TO COBRESPONDENTS

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 7, 16 February 1867, Page 2

TO COBRESPONDENTS

A. B. C.—The Mercury has already attmMd a circulation greater than that possessed by either the “ Wanganui Chronicle” or the “ Wanganui Times.” E. B.—ln your opinion we aim too high, and you think we should confine ourselves to local subjects. This is the fault we find with the New Zealand, press. There is scarcely a -journal which does not either too exclusively confine itself to local subjects, or treat general subjects from a local standing point. A united public opinion cannot exist under'such circumstances, and according to Mill a united public opinion is necessary to the successful working of representative government. Our readers are not confined to the locality in which our journal is published, and were it not for the accursed newspaper tax, a journal expressing the views of the Mercury would find supporters in every part of the colony. S. T.—lt is not our business to issue a prospectus of a Brewery Company; we would, however, support the establishment of such a company, because it would stimulate local industry and enterprise, and supply a more wholesome beverage for the public, than the poisonous compounds that are now obtainable. A Friend op the Ballot.—We have, individually, no faith in the ballot. It does not ensure what it proposes to secure, secret voting. It is intended to shelter the coward,, and it specially promotes lying. To answer the object intended, the voter must not only lie at the hustings, but the whole interval which elapses between one election and another. But, as Sydney Smith observes, •' mere gentle, quiet lying will not do; the quiet passive Her will be suspected, and he will find, if he does not wave his hat and strain his throat in furtherance of his bad faith, and lie loudly, that he has put in a false ball in the dark to very little purpose.”

Collier. —Nearly, if not quite £200,000 per annum are sent to Newcastle, N.S.W., for coal, which would, if the coal fields of New Zealand were developed, be expended on labor within the colony. The only reason assigned for the non-working of these coal-fields is the high price of labor. The high price of labor arises in part from heavy taxes, and in part to heavy taxes. Heavy taxes preventan adequate supply of labor coming into the colony. Heavy taxes cause high prices of provisions as well as labor. J. Brown.—The name you have assumed for years, and by which you are generally known, has now become by custom, your legal name. . Jenny. —lf you wish your hens to lay during the winter season give them fresh meat chopped up fine ; about half an ounce a day will answer. While insects are so plentiful the meat is unnecessary.

O. P. Q.—ln Victoria there is what is called a protective tariff ; in New South Wales ad valorem duties savoring of protection. The honest merchant has insuperable objections to ad valorem duties ; but in our opinion, and the working of the New South Wales tariff proves it, their advantages greatly outweigh their disadvantages.

Anti-Fenian. —You say that there can no danger arise from the Fenian movement inasmuch as there is not a single newspaper or a single public man of any standing who belongs to it. The strength or danger of the movement arises from other causes. It originated in the Irish famine, and it was nourished by the American civil war. The band of 500,000 Irish soldiers engaged in that war have relatives in Ireland, and the post office and not the newspaper press, is the medium for the propagation of their opinions. Moreover it being a secret society there is knowing whether any men of standing belong to it or not. We only contend that the magnitude of the measures adopted to meet the danger, prove the danger to bo greater and more imminent than the tenor of the telegrams from England would have us to believe. Small Farmer. —We shall in future publish a Farm and Garden Callendar on the first Saturday in every month. D. M'Masters. —There has been a greater demand for the back numbers of this journal than we are able to supply. We believe there are a few copies in the hands of our Hutt and Wellington agents, and as soon as they are returned the preceding numbers shall be sent you.

Subsckibees. —Will oblige by lettings us know when any of their papers miscarry.