THE ABATTOIRS LOAN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 533, 19 June 1909, Page 3

THE ABATTOIRS LOAN.

CTTT TREASURER- DEFENDED. 1

. HON.'T. W. HISI.OFS VIEWS. ■ Interviewed last night,by a representative at The Dominion,' the late Maror of the city,, the Hon. T;;W. Hislop, was.asked if ha haa iiy-' thing further to say in reference to •' the abattoirs loan question. , Mr. ;Hislop replied; that, he would like to My in the first place that nothing could be mot* hostile., to the, confidence whioh one ought; to • hare in the; administration of pablio effnin than; the treatment meted out to the City Treasurer. ' In "the" tinie'"of' previous Mayor* there had never, been» the; slightest, heeitatioa in seeing public officers,-and asking them thmf opinion on matters whioh had been closed, tad , there had never, been'any difficulty in (rettinjt the information.. Further, no previous Mayor had ever objected.'to that information Wane , given. Duong' his . own term as' Mayor,.. Information was always at the" command Of any citizen, and he .never thought of interfering with the, giving ofjinformation as above by any public offioer, even .when the information might be for the purpose ,of . being; U6ed against, himself. ; Also, he never Ejected to newspaper* getting snch information. . . ;It soefaed; to ..him that. the_ course "pursued in regard to Mr. Rollins will l discount the value, 'of..any information.whioh is given tb; the public. The figures which Mr. Collins supplieq in ; reference to the abattoirs loan question l were, • y absolutely correct,. and were not at all . inconsistent with the statement' which he.made . before, and subsequently i)s to the fact that JllO.OOfl ought to navcbeen set aside for'the 'abattoirs loan. '• ..' : ' ■ It. seemed, to him that, if .an officer was to be threatened' . with • dismissal' and. be; practically iusulted on account of. giving information, to' the publio; which,might, not be:in'accord withthe .views of t.he : Mayor for tlie'time .being,, one could not look with.'cahfidence on any information given/, Mr. Collins was a joiing officer for the position''which he occupied, hut , he' had, 6incc.his appointment to'the office, conducted the affairs of the council .in a very creditable manner arid, although in this particular matter, of the abattoirsiloan,he made a technical error, those whb know'him- must have confidenfo iu him. This technical error had been exafgeratwl. It had been suggested that the money, which.was, paid into the fund-was not there how. .This contention was absolutely , childish. , , Bv, the; transaction; the council was slightly better off, because it had saved ,n certnin amountof: interest. The money was lis much there as it'ever wSs; and there . ought to be no difficulty in' rectifying, the error., lu. fact, it was, the duty, of the; council to do so' imniediaely it was brought bofore - them, Tho , rectification, could bp- done by giving; apprbpriato cheq^® 6 * 'and, as' ho had said, tho district-fund would be-no worse' off than it .would have been had the right technical toured been' followed. . v"/ ; . Jto ,woiild ;have sometmni: to say later on with regard' to -the rcniarkixbh l statement of estimate of reoeipte and expenditure. . This )«. considered must surely have been . prepared under something' like' 1 the" same influence'nscit in order to gotjMr. Collins's letter 01E0-«mlod__ apology. - ■•\ -