THE PRESS AND THE STAGE.

West Coast Times, Issue 291, 29 August 1866, Page 3

THE PRESS AND THE STAGE.

(to the editob Ok the west coast times.) Sir,— We have been informed by many of our friends — and their report is confirmed by the "Evening Star" of this date — that Mr Bartlett took occasion, last evening, from the stage of the frince of Wales Opera House, to {mpute very mean and unworthy motives to its, as fc>ropr"ietdfs of the Wesi, Cto^r Times, in publishing a criticism on the perforniaiices at that Theatre, which has been the talk of the town for the past two days. We hare no personal feeling, and never had any, against Mr Bartlett, but quite the contrary, and have always endeavored to promote his interests. We have given him busi- ~" ness advantages as regards charges for printing and advertising such as none of our otber constituents have enjoyed, the whole of the Theatre work being taken at the lowest contract prices on the stipulation that accounts Were to be paid weekly, an arrangement which Mr Bartlett faithfully kept up to a certain r date, but after that time failed in doing so. ior sufficient business reasons we then addressed to Mr Bartlett the following letter :— - Hokitika, July 21, 18G6. 3. J. Bartlett, Esq., Dear Sib, — As our contract for printing and advertising is based on lowest cash prices, and as it seems you are not aware of this fact, we beg to decline to continue same unless our original understanding i§ strictly adhered to. We remain, dear Sir, Yours, obediently, Haenett & Co. Per A. Friedlein.

It will thus bo seen, in fact, that we closed Mr Bartlett' s account, which, as a matter of prudence, vre considered ourselves justified in doing. We regret to add that we were compelled to suo Mr Bartlett for the amount, which was ultimately paid into court. But why should this simple matter of busik ness — which would never have been referred r to by us, but for the mean motives attributed ' to us by Mr Bartlett on the stage last night —be referred to as a motive for any unfair criticism df his performances. We must Utterly deny such an Imputation. No vindictive feeling arising out of these circumstances could influence the editorial control of the paper ; and if such a feeling had existed, it would very naturally have 6hown itpelf some weeks ago, and not been hoarded up for the advent of Miss Mathews t6 the West Coast. As to our being influenced by our not having a free admission for ourselves, wo think we are too well known to the people of this town for them to believe that we care about the expenditure of a few shillings for admission to a theatre. Mr Bartlett has always uniformly shown us the utmost courtesy by inviting us to accept free admissions — for which courtesy we thank .him — but of course monetary pressure, even although perfectly legitimate and unavoidable, will often generate bad feeling, and under the influence of this, no doubt, Mr Bartlett withdrew his previous courtesy, atod " withdrew" also — to let him put it in his own way — his printing and advertising. In point of fact we are distinctly opposed l to accepting free admissions either for our- ■ selves or for members of our staff. This ab-fck-SUrd system has been abolished at the instance of the leading journals in London for several years, and for the last two years in Victoria ; for experience has simply proved that critique writers are invariably influenced in their writings by this courtesy of free admission. Indeed, whenever a journalist has felt it his Auty to condemn, the manager has invariably taken umbrage and struck the wicked reporter's name from the free list. • It may be some evidence that we entertain no animosity to Mr Bartlett when we state that, on the occasion of his late benefit — when his prices were raised to 7s 6d admission, our Mr Shaw took six box tickets, paying that gentleman L 3 3s for them ; not that we should have ever mentioned such a matter, but that fr Bartlett asserted, from the stage, that he d never taken a farthing of our money. , We conclude by expressing a hope that Mr Bartlett's mind may not be encumbered with any such false impressions of our feeling toy ards him. Wo shall cheerfully pay for all a imissions we seek to his Theatre, and we are j erfectly sure that all exertions made by him t • improve the arrangements of his house will t a appreciated, not only by us but by tlie j üblic at large. Begging your insertion of this in your next insue, j We are, Sir, ,-- j Yoiu's, faithfully, I HAKNETT & CO. tVEST Coast Times Office, j Tuesday.