MANGAROA FOR THE MANGAROANS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 258, 11 May 1910, Page 5

MANGAROA FOR THE MANGAROANS.

To the Editor. Sir, —Under the above heading in your issue of the 20th ult., I beg leave to reply to some of the questions, the unanswered ones will be dealt with in due time, but before proceeding further I have to take the role of a canny Scot and answer his questions by asking some of your benign Otangiwai correspondent. Is he a ratepayer? and if so, why did he not offer himself as a candidate for County honours or is he a disappointed aspirant for same? or is his particular glowing part of the hemisphere so weakly represented in his estimation that he must scratch round to find some grit in a stoneless district to hit at something his impaired (fore) sight fails to see the justice of? However, it is only mud and is easily dried and brushed off, and altogether his hitting is entirely at random. Before proceeding further I hope your benign Otangiwai correspondent is a ratepayer, because, my experience of New Zealand is that those who have absolutely no stake in the country other than drawing their salary (sounds nicer than wages) are guilty of exerting themselves in selfish agitations. Well, benign 0.C., you really must possess some precocious children if you reckon that any child in the Ohura could answer your questions, Children are like parrots, repeat what is taught them, cockatoos vary. Re saleyards at Mangaroa, surely this is not a heinous offence and whatever scheme might have been adopted for their erection, I have word from the chairman of the Ohura County Council to say that Otangiwai and Matiere would be left out as nonbeneficiary. The diatribe about the apportionment of the main road metalling dhows a total lack of acquaintance with the actual facts, ,and accurate information, but his winter wail that goes up as the rains come down will not be stopped by any length of explanation of a Councillor let alone a mere ratepayer. So wail on benign 0.C., secure of the applause of the pessimist. It is an old story of the cockatoos to inveigh against the builders of so-called palatial public buildings, and yet it ii curious to reflect that seven self-same cockatoos elected by the will of their respective ridings should, out of only £6OO of rates available, and just a few months in office, set out to build Council Chambers at a cost of £375. Simple business necessity has never appealed to his reasoning faculty. Also the handsome structure when finished will still remaiL an asset. Statement re rates —refer to King Country Chronicle third week in November. To ask if two out of seven is fair representation, seeing one-third of rates are derived from two ridings aggrieved, shows again lack of information as to boundaries, etc. Otangiwai correspondent overlooks ths fact that his riding would never have been in its position to-day, if it were not for the fact that the Government paid the selectors to fall their own bush and generally exercised parental control under the improved farm system. Individual enterprise and perseverance were oped. Referring to Tongapnrutu Riding is impertinant. "Would Ponsonby be a suburb of Auckland if Auckland was not in existence? The <, sense is the same. There is one fact that justifies the above riding, and that is, it has produce! a capable and energetic chairman to say nothing of. the considerable area yet to be thrown open for settlement. With the Editor's permission I will deal later with further queries unanswered. — I am, etc. MANAGROA.