A SUBSIDY APPLICATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 746, 17 February 1915, Page 5

A SUBSIDY APPLICATION.

MAIROA SOUTH LOAN. FORGERY CHARGE EXPLODED. A HEATED DISCUSSION. The monotony of the meeting of the Waitomo County Council was somewhat enlivened on Monday evening by a rather .heated discussion concerning the application for a subsidy in connection with the Mairia South loan, which was promoted some time ago. Mr G. Bevege, one of the ratepayers in the loan area, waited on the Council and requested permission to state the facts in connection with the application. Mr Bevege said, according to the report of the last Council meeting, Cr Jackson was said to have made a charge against the Council or some other parsons of altering a loan application. An allegation tantamciunt to forgery waa suppoaed to have been made, and he wished to state exactly what had happened. He had received a letter from the County clerk suggesting the advisability of putting in a petition from the settlers for a subsidy. The petition was circulated and signed for a £ for £ subsidy on a loan of £IOOO, this being the maximum amount which it was understood the Government would grant at the time. When he arrived at Te Kuiti he found the full amount of the loan of £2OOO had been granted. Aa chairman of the committee which was promoting tfae loan, he considered it advisable to alter the amount uf the application to bring it into line with the amount of the loan, and posted the petition on to Mr C. K. Wilson, who wa? then member for the district. The Council, or the Council officials were not concerned in the matter in any way. It was a petition from the settlers. He understood Cr Jackson thought the consent form to the loan had been altered, but such was not the case. Cr Jackson had either been misinformed by somebody who was ignorant of the facta or otherwise had been told a deliberate untruth.

The chairman said he was glad to have the explanation and the matter should be allowed to drop. Cr Were said he thought the matter was being treated too lightly. It appeared to him as though the clerk and Council had Been charged with forgery, and if such was the case it was a clear case of libel. Cr Jackson said he had charged nothing against the Council or anyone else. He was certainly told the consent form had been altered, and was asked to get a legal opinion on the matter. The opinion was to the effect that if what was stated had been done all concerned were guilty of forgery. He had paid a guinea for the opinion, and had got nothing from any of the settlers. He had aeen the consent forms, and was satisfied they had not been altered. Mr Bevege's explanation had made the matter clear. If Cr Were had said he (the speaker) said the consent forms had been altered, he was wrong. Cr Were (heatedly): I say, Cr Jackson, you are wrong. Did you not also say the clerk should be sacked? Cr Jackson: You have omitted the word "if." I said if such a thing had been done the clerk should be discharged. Cr Were: I resent the implication on the clerk and on the Council. As a ratepayer, Cr Jackson had the right of access to all the documents, and could have got to the bottom of the matter before making charges or inferring anything against anybody. Cr Smyth said the trouble was that Cr Jackson was too ready to listen to old women's yarns.

The chairman said it Was useless discuaaing the matter. Everything had been made plain and no good was to be achieved by prolonging the discussion. ___