ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 1011, 28 August 1868, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

WX DO NOT IDENTIFY OITBSBI.VBS IN ANT WAY WITH THIS OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY OTTA CORRESPONDENTS. (TO THB EDITOB OF THE SOUTHLAND TIMES). Sir, — The pleasure of privacy and non-interference is prized by many if not purchased at too great a price. I hare no desire to make " much ado about nothing," but I cannot refrain from calling attention to a local in the Southland News of the 25th inst. written with the evident intention of deceiving the public. The " News " says :— " A Bluff correspondent sends us the following laconic note respecting the rumored discovery of 'ile' — Campbelltown, 24th August 1868, Petroleum, all bosh — Yours, &c.&. P. Such language is not choice in respect to style, and if it is meant for wit, it is coarse, and does not disguise the gall and spleen that actuated the writer in his artful attempt at malice. _ As I am the only resident at Campbelltown, whese initials are GK P., I consider it as tantamount to making use of my name. The public might, therefore, infer that I was the vulgar and selfsufficient correspondent of the " Southland News," who takes upon himself the authority, without any grounds for doing so, to condemn as ' bosh,' a supposed discovery, the particulars relating to which were contained in a letter to the " Southland Times," dated 22 ad August, and signed " Tickler." Many intelligent men have seen these possible indications of petroleum, and some think coal. So far from taking upon myself to condemn, I fully endorse all that is stated in the letter signed " Tickler," for the very good reason that I wrote it myself. From what I could see and hear I thought there would be no harm in making the public acquainted with the particulars, and was particularly cautious in stating that " the particulars in regard to the oil are not of a suppositions nature, although as to the results one can only speak problematically." No one can give further particulars of a reliable nature until the proprietor of the land, on which the indications of oil appears, has carried out i his intentions of sinking a shaft, or having experimental boring commenced. That the simple announcement of a probable discovery of oil, and a few easily proved remarks relating thereto, should call for such unwarrantable condemnation on the part of a Campbelltown correspondent, must cause no little surprise. Surprise that any one should presume to usurp the sole right of authority on such matters. It would have been more becoming if this great authority bad, in Ms own name, stated, for the information of the community at large, some well founded reason for the hasty conclusion he had arrived at, and not pass an opinion, or make an assertion, in another man's name, without possessing any knowledge of the discovery, or its probable results. I expect the concluding remarks in my letter of the 22nd, with regard to the inhabitants " not allowing themselves to rest satisfied with the superficial judgments — labyrinths of error — pronounced by local authorities " has taken effect in the right quarter, and the miserable- 7 sinner, vindictive as a wasp just injured, has found consolation by writing to the ' News,' stigmatising the discovery as bosh, and signing his meaningless scrawl with my initials, evidently with the hope that it might appear as having come from me. Any* one has a right to criticise what appears in a public journal. They may, if they choose, be impatient in their judgments, and if they are so gifted, embellish their remarks by making use of characteristic and choice terms. But no man has a right to make use publicly of another man's name without his consent, especially in an offensive way. With all due respect for the other qualities of the Campbelltown correspondent of the " Southland News," I must say that I cannot appreciate too lowly a disposition that could be base enough to attempt such a cowardly and underhand meanness. Trusting you will favor me by inserting this letter in your widely circulated paper. — I am, Sir, your obedient servant, GrEORGE PERRY. Campbelltown, 26th August, 1868.