ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 47, 10 January 1843, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor of the Nexv Zealand Colonist.) Sir, —It has been the pleasure, of not only yourself, but also the Gazette , to empty the vials of your wrath against us poor whalers, and to attach to us every wrong that has been committed in or about Wellington. It is true that we have had a bad season, and thereby are not very rich; but that we are to read, poverty means thieves, rogues, vagabonds, &c., must be in other than Johnson’s dictionary. If we had had a good season, and plenty of money td spend, we would no doubt be very welcome customers, and the odium, &c., which is now attached to us, would not then be appropriate. I can refute that the whalers are hot the persons that ye deem to call them. The whalers are hard-working men in every sense of the word, and have generally (since their arrival here) employed themselves to some useful occupation ; which the people of Wellington have undoubtedly reaped the benefit of. They have been tjhe means of giving a constant supply of fish at reasonable prices; by their turning sawyers, they have brought down the price of timber; by their aid the surveys and the roads have been supplied with strong, active men, willing and able to work. It is said that a great quantity of whalers are now in Wellington, which is not true; a great many are up the Hutt, Kai Warra, and Karori, sawing timber, and splitting shingles, and a great number have returned to the coast.

Mr. Editor, whalers are not the men you take them for; there are many of good families and education among them; and taking them generally, th„y are a hard workings industrious set of people, whom to remain ■idle would be a task. They are not a different species i of the g’enuS man ! Rather turn to some of your idle, grumbling, drunken, worthless laborers, who have neither honor, sense, or discretion ; who appropriate their sisters, and silently allow their wives to cohabit with other men. Much, much more could I say on this subject, but I think it unnecessary; but I would suggest, that you ought to take a little more trouble to learn ficts, and not state that for truth whieh you have got as

mere hearsay or supposition, when you have so many opportunities of referring to the calendar. It was the people of Wellington that invited us here, by holding out regattas, &c.; and, another thing, we were obliged to come here to be paid in the Port, or many of us would not have done so, some of us having two or three acres of land cleared, and cropped with potatoes. No doubt it was thought that we would have plenty of money to spend; but it having turned out otherwise, how have you treated us ? Your’s respectfully, A WHALER. Wellington, Jan. 7, 1843.