LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 202, 2 August 1860, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Inly 24th, 1860

Sir,—-In the present state of' excitement, as it would be imprudent, to stagnate iri a false security, which might bring on destruction of property ami life,.so it is, too, dangerous and inconvenient to take unnecessary alarm. On this ground I beg to offer to the public a little information which I have received this morning from, a native, whom i know to ho perfectly trustworthy 1 . ’ He arrived only this morning in. town, and was, n few. days ago, at

Pipiriki. -First, he contradicts the report that spread in town at the end of the last week, that 300 natives Of the upper parts of the river had gone ’to Waitara, and lie says that the Wanganui natives wont go, and haVe no thought of going. At Pipiriki, a native could not remain ignorant’of the intention and prevalent spirit of the upper river, nor of the fact (if there had been any such fact) of 300 natives having gone to the war.' He says, besides, that in all the central JPanganui. Koriwiti, TJanatia, Kanaeroa, etc., and Pipiriki, they are all of them exceedingly busy in sawing.blocks of ponnamu , which they have received lately from Wellington, and paid, one of them, <£100; and others in proportion. Every one who knows how great an interest the New Zealanders ever took in all that concerns the ponnamu, and that it is the greatest, most •'precious, and most esteemed jewel with them (not excepting either gold or silver), will understand that it is quite enough to rivet their whole attention ; and, as their whole process consists in the use of the common saw and water, it takes several of them two months to cut one piece, if they keep constantly at work the whole day and part of the night, and months and months together if they be interrupted by other occupations, such as cultivation and plantation. Here they are, then, busy for a long time to come about a work which engrosses their whole interest. Moreover, the native has told me that Pehituroa has invited all the Rotorua tribes to a feast on a grand scale after the Maori fashion, in the coming autumn, for which they have to prepare immense quantities of food of divers kinds. This, also, will keep them busy the whole year; and the wliole together, shows, in the Wanganui natives, a most decided and reasoned aversion to war, and resolution to keep on good terms with the white people; and that all their thoughts are directed to peaceful pursuits; and the more so, as all this is going on after, and in spite of, the late exciting news, and proves certainly that no news and no events are likely to stir them into hostility. Now, our natives continuing quiet, it is not much to be feared ’that the northern tribes will come to assail the town. I have thought, Mr. Editor, that the public might be pleased with this information, and that it might do good, and contribute to restore peace of mind and confidence. It is not in native principles (and the natives have also principles of fairness and justice and humanity), at least, in a peaceable country, to turn hostile on a sudden without warning, and show themselves perfidious in such a horriblemanner as persons may fancy who do not know the natives.

I have the honor to be, sir, Your very obdt. servant, Juiin Stephen Pezant, Resident Catholic Clergyman

Wanganui, July 23, 1860. Sin, —A case was tried last week in the /Resident Magistrate’s Court of considerable importance to the community. A party had built a house on a section so near his neigh hours’ that, it is supposed that the drip of the shingles falls on his neighbour’s ■ laud ; this however was not the case in dispute, but it seems the neighbours in question for some lime back have not been on the most friendly terms, and the party who has his house built so n«ar the boundary of his 'property wanted to build a chimney on the hack part of his house, which is bounded by his neighbour’s land, and for this purpose he pulled down part of the dividing fence which had been erected at their mutual expense, and carried in building materials on his neighbour’s land ; the neighbour said quietly to the man employed building the chimney that he was trespassing and requested him to quit the premises ; the bricklayer replied that lie was only a serva t, and that his, employer instructed him not to be turned off by anyone, and that he, the employer, would he responsible for any consequences that would follow. Gil this the aggrieved party asked a policeman to take the trespasser off the ground, which the officer refused to do ; the only course then left to the aggrieved party was to apply to the court for justice and protection to the rights of property, which was done ; and a summons was issued, claiming damages for the fence destroyed and for trespass. Under these circumstances, one we uhl have supposed that men with ordinary capacity of mind would have seen the justness of the claim made, and at least given nominal damages, for the purpose of showing the defendant that in future he would require to be somewhat more guarded in interfering with what is not liis own ; but, no! our worthy magistrates, famed .for more than ordinary penetration, much to the amazement of those in. court, discovered but, where, or from what authority, I cannot tell that if any one wanted to build, if he could not erect the necessary scaffolding on his own ground, he coqld do so on his .neighbour’s without leave asked or given, or%ven, if needs be, on the public street —rand dismissed the case. Now, Mr. Editor, if this is really the law, you would confer a lasting benefit on the community-by publishing it in your paper, and stating in what act of Parliament it is to he found, and the year of our Lord it was passed. If there is no definite law in such cases,, decisions like the above will lead to neighbours having words, and fr-m that to blows. In this case, in asking for justice .where it was supposed it would he”found, the only answer was given by the echo—-where! J. . . ' Z. Z.

[The magistrate meant to say, if.he.'did not say, that scaffolding might be erected ip such cases, if permission was given by those interested.]

August Ist, 1860. Sir, —-As the war now raging in ; Taranaki, and the conduct of its leader, Colonel Gold, is

the all-absorbing topic' of the day. I shall, with your permission, take fldvantage/pf the columns of your pape'r to make ii few remarks. The writer, in common with many .’’others, has always been led to believe that British troops, properly ledj could,effect wonders; and, looking at the late' campaigns.ln' the Crimea, India, sc., we hare : 'h'ad ;no , ‘,‘reason to doubt it. I think, therefore, wb' nia’y .ilafurally conclude, that ia 7’aranaki tliey have not been handled as two thousand English soldiers and sailors might have been, to the great" discomfiture of the enemy,-no matter how brave. Up to the time of the late disastrous' affair at the Waitara, every allowance was made, atid many reasons.assigned for Coloriel’-Goldis conduct, but lie must be a clever logician indeed who can palliate it on "'that ;qc’ctfst6ft v \ Vpni, .vidi, vici, should have, been Colonel Gold’/! motto; but, alas,'how different | I camei, I saw:—and what then ? why—-I left: 300 brave fellows, under the gallant Nelson, to, fight their way back to camp against three times : their number, obliged to leave their dead and some of their wounded, behind them, and came hack to town again. /Some few there are who say this “ great warrior ” is not understood—-that on that eventful occasion he was suffering from an attack of influenza sufficient, to have kept an ordinary man in his bed. Charity, indeed. “ suffereth all things, and is kind,” but in this matter methinks it is misplaced. lam afraid it is a “heart” disease, .which no medicine will cure, but which. the excitement of active service will certainly aggravate, yfnd now, sir, I will conclude, trusting that if the cap fits it may be worn, and being.awarm one, may perchance prevenf a .relapsedn the present delicate state of the .Coloners. health.

Your obdt. servant, jioM Sayers

July 31st, 1860. SiR,-*-The cash of Campbell against Hurley, which was a committal by tbh magistrates to the late sittings of the District court on a charge of attempting to commit a felony, was one attended with circumstances of so novel a character, and showing so material an alteration in the administration -of the law, as renders it, I conceive, worthy to be noticed in your columns. Upon the investigation before the magistrates, the accused was defended by Mr./Joss, the solicitor appointed for the crown. The prosecutor was therefore under the necessity of employing .another professional gentleman to conduct ; the prosecution, and attended at the sitting of the District court with his witnesses, for the purpose of prosecuting the trial pursuant to lus. recognizances. When the period arrived for the information to be presented to the. Judge; Mr. Ross informed the court* that upon reading the deposit ioiis he found, that the facts as detailed therein amounted to a felony, which, being pig-stealing, was an offence liable, to a greater penalty than was within the power of the court to award, for which reason, and others, which he said he did not choose to state , he had not chosen to file an information.

■ 'Die counsel for the prosecution showed that the court had power to try the accused upon the charge of attempting to commit the felony, or for the felony itself, which was an offence at common law, and within the jurisdiction of the District court.

Mr. Ross, however, persisted in declining to file an information, and the Judge ruled that he had no power to compel him, and that under the act no other person but that gentleman had the power; and the accused was discharged, heavy expenses being entailed on the prosecutor to no purpose;. - I feel myself justified iip observing, that such a power has been hitllerto unknown, is dangerous to be vested in - any professional person, and may render -nugatory the committals of magistrates, however just aud expedient.

I beg to subscribe myself, T. J. Campbell

August Ist, 1860

Sir, —Can you, through your valuable columns, inform the public whether it he generally the practice to make one class of volunteers pay for being drilled,-whilst another class has all such expenses paid by government? • •

1 allude to the Volunteer Cavalry Corps in Wanganui, which; strange' to say, is obliged to subscribe to pay a drill sergeant, whilst the Rifle Corps have drill sergeants found for them at government expense. - Why should there he this invidious distinction, I ask ? If the government pays sergeants for one corps, it is clearly their duty to pay for-all. Surely, if any are- entitled to be drilled at government expense, it is the Cavalry Corps. They are put to considerable''expense in finding a horse and trappings, ahd also a uniform much more expensive than The blue smock of the iJifles. Most of them are residents in the country, and lose much valuable time in attending drill, which--they'do-with great regularity ; and at this season of the year, especially, time is money. All this they do with the greatest alacrity, hut their only desire is to see justice done them.. j

Why -should there bev any favouritism ?j Why should the cavalry be supplied with; only four and a half blank cartridges •whenout skirmishing, whilst- the. Rifles have tenj each? Why. should the Cavalry have toj supply themselves : with powder and lead for ball practice, .whilst the Rifles have always ball cartridge served out tcvThem ? / It js true that a half pound of powder and one pound and a half of bad. lead \yere served out to each man, with instructions.- to make twenty hall cartridges to have’ always on hand in case of emergency; but , the lea<| in most cases only made 22 bullet#, bo that we bad two

bullets to make cartridges with for ball''practice.; I' do not believe • there is- one mao in the Cavalry who would -make the slightest objection to finding his own ammunition and paying his subscription, were there the slightest) necessity for s.o doing ; but why should one Corps do so, and not the others ?—that is the question! It is not the expense (which in itself is trifling) they look to, but the principle. Again, we are almost in a defenceless state. With the exception of a few miserable police carbines, and some private fowling pieces, we have no arms. It may be alleged in excuse, that no better arms could be provided at present ; but swords are made here, which Major Cooper himself lias declared to be better than those supplied to the Auckland Cavalry, and an application , was made, from here nearly two months ago for the swords to be made here, but as yet no answer has been vouchsafed. I would recommend the Cavalrymen, if not soon provided with arms, to go to parade armed with scythe blades, pitchforks, &c. &c., for at least they would be better than none. Trusting you will insert the above in your next issue.

I am sir, your obdt. servant, A Volunteer Cavalryman,

writer of this letter has been misinformed as to the drilling of the Rifles. They have also paid for setgeants. The Cavalry have not been supplied with ammunition as the Rifles have been, simply because none has yet arrived for them, although it has been urgently and repeatedly requested."]

To Volunteer Riflemen. —T-low to become a Shot. —Remember that every man who has. the use of his eyes may in a few weeks make himself something of a shot, even when so situated that he lias no access to a practising ground. I will explain how. All the requisite apparatus is a rifle, the trigger of which does not require a pull of more than three pounds, a sand-hag, and a box of caps. 1. Take a sheet of cartridge paper, fix a large red wafer-on the centre, and hang it against the wall of your room. Put a chair upon the table, and lav the sand-bag in a heap on the scat of the chair. Now lay your rifle upon the sand-bag, so that it will remain in any position in which you place it, and then, looking through' the back sight at the fore sight, let the apex of Ihe fore sight cover the wafer. Habituate yourself to this simple practice, and when you have learned the first lesson — 2. Lay a piece of stout leather upon the nipple of the gun as it rests upon the sand bag, pull the trigger, ami observe, when you have done so, how much the sight is pulled away from - the-wafer. When it ceases to show any defection——3. Von. may dispense with the chair and sand-hag. carry the rifle-to your shoulder, and, aiming at the wafer, snap a few caps until you can do so without blinking or starting at the explosion ; to ascertain whether you have done so or not, always keep the rifle to your shoulder f>>r a second or two after each discharge, and note particularly the aberration of the muzzle sight.—4. Now. standing at about two and a half or three yards from a lighted candle, aim at the base of the flame, and snap a few caps at it till you can succeed in putting it out eight times out of ten. —5. The next lesson will be at an iron target with bullet, and about a third of the usual charge of powder. Mark a bull’s eye about two feet in diameter, and at a distance of twenty yards, aim deliberately and fire. JFlien you feel confident, of doing this every time, step back a couple of yards at each shot, till you get. to 100 yards. Now use the proper quantity of powder, and practise daily for half an hour or so for some weeks. Then, still practising at 100 yards, reduce the diameter of your bull’s eye till it is not more than 10 inches wide; and, proceeding as before, retire till you get. to 200 yards. —Hans Busk.