CORRESPONDENCE.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 280, 26 June 1860, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Colonist. " ' a Sir—ln ths Colonist ofthe 12th instant, and again on the 22nd, a writer in your paper in commenting upon the meeting held at the Court House on the 7th April last, makes statements utterly at variance with truth, and which, unless,'corrected, are calculated to mislead the public. The object of this writer is evident.. He wishes to make it appear that the meeting in. the Court House oh the night' of the 7th April, waa got up by ap^rty for party^hbjectsjihut ievery one who was present at ; the.-meeting, knows this to be untrue, and that the meeting,arose-ciut of the ge r neral feelings of anxiety-created, by the alarming reports received that*evetilng by $Ke steamer from Auckland and, Taranaki/ l Having been-present on the occasion, whujh-yout correspondent confesses he was not, I will^oint but a, few of his mis-state-ments, confining myself to his last communication. He says,—•''a certain few persons feeling, I suppose, chagrined at having bound themselves as, volunteers, and vexed that others would not be dictated to, hit upon the plan of haying a pretended public meeting." Of those, who took part in the meeting, two only, I believe, had bound themselves as volunteers, and ;it is ah insult to thope persons, as well as to the oorps. generally, to impute the feelings charged against them by your correspondent. The meeting was a spontaneous congregation of a large number of respectable ifterchants, tradesmen, and others residing in the town, including all the members of the Government except the Provincial Treasurer; and no more originated as your correspondent describee, than that it was adjourned from an hotel. I am informed meetings of the inhabitants h'aive been held from the earliest days of the settlement in .thei Court House, and persons naturally directed their steps in that direction, when it appeared desirable to those to meet and discuss public affairs',in "a moment of great emergency. Your correspondent labors to prove the meeting in. question was not a public one, and goes into calculations to .show the number of peraonsthe Court House cancontain. But for what object? Nq,. one asserts that the resolution then passed for calling out the militia would pass now either at a meeting composed of the same individuals, pr of any equal or greater humber, nor would it have passed thek, but that it had the support of his Honor the^ Superintendent. In vain did the chairman caution the meeting, that they were asking for a thing which they did not understand the nature of, and which would be a heavy tax on their time if granted. The opinions ofthe first man of the province outweighed those of the chairman and others who knew what the effect of calling out the militi* would be. Your correspondent would do well, I think, before he questions the straightforward.honesty of a number, of the most respectable of his fellow-towns-men, to show that he possesses that quality himself, aud not to seek by perverting facts, to damage the reputation of one man or set of men, to save that of another. , ■ ■ If your correspondent wishes to see * pubhc meeting held regarding the militia, in order to afford the Superintendent an opportunity of explaining j aWay his conduct at the meeting ol the 7th April, when he recommended that the force should be embodied, why does he apt ", send round the bellman,'' and throw open the Odd-fellows' Hall, which is vacant tiow, ahd not crowded with Taranaki refugees as on the night in question. ~, < i Yours, &c, &c, JOHN HUIME. Nelson, 23rd June, 1&60. ~.. .

To the Editor ofthe Colonist. Sir—ln the last issue of the Examiner, there appeared a letter signed "Inquirer." The late gloomy weather and the small amount of business, done by most shopkeepers, only can account for one of such "an economical turn of mind a& 'Inquirer' seems to possess having- leisure to devote ©yen to such a feeling subject. ._ . . Believing that the first paragraph is only a pretext for what follows, I will leave 'Inquirer.to discover the amount of ignorance displayed in its 'Inquirer' knows well that ali things of importance except Drugs are contracted fos; and should any vendor of these practise imposition, it- is not considered exactly an 'unconstitutional' proceeding a to pass his shop sometimes, even though.it may he M an old-established one. ■ ■'±„ix±i;-' REPLJi. -^M British Cruelty in INDiA.--Jojuß-:of^j the Sepoys were still alive; -and 'tb6f%ere mercifulfy killed; but for some reason or other which could not be explained,-one of their number was dragged out to the'sandy plain outside th* house, he wai pulled by the legs to a convenient place, where he was held down, pricked in .the face and body by the bayonets of some of the soldiers, whilst others collected fuel for a small pyre, and when all was ready the man was roasted alive! There were Englishmen looking ou ; more than one officer saw it. No one offered to interfere. — Dr. Russell. Bligh-t in Apple Trse».-*To the Editor, —Great success having attended the application of sui phuTtfot the destruction of ;the disease in vines^would it not be worth while to experiment with the same remedy upon diseased apple trees? It appears to me likely that if a sufficient dressing of sulphur was applied to the roots fof the apple trees, so as to give a proper aupply of that mineral, to the circulatto* of the sap, the tree would be enabled to throw off the disease! The blight insect, being an aphis, sulphur would probably be a specific. The want of success attending the application of sulphur hitherto may ha?« amen from the use of an insufiicieiit quantity or from a mere local application to the diseased spots, proving only a temporaTjr palliative.; It would .also be worth inquiring whether sulphur should be applied pure, or in combination—sulphate of soda for example. Urine has been found effectual in at least checking the disease, -May, not its curative qualities reside in- the sulphur whioh it contains ? Should the use of. sulphur be found, on experiment, .to cure the blight, it would be easy to procure enough from "White's" Island to dress all the, trees in = New Zealand^APHlDlS DeSTRUQXORi— Wellington ftpectaton