THE EVENING POST AGONY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5142, 15 September 1877, Page 3

THE EVENING POST AGONY.

■ TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALANC TIMES. Slit, —What can the management of tne Post be about to permit the publication ot such revolting reports as those which have lately appeared in it ? I think the description o£ the body of the poor child destroyed by the recent fire was one of the most brutal accounts ever published in any newspaper more especially when it is understood that it was not an inquest paragraph, but the end (indeed the grand finale ) of an exciting narrative of the misfortunes of one of our well-known citizens. Again this evening the high-pressure account manufactured out of the telegram of the Avalanche disaster fairly makes one s blood boil with feelings difficult to describe. Surely it is painful enough to the persons interested to have the telegram before them, unaccompanied by the names of the passengers; but the Post not only refers by name to relatives of people here who might have been on board, but indulges still further the craving for horrid excitement which it is apparently endeavoring to instil into the minds of its readers, by workin" up a separate and altogether unnecessary paragraph, which one would think was written for the express purpose of outraging all decency of feeling for those who are now in a state of suspense in consequence of the arrival of the telegram. After reiterating the fact that the ship has gone “to the bottom, the feelings of our friends are solaced by being tofd that “ the extent of the calamity cannot be fully realised, as it is not known how many Wellington and New Zealand colonists may have been on board, the Avalanche being a favorite trader, and consequently just the vessel to le selected hy the class indicated. (The italics are my own.) As for what follows, one cannot find words in which to express the feelings of indignation experienced upon reading it. Here it is : events should teach a solemn lesson as to the uncertainty of human life. On board the Avalanche there were doubtless many_ whose hearts beat high with hope iu the anticipation of a future successful career in the colony. Others too would be indulging in pleasant ■joyous dreams of a re-union with loved ones in New Zealand. 4.las for the futility of human hopes ! Suddenly there is a collision, a hideous noise, a grinding crash, a fall of spars and riggin"—and the stout ship Avalanche, with a final heave and shiver, founders and disappears for ever.” The remainder, as following upon the other part, is too sickening to repeat. X am very unwilling to believe, sir, that these paragraphs can bt> written with the. object of lacerating the most private feelings of various respectable persona in the community ; but it appears to be absolutely necessary that some one should at once point out the sort of ignorance which the Post probably mistakes for Heaven knows what, before it has time to gain ground and establish itself as a permanent public outrage upon private feelings, with which surely a newspaper has nothing to do, except in the most delicate manner of reference possible to be conceived.—l am, &c., “Via ad Bonos Mores, &c.