Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 44, 21 February 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1881.

It ia possible that people even like Mr Arthur Sketchlcy may inflict a considerable amount of injury upon a colony such as New Zealand if they have the disposition to do so. It will be remembered that about twelve months ago this gentleman made the tour of the colony and advertised that he would amuse all those who were willing to pay their three or four shillings if they would go and listen to him recounting " Mrs Brown V experiences of domestic life, steamboat traVc'iliufo anil co on. A good many responded tr> the invitation aud kup.hed a good deal at the remarkably stout specimen of humnnity who made hia appearauce on the stage, but most of them felt thankful when the hour and a half or two hours* entertainment was over, for, long before its close, a sensation of weariness had crept over them all, the jokes had lost their freshness, the monotony oi listening to a very large man imitating the shrill tones that might ba expected from a very little woman had become tiresome to a degree-, and as "Mrs Brown's" visitors returned from the Theatre or Hall to their homes most of them thought that the shillings with which they had purchased the right to listen to that talkative old lady might easily have been laid out to greater advantage. We said that a good many responded to Mr Slcetchley's invitation, but, unfortuuately for New Zealand, not so many as that gentleman considered should have favoured him with their patronage. Consequently) fafc aud jolly and good-natured a 8 he looked^ Mr Arthur Sketchley's ample boßom was filled with embittered feelings towards a colony which had dared to form an independent opinion of his sayings aud doings, and had not accepted them at the value he himself had placed upon them. So he went to India, and straightway he penned a letter to the Bombay Gazette (this will be found on the fourth page) iv which he abused and vilified New Zealand to his heart's content. He visited a goldficlds town and g'atir Some arunken men there, and upon this slight foundation hJo took upon himself to build up a story, the effoefc of which should be to lead his readers to believe that the natural coDdilion of the colony was one of intoxication. He heard somewhere a story about a debtor burning down his house to defraud bia creditors and the Company with which he was insured, and thereupon he endeavoured to convey the impression that New Zealand waa populated chiefly by fraudulent debtors and revengeful incendi ariea. This is the spirit which pervades his letter from beginuitlg to end, aud there can be no doubt whatever that residents in India who might be thinking of removing to New Zealand with a view to making it their home would, upon reading such an apparently bon, fide production written by a seemingly disinterested iudividual, hesitate before taking the contemplated step, and perhaps decide against going to a colony of which so melancholy and repulsive a picture had been set before them. We iv New Zealand, however, know better, and all who saw Mr Arthur Skelchley when he was here,- and who read , his letter, will feel perfectly convinced that the whole tone of it m%bt. nay, would, have been altered by one trifling circumstance. Had two or three times the number of shillings flowed into his pocket through the sale of tickets for his entertainments we should have heard nothing of "drunken wretchefl lying about like swine/ of the " pandemonium exhibited by a goldfleld in full operation," of the " nest of scoundrels," " dens of vice,'* " chronic insolvency)" and so on. No, a rattle and a shake would have been given to the kaleidoscope, and nothing but what was pleasant aud respectable and gratifying to the eye would have been depicted of New Zealarjd if only its inhabitants bad admired and patronised " Mrs Brown "instead of voting her a garrulous old fool, to listen to whom for half an hour was a weariness to the flesh, ggggrj:; g. 1 . 1 !?; '.m T ;;■/ ■ ;m? - l "-!i!L?".?j*?^;i;.^i i "jyw'.tgreiS!B»