THE SYDNEY SYMPATHIZERS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 54, 18 March 1843, Page 215

THE SYDNEY SYMPATHIZERS.

To the Editor of the Nelson Examiner. Sir — There-appears but little reason to doubt that the author of the letter copied into your columns last week from the Colonial Observer is the same individual whose name, some eight or ten months since, was so honourably mentioned in the United Service Gazette. Can you or any of your readers guess the wherefore of this voluntary exhibition of sympathy ? Is there any game in view ? or is he merely actuated by the desire to place bis veracity on a pat with his honesty ? If he were really desirous "to hold up to the severe reprobation of every Honest man the many shameful schemes which are almost daily contrived" by Honourables by courtesy, why not have begun with that pretty little affair of his own, which procured for him and his accomplices such a delightful notoriety, and not only furnished him with the means but also a sufficient reason to " try bis fortune in some other hemisphere ?" The absence of verisimilitude in his laboured attempt proves that fiction is not bis forte. I would advise him in his next essay to try his hand at a little autobiography. His intimate acquaintance with the subject would render the task comparatively easy ; and a correct sketch of his immaculate life would be not only amusing to the public, but would also be an invaluable pocket com-

panion for those green slips who happen to have more money than brains. This advice is given not altogether without hope that it may be acted on, as a propitiation for the past ; for he appears to have some misgivings about the respectability (or it may be the safety) of his hitherto tortuous course, if we may judge by his recommendation of " straight measures," and his sudden recollection of the old proverb, " Honesty is the best policy." If he should hereafter determine to enlighten the simple-minded as above suggested, I trust that, in consideration from whence the hint emanated, sufficient notice will be given to enable his Nelson friends to secure copies by becoming early subscribers. Before I drop this subject, knowing his aversion to the study necessary to acquire the vulgar art of arranging with facility his thoughts on paper, I would, with proper deference, venture to hint at the propriety of looking out for a person that can do the thing decently, and not again trust to his friend the attorney's clerk, who, although a clever fellow in a certain way, is evidently unequal to the task; — his ingenuity as a copyist, although probably rewarded by a cheap passage from " some other hemisphere," by no means proves him to have a correct knowledge of his mother tongue. Apprehensive that some of your readers may doubt the assertions contained in the letter of our sympathizing friend, who, deserted by hope, was " compelled to fly from the many heartrending scenes of misery and distress continually presented to his sight," I beg to draw their attention to the reports of a case which appeared in the London papers of September last. In the Insolvent Debtors' Court, a young nobleman (late an ensign), on filing his schedule, stated in his affidavit that many of his debts arose from his having become party to various bills of exchange for a senior officer, for which he never received any consideration, and on three of which he was then in custody I This, coupled with the expose in the United Service Gazette, would lead one to the conclusion that inexperienced boy-soldiers were the peculiar prey of this mendacious scribbler, who impudently vouches for the existence of distress as imaginary as his own honesty, or the ability or inclination to make restitution to his numerous victims. I am, sir, Your obedient servant, A Lover of Truth. Nelson, March 13.

TVyfHE Editor of the Nelson Examiner. /•S^ir — Mixed up with the string of falsehoods which you last week copied from a Sydney paperMs the following sentence, which, if suffered to pass without notice, may mislead even those who would otherwise attach no credit to aught proceeding from so questionable a source: — " A petition to his Excellency Sir George Gipps is now in Sydney, from the starving thousands of this ill-fated place [Nelson], praying that the Governor will be pleased to send some vessel to bring them to Sydney, and save them from the starva. tion which now assumes so threatening an aspect.*' The first division of this sentence asserts, I believe, a fact; and it being the only one contained in nearly a column and half of small type, it is the more necessary that it should be separated from what is false. The petition therein alluded to was sent from a body of the New Zealand Company's labourers. Of the statements it contained I am ignorant: but the petitioners were then, and to the present time have been receiving 14s. a week, with rations consisting of ten pounds of flour, ten pounds of meat, besides tea and sugar.* This petition was got up during a strike for higher wages, which lasted but two days, and had nothing to do with starvation or distress, which, thank God, are yet unknown here. Your obedient servant, March 14. A Working Man.

To the Editor of the Nelson Examiner. Sir — Your remarks on the letter in your last paper, copied from the Colonial Observer, were both just and proper, but it appears to me that on one or two points something more than a general denial should be given, for the purpose of showing the public of Sydney and elsewhere how totally unfounded were the statements it contained. At the commencement of his letter the writer states that, " having witnessed the terrible scenes of misery at present raging in tbat ill-fated colony," he feels called upon, however reluctantly, to state what had come under his notice ; and in the second paragraph he implies that this misery exists among the land proprietors, and gives as a reason for its existence that the land was not ready for them to cultivate on their arrival. I should much like to know the name of even one who has suffered distress of any kind, and to learn who the persons are that came out with the intention and the means of cultivating, and have been deterred from so doing. People at a distance may imagine tbat a fearfully long time elapsed between the arrival of the settlers and the giving out of any land. But what is the fact ? The first immigrant ship arrived in February last year — the town acres were distributed in April — one-half of the suburban sections of fifty acres each in August, and the remainder on the 2d of January. Any time lost by an agriculturist in waiting for his land is, of course, a serious matter; and those who intended to farm (with two or three exceptions only) avoided this inconvenience by not coming out until the surveys were far advanced and a considerable quantity of land selected. Who, then, are the persons that have encountered "awful difficulties "and been "without shelter for their wives and families — without a friend to assist them, with barely the means of providing food necessary to sustain nature— and without any definite prospect of bettering their

condition ?" I confidently assert that no such case has occurred in Nelson. As the writer of the letter may deny that his remarks were intended to apply solely to landowners, it may not be amiss to state the condition of the labourers and mechanics in this settlement. Ihe New Zealand Company employ all immigrants they send out who cannot get work from private individuals. The wages paid by the Company are 14s. a week and ten pound rations to men with more than two children, 14s. and seven pound rations to others, and 78. and seven pound rations to lads under twenty years of age.* That this may be le6s than many were led to expect, or tbat some mechanics have not bettered their condition by corning here, I will not deny ; but to say that any one can suffer distress and be on the verge of starvation while receiving such wages and such rations for eight hours' work per day, in a place where land may be had for the first two years for nothing, and at from five to seven shillings per acre per annum for the remainder of the lease, is a statement that no one having the slightest regard for truth would dare to make. What is said about the quality of the land is as wide of the truth as the contents of the letter generally. To expect that in so limited a time a large quantity of grain could be grown would be folly ; yet we well know the plough has not been idle; and every stranger who visits Nelson pays a willing tribute to the energies of its settlers. I am, sir, Yours, &c. A Colonist. * The statement in the second letter is the correct one. —