THE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1755, 21 May 1913, Page 4

THE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE.

Sir,—The scene of attack on this muchdiscussed matter seems now to have shitted from tho columns of your contemporary to your own.

I "am not suiro that it may not bo unbecoming 011 my part to stoop to uotioa the perianal abuse that has been so conspicuous a feature in the criticisms that have been offered by various anonymous writers, but 1 cannot well refrain from protesting against offensive lvl'crences made this morning by j-our correspondent "Square Deal" to my colleague in the recent inquiry—Mr. J. H. Hosking, K.C.— who is accused of practically dominating tho Commission ill) tho interests of his professional brethren. It •is surely hardly necessary for mo to say that for fair-mindedness and honourable dealing 110 0110 can present a higher claim than'lUr. Hosking, and it is a very poor return for faithful dischargo of a most important and arduous duty, where tiio kgal question is, after nil, only one among the many weighty matters that had to be considered and dealt with, that ho should be subjected to a dastardly thrust from a hidden foe.

As for your correspondent's insulting references to myself, 1 treat them with the contempt they deserve. I have not yet got into the way of being dominated, at any rate iu the duration of subordinating principle to expediency; and, layman though I am, it is possible I can draw an inferenco as regards legal methods iu a State Department or elsewhere, that may not be very far from being tolerably correct. If your. correspondent will ba man enough to come out into tho open I may know better how to deal with him. In a letter recently addressed to Mr. J. A. M'Cullough, and not published with others iu your issue of tho Kith instant, I stated that in view of recent experience not any consideration that could be offered would induce mo to undertake such work again. I repeat that now for the information of "Square Deal." It is not [food enough to make of one's self a target to bo shot at by such as he—l am, etc., A. MACINTOSH. May 20.