PUBLIC NOTICES R.M. TRANSPORT CO., LTD.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 54, 25 August 1939, Page 8

PUBLIC NOTICES R.M. TRANSPORT CO., LTD.

MOTOR SERVICES CARS DEPART WHAKATANE EG!2 Rotoma—7.ls a.m; 1 p.m; 4.15 p. m Sundays 1 p.m. only. Hamilton —7.15 a.m. (car and rail) 1 p.m. Sundays 1 p.m. only. Auckland —7.15 a.m. (car and raii) 1 p.m. Sundays 1 p. m. only. Opotiki—lo a.m; 3 p.m; G. 45 p.m. Sundays, 3 p.m. only. Gisbornc —10 a.m; 3 p.m. Sundays 3 p.m. only. \ T apier—7.15 ii.m.—Week days. Tan rani.',a —4.15 p.m. —"Week days.

Acting Prime Minister's Letter. The following copy of a letter received by Mr Hultquist, from tne Acting Prime Minister, Hon P. Fraser, has been forwarded by the dis. trict member for publication: I have received your letter of the Bth instant, together' with the accompanying newspaper cuttings, and desire t 0 thank you for your account of the meeting referred to therein. The information which you have furnished will be of service when consideration is given to any representations from the Opotiki County Council in regard to the matter of the Rfoposed railway. Letter to Opotiki County Council. Mr Hultquist also asked the Opotiki News to publish the following copy of a letter he has written to the county elerk j Mr J. T. Merry: Dear Mr Merry.—l desire to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 10th inst and to thank you for same, and copies of resolutions referred to the public meeting at Opotiki on the sth inst. I note you have forwarded copies of the resolutions to the Acting-Pre-mier who, no doubt, will confer » 7 with me in regard to the subject matter of the resolutions and in due course you will receive a reply informing your council of the Government's intentions. While on the subject, I desire to inform your council (as the conveners of the public meeting), that I much resent the unparalleled treatment meted out to me by your chairman who presided. I understood from the advertisement which appeared in the Opotiki News, that the meeting was "public"' in the widest sense, and that all persons interested were invited to be present and participate in the discussion. As you know, I received a special invitation The notice convening the meeting was of an all-inclusive kind, and the meeting should have been all-inclu-sive in regard to speaking rights. But certain fundamental lights belong to a member of every Parliament, and the uncxplainablc action of your chairman in refusing me the privilege of exercising tliosc righls before the resolutions were put to the meeting, constituted, in my opinion, a gratuitous insult not oniy to myself—but to the Government as well, and to the Acting Premier and to the Minister of Public Works, both of whom I had authority to represent and from both of whom 1 had messages to deliver. But 1 was

not permitted to speak until a speech would have been unhelpful as the meeting had already served the purpose its conveners intended it should. Would I have been justified in adop ■- ing any other attitude than th.d which I did take up? "Verily } 1 would lie' a spineless sort of an individual to'have acted otherwise. 1 shall take greater care on another occasion to ascertain first whether [ will be allowed to exercise those privileges which are rightly mine before attending meetings convened to discuss public questions in the electorate in which I am the public s representative. As the whole .question of the treatment to me is one of public inter-i est I am forwarding to the Opotiki News a copy of this expression of my resentment of the undemocratic action of your chairman, whose behaviour in the chair was .surely not in accord with the wishes of the vast majority of those present. I refer specifically to his repudiation of my right to make a full and complete statement in regard to the questions of road and ra'l communication f.> ; ' Opotiki and deliver the messages I had from the Ministers already referred to.