PRIVATE RIGHTS. "Qui s'y frotte, se pique."

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 9, 7 May 1842, Page 36

PRIVATE RIGHTS. " Qui s'y frotte, se pique."

To thb Editor of the Nelson Examiner. " Have at ye all !" Sir — The extreme composure with which editors of newspapers are accustomed to comment on all human affairs is at once proverbial and profound. It is impossible not to admire the contemptuous facility with which you have been pleased to dismiss the proceedings of some " landowners and agents "• in this colony, at a public meeting which was lately held. They have committed (as Talleyrand would say) more than a crime — they have made . a " mistake." What foolish men they were ! One of the public, Mr. Editor, profoundly sensible of his obligations to the sagacity which enabled our didactic journalist to discover the " mistake," presumes, with all humility, to approach the feet of Gamaliel. To me, sir, profoundly affected by your instructive admonitions, and much meditating alike on the cause and. the consequences of the displeasure of editors/ it has certainly appeared impossible that the fallibility of mortal judgment can have been evinced by the conductor of a colonial newspaper. Such eminent persons are superior to the motives and the weaknesses of smaller men ; nor is it within the remotest compass of human possibility that journalists of such matured expenence and such established authority should be reduced to the necessity for seeking the approbation of others. How hard to deprive you of this, sir ! There is something quite engaging in the modesty which prevents you from securing your own. So humble and dejected a class as the proprietors of land cannot arrogate to themselves the power of scrutinizing- human motives, much less the motives of editors. Mere landlords, they step not from their sphere. Enough for them to acquiesce and to admire: enough that they are intimately persuaded of the ineffable .purity which distinguishes and adorns the press. All experience has shown that nothing base, nothing servile, no corrupt motive, no interested thought, no pandering to popular prejudice, no sordid feeling, no avarice, dishonesty, unworthineßß, spite, envy, hatred, malice, or uncharitableness, can possibly find entrance among types and presses. From this it is incontrovertibly established that the Nelson Examiner is incapable of currying favour by writing down the interests of landowners.

The same disinterested wisdom which raises the motives of the Examiner beyond suspicion is equally manifest in its advice. A philosophical indifference to the views of the vulgar, which your readers of the working class willwarmly appreciate, probably prompted the opinion that, to effect their purpose, " a meeting of landlords and agents should have been called." What a thousand pities not to have seen this before! Such a proceeding would have illustrated the views of the Examiner on the subject of hole and corner meetings. Of course those tyrannical landagents could have had no other conceivable motive than to persecute the poor people whose hard case is portrayed with so much pathos' in your columns. They had no other design than to inflict an injury on the " labourers who have expended their time and labour in building their little warries" on the lands which were never meant for the public use and advantage, but solely for the convenience of a few persecuted squatters. It is obviously out of the question that these tyrants could have had in view the larger houses of more considerable persons. The poor, ignorant, besotted* blind, "mistaken" landagents of course never beheld that insignificant little tenement which stands diffidently, as if half afraid of being seen, just on the edge of Trafalgar Square, and in which it is said a journal, called the Nelson Examiner, is regularly published, rent free. They naturally expected that, if they would but defend the freedom of the press, by advocating its exemption from the payment of rent, their advertisements would be inserted free of charge. Those designing, crafty, but much-" mistaken" men overlooked that humble shed, which, like the modest violet, was born to blush unseen, and show no shingles on its lowly roof. Who was it that threw dust in their eyes ? Surely not the conductors of the Nelson Examiner. Passing from the peaceful retreat where, far from the gaze of intruding landagents, the diffidence of editors buries itself unseen, these unobserving persons might have opened their eyes to the picturesque effects produced by the various styles of arehceoloffy which crowd the public thoroughfares. The unique appearance of the "little warries" it is quite delightful to contemplate. The very idea of removing those beautiful objects, which cross the roads in an elegant variety of direction, form, and size ! What Vandals are these landagents ! Why, if they lived in London, I am positively half tempted to believe they would gravely propose to eject any harmless labourers who might have erected " little warries " across Cheapside or Ludgate Hill ! These mistaken persons actually seem to suppose that if— quod est absurdum — a rival could be found to the matchless Examiner, he would, by paying them their exorbitant rents, be absolutely less likely to realize a profit on his capital than if, like yourself, he should meet with a convenient piece of ground whereon to erect his establishment free from the annoyance of troublesome landlords. What " mistakes " they make, these landagents ! I have two friends, sir ; carpenters by trade— journeymen j by name, Spokeshave .and Chiselem. Spokesnave has built a " little warn" on a private acre, and the exorbitant rent he is forced to pmykU landlord givet Awn an obvious advautmge » competing with Chiielem, who.

wise as a serpent, has, " like many other pretty fellows," taken to the road, and built his "little warn" in a highly ornate style; that is to say, right across the path. Many Teat advantages would be gained if this proceeding of Chiselem were generally adopted. First, the rapacious landlords would get no rents; secondly, the public taste would be improved by the contemplation of works of art in the streets and thoroughfares; thirdly, the exercise consequent on the many turns and twistings to get round the houses, " whene'er we take our walks abroad," 1 would be eminently conducive to the public health : moreover, the many ingenious devices, in order to accomplish, in the most easy manner, a stroll through the town, would quicken the intellects of men, and serve instead of a system of national education; and, to pass by a thousand minor advantages, such as the ruin of landlords and the consequent stimulus to employment, accompanied by a fall of rents, with many others too tedious to enumerate, the editor of the Nelson Examiner would haye a bust subscribed for by his grateful compatriots, and his brows entwined with a wreath composed of models of " little warries " — a device symbolical of his attachment to domestic enjoyment and public utility. I have seldom been more charmed by the contemplation of exalted virtue than by witnessing the pure patriotism evinced on the occasion of that notable " mistake " by one of the surveyors of the New Zealand Company. That gentleman deservedly obtained three cheers from a grateful mob for having, in the most public-spirited manner, in opposition to the factious attempts of a parcel of landagents, shown how very desperately he was bent on paying no rent for the house he lives in.