MR ARCHIBALD IN REPLY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1729, 21 April 1913, Page 8

MR ARCHIBALD IN REPLY.

Bir.-Your issue of April 11 contains tho leport ol tho committee meeting of Ukj Jidiiiiwutii ami West Loast Agricultural iuid Pastoral Association held, oil /ij'ill h. JI aviny replied to tlio committ'<; tor tin; communication Jt received frM tl/ein per tho secretary, I relrain It'jiil Ujuvluna Ulioii that part of the tfii'Mi'ih, llwvw-r, I. observe Mr. J. M. Johnston h mi/'ilM to Imivo said: "Ak. Arcmbald U> b': a member of this committee nfi'i l/.-cauwj ho could not get his "•■,'u *>!<)■ ov<.-r Lincoln sheep." buc'li a n'-itUtMHUi ix pure imagination—as a Hi&lxt iif tn'-X, I never was a member of iiM vjtittml'j*} in my life, as tho records ni l:.i; can prove; nor had I f.-wf e.uf (iifi'trcnco with the secretary (/)<■? I.ii.y.'n, or any otlici sheep. / ztA o'.h:r Lincoln breeders refused t'i fA:i lite fili'.-'.p for a three days' show, :u; it;': t.'X'w.i of the association only ro-'i-ini.e; 'm sh'iftp to be penned upon two !>. mi anftv.v.-r as to whether wo got fr:r "own v»y" or not. Although ''years many have a lively recollection of ti.t; l/;ing compelled then, as now, to prodisc; documentary cvidenco that Mr. John.'.tofi'fl memory was at fault, nor can I believe Mr. Johnston has quite forgotten tho occasion, upon tho listings diow ground. As far a.% my ccasing to bo a mcmV-r oi ths association even, it is of such recent date Lhat it was only in tho latter part of 19i2 that tho secretary wrote and expressed his committee's regret at my resignation, and requestiug me to reconsider the matter.

Mr. Johnston'9 statements that my official letters in connection with the draught horse shields were "rude" are on all fours with his other statements. I challenge Mr. Johnston and his particular friends upon the committee to publish the full correspondence between them and myself ro the draught horse shields, and let the public judge if I was "rude" or "impertinent;" Should Mr. Johnston and nis friends bo afraid to take this course, I would bsg of any who doubt my words to inquire of, Mr. Douglas M'Lean and Mr. J. 11. Coleman, both of Napier, their opinion of tho treatment I received at tlio hands of the Manawitu Committee. I was compelled to request , those two gentlemen to peruso tho corrcsiwndence in full, on account of tho unfair statements which were circulated about me, and which were hatched in Palmerston North.

I am sorry my friend Mr. Short should cast any reflection upon the gentlemen win? acted as a measuring committee at Wanganui. Does Mr. Snort doubt tho measurements of his own horse that won the Male Shield? The conditions submitted to the Manawatu Committee when first tho shields were offered, and accepted, were much more drastic than those which wero amended and finally submitted to the committee, prior to their rejection by that body; end were similar to those under which Mr. Short successfully competed at Wanganui. By tho report in your columns, Mr. Short seems much concerned about how I treated tlio Ilawkc's Bay breeders when I first offered the shields to Palmerston North in Juno last. I would suggest that Mr. Short should not allow his grief about how I treated tho Hawke's Bay breeders to overcome -him, but it would bo much more interesting for Mr. Short to ascertain what his Hawke's Bay "Clydesdale" friends think of tho way lie treated them. Surely Mr. Conway . must havo been wrongly informal as to what Mr. Campbell had said would happen if tho Manawatu Committee would only rejeet tho Draught Horso Shields they* had already acoepted. At all events, wo have Mr. Campbell stating his appreciation of the "biggest horse show, on record" in tho "Oiago Witness" of November 27, 1912, pago 21. I, in all sincerity, recommend that letter to Mr. Short for his careful pwusal.—l am, etc., WALTER P. ARCHIBALD. Hastings, April 11. 1913.