CORRESPONDENCE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 554, 29 March 1913, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

Letters for publication, and articles for insertion, must be accompanied (not necessarily for publication), by the name of the writer, and, provided they_ are not offensive in any way, will be published as space permits. The Editor does lot identify himself with the opinions expressed iy correspondents, and accepts no responsibility or them.]

The Editur. Sir, —There is an old Baying that where ignorance ia bliaa it is folly to be wise. Indeed, after reading Mr Livingston's latest I have come to the conclusion that I am wasting my time in replying to him at all. I certainly would not do so this time had it not been for some more of those unreliable statements of his which, had he any sense at ail of the fitness of things, he would never have consigned to public print. Although he is unscrupulous in his charges, his vindictiveness blinds him to the fact that he is contradicting himself in every second sentence he writes. Take, for instance, where he says th-»t he burned my letter of February sth, without reading it. Then how is it that he knows I attempted to show a bright side for the council. If he wants the public to believe in such a transmrent tale he should not have given himself away by referring to what was in the letter. This correspondent of yours says he has great respect for some of the councillors! No doubt, but it is a very curious way of showing it to accusa them of misappropriating Government money, which h 8 tries to explain and only succeeds in adding insult to injury. I think most of your readers will ask themselves what connection there is between those roads he mentions and the charge of misappropriating this money? Which he has not the courage to either prove or failing proof to apologise for. He has made another statement that has no foundation in fact, where he states the late engineer refused to sanction this work, and that it was not until after Mr Williams left that this work was carried out. Well, sir, in reading that statement I can come to only one conand that is that your correspondent should read those letters well before he signs his name to them, and also make himself acquainted with the facts of these statements of his. If he did he would not make himself ridiculous, because I can tell him what he ought to, know, or at least make himself acquainted with before he allows himself to be the dupe of anybody,that this work was sanctioned by*Mr Williams. By the wav, it is deolorable to see how persistent this correspondent of yours iB, in letting the public know all about his want of knowledge of public affairs, in giving as an excuse why he did not read my letter. A letter, by the way, that he appears to know all about, that it was not certified to by the chairman. If there was a particle of logic in this young man he certainly would keep clear of those little pitfalls. He is also very unintelligible about this question he wants ratepayers to ask me, but I think I know what h 6 is trying to make himself understood about, when he mentions what he is pleased to call the chairman's boast about metalling those seven mileß Well, sir, I do not know why he wants to question me about what the chairman did or did not say at this social function because this is the first intimation I have had of his being there at all. I am like my friend, your correspondent, I sometimes neglect to peruse the columns of the paper, but there is one thing I am well aware of, whatever the chairman says he is prepared alwaya to prove. I think I can give a good guess of what the chairman would be talking about, perhaps he might be referring to roads. The settlers raised the money for themselves, and, therefore, could have no connection with a Government grant for the main arterial road, which I explained very fully in a previous letter, and which no one has made the slightest attempt to refute, for the simple reason that they could not do so. Your correspondent wants to know what I am referring to when I speak of Messrs Livingston and Co. Well, sir, in reading his letters I find that they are largely a tissue of mis-statements and contradiction, which could scarcely occur had it not been for too many assistants, and I might as well be plain about it and say what I suspect, that those articles your correspondent supplies the public with, are manufactured in another factory altogether, and have I fear only your correspondent's label attached. Re this bluff about public petition. I am acquainted with the number on the roll, and when the majority petition me to resign I certainly will do so. —I am, etc., P. O'DWYER. Paemako, March 21st, 1918. The Editor. Sir, —In your of 19th inst. I notice another of those empty tirades from Mr Livingston, What his object is can easily be discerned. He is one oE those who believe in slinging enough mud about in the hope that some of it might stick. By the wayhe says that he will try to make some use of me. He very nearly succeeded until I learnt the true state of affairs from Cr O'Dwyer's letter of February sth, a letter that gave official dates, facts and figures, and has never been replied to by him yet. Now he comes before the public with a cock and bull story of burning it without reading it. But, sir, he had not acumen enough to see that he gave himself away by stating VCr O'Dwyer attempted to show a bright side for the council in his letter of February sth," which absolutely proves that he must have read the letter. Your correspondent wants me to put a question to Cr O'Dwyer, the question in his own words in your issue of March 19th inst is "Would Ratepayer mind asking Cr* O'Dwyer why, holding the authority and the money to bridge over the unmetalled portions of the road between Pio Pio and Te Kuiti, yet the fact remains that the council neglected to put one stone on his portion of the road?" Well, sir, in the opinon of tha

majority of the ratepayers in this riding it was the best thing that the council could have done for us, considering the conditions that were imposed by the Government in compelling us to maintain the main road for all time had the council offered to spend the grant. I would remind your correspondent that bi3 memory is very defective because he was one of those who passed a very strong resolution against the council spending the grant under those conditions, and I hereby ask your correspondent to refute, this statement that he did not support this resolution. Sir, that is ray answer to his question. Your correspondent also goes on to say I seem to have a considerable amount of faith in Cr O'Dwyer. That is quite correct, inasmuch that he supports hi 9 statements with official facts and figures. —I am, etc., RATEPAYER.

The Editor. Sir, —Will you please allow me space in your valuable paper to say a few words regarding the Te KuitiAwakino road. I believe the Waitomo County Council is responsible for the maintenance of four miles of this said road, from Te Kuiti to the fivemile peg. Well, sir, we a lot of talk about repairing it, but the matter gets no further from the talking stage. Now, sir, can you tell me what is done with the money that the said councillors collect for rates, licenses for vehicles, and dog taxes. I pay my share of the three, and yet, like all the other carriers, I am in danger every day of gettiug killed on this road through 'the council's neglect. 1 suppose, when there is some person killed, the council will makq some excuse. Now, sir, the winter will soGn be here, and if the road is not put in good repair on once I think it would be much better for the ratepayers if the councillors would make room for others who would try to have the roads kept in repair.—l am. etu., A CARRIER.