THE MAYOR IN REPLY TO MR GOODBEHERE.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 62, 10 September 1895, Page 2

THE MAYOR IN REPLY TO MR GOODBEHERE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAB. Sib,— l do not understand Mr Good* behere's reason for publishing the letter which appeared in your issue of the 9th instant. Had your correspondent first addressed me upon the subject and failed to elicit the information he desired, I could then have understood bis object. It is quite true that Mr Goodbebere, in conversation with me concerning his promised subscription towards the Square improvements, expressed a strong desire that the bell-tower should be removed, and with this desire I quite concurred. Later, when remitting me his subscription of £5 he did, as the published copy of his letter shows, make an express reservation that of the £5 sent, the sum of £3 should be exclusively devoted to the cost of the removal of the tower.* In the face of this express reservation I could not have applied the money in any other way and for this reason it did not appear to me to be necessary that I should send a formal acceptance in writing. Your correspondent complains that at the last Council meeting I voted against the removal of the bell-tower. If lam so reported in the Stab the report is incorrect. No vote was taken upon the question, but during an informal discussion I, with other members of the Council, expressed an opinion that it would be unwise to remove the bell-tower from its present site and re-erect it on the top of the new fire brigade premises at an estimated cost of .£35. The matter of the removal of the bell-tower was by resolution referred with other matters to a sub-committee to deal with, and it was my intention to lay your correspondent's offer before it ; this sub-committee was to have met yesterday, but the meeting was, however, unavoidably postponed. I am, etc., W. A. Sandilands. Feilding, 10th September, 1895.