Correspondence.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 6, 7 August 1914, Page 3

Correspondence.

WHILE it is our endeavour to give correspondents every facility for the free expression of their opinion, it should be borne in mind that the views expressed do not, necessarily, reflect the opinions of the Editor. To the Editor. Sir, —Owing to my name appearing in certain letters re ** the Miners’ Union ani Medical Hall,” and a false impression being deducted causing me to appear a greater sinner than some of the good people imagine me, allow me space to give my version, and if passible, to clear the air. I was not tho chairman that is accused of saying, “ We will have th t money though .he heavens fall.” Possibly a Medical Society meeting is Here referred to. I must have been absent, never having heard any such remark fall from the lips of the chairman of the Medical Society. Mr Melling is very accurate in his letter, and gives a fair outline of tho position, but does not give the text of my opinion, re the doctor’s residence. The undertaking was not too large for the Miners’ Union of Huntly, although Mr Parkes thought, and still thinks so, and accused me of madness for supporting the enterprise. The hall was built for tho people of Huntly when there was no other hall in existence. It is a credit to any town twice the size of Huntly, and proves the men who built it to have been citizens of the first water Unfortunately, the disastrous strike at Waihi occurred during building operations. If .hat strike had not taken place the " Waikato Miners’ Union ” would have paid for the hall by now, and the doctor's residence would never have been mortgaged Un ler the circumstances were pressed for cash, and . T edical Society was invol I vc the enterprise, and tha SociGoy becime partners prac.ioally speaipng. 1 was not an active member of the Medical Society, but when the necessity of mortgaging the doctor’s residence arose, it was distinctly understood tiiat the first duty of the hall committee would be to release the doctor’s residence, and buy out the Medical Society I with any profits accruing from I the enterprise. Meanwhile the I Waikato Miners’ Union when I things got settled undertook to I work with the committee to the I same end. Events that have I transpired since October 15th, I 1912, have prevented such a I laudable project. Act, the comI mittee and the Waikato Miners’ I Union had this same object in ■ view on February 12th, 1914, an . II hope still hold it. The talk of ■ selling the Doctor’s house arose ■ through another controversy ■ that ho twee the Old and New ■Medic.. 1 Societie’s and not from ■the “ Waikato Miners’ Union ’ ■We of the “ Waikato Miners’ HUnion ” must oppose the sale < f ■the doctor’s residence. It be■long’s to the workers of Huntly ■and is the finest residence in the ■town, and if the present Medicat ■Society is equally as earnesl ■about this residence there is noIthinor preventing them co-oper-with the Waikato Miners’ I a towards this end. •tlior, the hall built by the

workers of Huntly for the use of all workers must not he permitted to lapse int > private hands. Members of the '‘Waikato Miners’ Union ” are scattered in various parts, but il the occasion arises that wo have to preserve the hall for Huntly, then we will, not seeking reward or profit, because that was not (neither is it) the thought or object of any one connected with that enterprise, but tho good of all the town in general. Surely, Sir, wlu.t differences of o union still prevail in Huntly, they can be sunk and a coiterance he arranged between the “ Waikato Miners’ Union, ” the “Medical Society ” and the “ Hall Committee ” in an endeavour to rid the doctor’s residence of debt, re-establish the Medical Society on the financial basis it has held in the past, and preserve the Union Hall for all lime as the workers’ property, even as the doctor’s residence. On a word in conclusion, Sir, —If it is the intention of anyone or number to defeat the ends of the Waikato Miners’ Union and bring the hall under the hammer for private enterprise, let me advise them, desist, because wherever the members of that union are located they will resist. Yours as of yore, TOM. H. MARSHALL.