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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 362, 28 September 1868, Page 2

A. new feature, we notice, has latelybeen imported into the columns of the Charleston Herald, in the shape of periodical letters, purporting to emanate from our contemporary's " Own Correspondent" at "Westport. These precious epistles, though scarcely more facetious than veracious, have yet we confess, afforded us some amusement . the departures from truth, are so bare-' faced, and our humour being tickled by the probable contrasts which exist between the writer's sentiments,'as expressed in the effusions referred to, and as enunciated to perhaps an admiring circle of acquaintances in Westport, for we presume they really are written in the place indicated. "Whether such be the case or not, however they certainly appear to be written to order, and the gloomy pictures of desolation, ruin, and general bankruptcy of poor Westport, which the writer so freely sketches are evidently drawn, to gratify that petty jealousy, which is supposed to exist between neighbouring towns, as well as rival beauties. Something of the same sort of curiosity, which prompts a man to glance into a lookingglass, often induces us to read what other people write of us, but these letters of the " Herald's " own correspondent, remind one of those cheap G-erman mirrors superficially made for purposes of sale only, the glass of which distorts everything it reflects, presenting nothing to view but the grossest caricatures. It may suit the ends of the writer of these letters, whoever the individual may be, to vilify the place which probably yields him a living, and as only a stray copy or two of the paper in which they appear, finds its way to Westport, no great harm need be feared, still it may be as well to caution our Charleston friends against the falsehoods indulged in, respecting the position and prospects of the Buller district, and the utter poverty and depression of its capital township ; the fact being that this part of the country has never been —we wont say in a more flourishing, but assuredly in a healthier condition than it is at present, and despite Eochefoucauld's celebrated maxim, we should be sorry to think that any misfortune which might happen to Westport would be a subject of congratulation to the people of Charleston. There is no commercial competition between the two places, and the rivalry, if any, that exists between them is of the friendliest character. Indeed in this, as in most other cases of the same kind, the prosperity and progress of the one town depends a good deal upon the prosperity and progress of the other. The advancement of the Charleston district cannot but prove beneficial to the trade and prospects of Westport, while on the other hand, increased business in Westport will insure a better market for Charleston, and more money at hand to be invested in its business and mining enterprises.