the places mentioned it has baen impossible on several occasions to my own knowledge to obtain liquors of any description, and if he appeals to the morality of the public in supporting them his ideas on that subject must be somewhat hazy, for he should recollect' that truthfulness is one of the essentials of morality, and he should in my humble opinion be more guarded in the observations he tenders to the columns of a newspaper to damage the characters of two unoffending individuals whose only object has been up to the present to render every comfort and convenience to the travelling public.—l am &c, Traveller. Upper Bulier. 20: h November, 1886.