MR MACRELLAR IN REPLY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1105, 29 June 1883, Page 3

MR MACRELLAR IN REPLY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir.—l have only time, and you have only ipaca, for a limited criticism of Mr Miic :inmVs speech at Poverty Beach. I shall, towever, select a few of his remarks for : imminit referring to myself, either directly ir liy implication. Mr Macginnis says—l "am the head and rout of the Northern opposition," aud that I "came into the Council expecting to b« ilecled Chairman." Allow me to explain iliat I came into the Council at the direc; olieitation of one of Mr Maoginnis'a cd» ■■allies, the request being ma !e in order that if the Northern members were agreeable I should be elected Chairman. The Northern members were agreeable, and surely there was nothing unreasonable in suppos* intj that Mr Macginuis.s Southern colleague would have been an honourable man, and voul I have carried out his prom'se. If, as Mr Macginnis says, there were older Councillors who had a better right to the chair than myself, what possible objection could there have been on his part to elect either Crs. Jolly or Colclough ; and Mr Macginnis knows that at any moment 1 was willing to have elected either of them ; and he also knows that either one was more capable than himself of tilling the office. Mr Macginnis then refers specific-i'ly to certain matters affecting myself cbi> fly, and to a certain extent Mr Jolly, and gives them as reasons why he should have opposnd the Northern Councillors ; although, mark yon, he did not discover these reasons till he had been elec ed Uhaiiman, months after his opposition had commenced. Fust of all M 1 Macginnis discovered that I was a contractor ; then he found that I made a claim for extras upon which the Kngineer reported unfavourably ; that T thereupon " brow« beat" the Kngineer; and then he found it necessary to .reto the repairs to tne Macaudrew Briflge, because a Councillor "is prohibited from having my interest in County contracts." Not content with the discovery of all this iniquity in mo, he pmoeeled to discover some in Mr Jo'ly—that he had actually forwarded certain plans of a Firewood Creek Bridge to me in Dunedin; and that (aud mark this) although he (Mr Macginnis) hid left instructions not to allow the plans of the Earnscleush Bridge to leave the ofice, they had been forwarded to Cromwell at Mr Jolly's requ°st. I acknowledge with great humility '.hat I was a contractor, and I acknowledge it the m ire readily seeing that everybody in the County knew I was. I have had no County contract, however, in hand since I entered the Council. I therefore could hive had no claim for extrts whicli could have been unfavourably reported upon ; and there consequently could have been no necessity on my part to go through the elegant operation of " browbeating" the Engineer. Fn this latter connection I may add thac so far as 1 am aware the friend y retations between the Engineer and myself were never disturbed, except, re the Clyde Bridge coutract, which v/as completed long before 1 entered the Council. In reference to the Macandrew Bridge repairs 1 really do not know what to say. Cons stent with common politeness, as I have always considered Mr M G a truthful man, but the facts are as follows : —That the work was delayed at Mr M'G's own re qaast, the e>n:ractor consenting simply became the County, if the work ha 1 been proceeded with, would nit have been able to pav tb<? contractor his money. The delay was first suggested, 1 beli-ve. by Mr Jolly (the ho ■. treasurer), as a mat er of ec| eliencv in the then state of th<s Comity finances. I may be allowed to say in connection with the matter that I have no in-.er'-st whatever in the c mtrac". As to Vlr Jolly sending the Firewood C eck Bridge plaus to me in Dunedin, I shill simply say that he adopted the same proper t'O irse (the plaus bdng in his possession) that Mr Pyke and Mr Macgeorge have invariably done, viz., to -'["e ev ry facility for a thorough inspection of any pi ins for which tenders were called. The ) plans would have been returned in due course but for an accident, to which every letter posted tome is liable —thatthe parcel went on its wav toTapauui (where another I) M'Kellar resides) till it was recalled by wire And now, regarding the E irnscleUir'u Bridge, Mr Macginnis says : —" lie left instructions that the pians and sp»cifications should not be allowed out of the o!tice ; but as soon as he left the chair Mr Jolly wrote to the Clerk, instructing him to forward the plans and specifications to Cromwell which was done, and parties, of course, who called to inspect them could not do so. He could not sea his way to vote for suon men as Chairman, and would not agree to any compact which would place either of them iu that position " Now, Sir, although the plans came to Cromwell at Mr Jolly's request, they had been promised by Mr Macgiuuis, and 1 actually received a telegram from him impliedly aoologisiun for the delay in sending them. If anyone challenges my statement I will undertake to either produce Mr M'G's original telegram, or to procure a copy of it from Wellington. I shall refer to no more of Mr M'G's sta ements —or mis-statements. It would ba a mere threshing of straw His insinuation that Mr Jolly would be a " puppet in my* hinds," is a uross insult to a man described by Mr Macginnis himself in another part of his speech as "an honourble, straightforward man," and couid only have been made with the deliberate intention to possibly sow dissension between ns As the friendly relations between Mr Joliy and myself hive lasted for nearly twenty years, I think the intended result is hardly likely to happen. Tn concluding, I may add that Mr M'G docs me too much honour in describing me as the " head and front of the Northern opposition." I trust very shortly to prove to Mr M'G's dull comprehension that there are four Northerners each equally able and prepared to lead or follow, but all satisfied that Mr M'G is not the man tit to rule over them for a variety of reasons which gentlemen don't caro to particularly specify. I am etc., T). MacKBLLAR. Cromwell, June 25, ISS3.