The Westport Times. AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1870.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 745, 3 December 1870, Page 2

The Westport Times. AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1870.

Two correspondents have recently addressed the public through our columns directing attention to the social condition of Westport, and the necessity of reform. One contributor invites us "to look at Westport for an hour —at midnight; to take a moonlight promenade around its suburbs; to enter its halls of ' moral and intellectual ? attraction ; to walk round its back streets, &c." We must confess that we have not acceded to the invitation extended. But without having undertaken a personal inspection of the evils broadly pointed at, there is doubtless sufficient evidence that lowdebauehery and disgraceful immorality exist in Westport to an extent utterly disproportioned to the population. The annals of our police court, during the past two years, bear evidence of this, without its being necessary to visit the dens of infamy scattered about the iownahip. Drunkenness, brutal as-

saults, and cases in which the vilest language have been made use of, are of very frequent—almost weeklyoccurrence, and doubtless these b?ar but a comparatively limited proportion to similar offences which do not come under official cognizance. In this latter respect Westport, as a matter of course, is subject to the same drawback as other towns; however vigilant and zealous the peace officers may be, and as they unquestionably are in Westport, a considerable number of offences against good order and morality must necessarily escape their notice; and, assuming such to be the case, this, perhaps in a greater degree than any other goldfields' town, stands conspicuously forward as the scene of low profligacy and unblushing immorality. There are, however, special circumstances in connection with Westport which must be fairly considered in arriving at a conclusion as to whether the habits of the people are more lax and intemperate than in other prosperous goldfields' communities. The fact must not be lost sight of that Westport possesses the only permanent gaol on the Coast, and that this becomes the receiving house for ail the determinedly abandoned and incorrigibly idle offscourings of the Nelson South-West goldfields. The unexampled prosperity of Westland and the Coast generally has attracted these classes from the neighboring colonies in large numbers, and as the value of the workings of Westland have gradually become secondary to those of the northern portion of the Coast, Westport has become burdened with an undue proportion of this dangerous and quasi criminal class. Another index of the absence of a sound tone of public feeling, of individual self respect and moral perceptions is furnished by the record of the bankruptcy proceedings. Wherever there is found to be a criminal indifference in seeking the relief of the Bankruptcy Act, and whore the people fail to mark their sense of disapprobation of such a proceeding, a healthy state of public feeling cannot be looked for. A few insignificant bankruptcies cannot suffice to injure the commercial standing of a place, but the fact that men could so far defy public feeling and outrage commercial decency, believing that in so doing they would not become liable to general contempt and execration, would betoken the reverse of a proper state of feeling and morality on the part of the commnnity. The District Judge, in vigorously checking this growing evil—though simply performing his duty—nevertheless deserves our commendation ; and, doubtless our magistrates may also be able to effect much good in dealing somewhat more severely with the idle and dissolute characters unfortunately so numerous in our midst. We have always held the necessity of the very extensive powers granted to a Magistrate, under the Vagrant Act, being most carefully exercised, but there are doubtless instances, and we venture to think that in Westport these would be very numerous, in which the vigorous application of its provisions would be at once a relief to the public and an act of clemency to the offenders.