THE SWING BRIDGE

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 3 April 1912, Page 3

THE SWING BRIDGE

TO THEEDITOB.

Sir,—Mr Rea, in reply to, my last letter, starts:off with the idea that he is going to keep me, writing. "Well, I can assure him he is not going to do anything of the sort, and had it not been for one or two misleading statements in his last, I should not have replied. Firstly, he stated again about loss of trade to the top end. I know nothing of that, nor have I been foolish enough to make such a statement, for I know that the top end can hold its own against all the powers that be. With reference to Mr Rea's parable about hotels, I still plead ignorance, for I cannot see the point, and I find many other ratepayers are in the same box. With reference to Bill Adam's account of vthe Battle of Waterloo, I plead ignorance, and am surprised at Mr Rea using it, for it shows, Mr Editor, that he is not consistent, for if you remember, he, at that farce bridge meeting, objected to me bringing up ancient history, and now, within a month, he goes back to Waterloo. Surely this is blowing hot and cold; but he very 'carefully keeps away from my statements Ishcause he knows they are too ttfe^'-Now, as to where Mr Rea corned in. He takes credit for having formed the Ratepayers' Association, as it would seem, for the purpose of helping me along. This is where the misleading statement comes "in, and I will have to explain why Mr Rea started the Ratepayers' Association. The trouble arose in this way: The Board that was then in power refused to put Mr Rea and other deserving ratepayers on the roll; and to try and force their hand, Mr Rea was most prominent in forming the Association. The next step was the selection of candidates for election to the Board, and the name of Mr Isaac McLeod was put in and also mine. I objested to two McLeods being nom- ' inated, and offered to stand down, but the meeting decided I should stand instead of Mr Isaac McLeod That is the true state of what took place, and Mr Rea is one person who had an axe to grind because he could not get on the roll, and the majority of the ratepayers showed their contempt for the Town Board by putting three of them out. There were no reforms mentioned. It was a case of rejecting the then members of the Board for trying to get back on a roll that was not up-to-date, because, they had succeeded on that roll at the previous election arid thought it was good enough for them. Although the AttorneyGeneral offered to give his opinion to settle the matter, the Board knew better, and refused to stand by his advice, although the Ratepayers' Association was prepared to abide by it. I was a member of the Town Board before Mr Rea ever knew Helensville. I was Chairman of the Board twenty years ago, and resigned my seat in my second term on my leaving Helensville. I always trusted the ratepayers to put me there, feeling that I had served them to the best of my ability. Mr Rea next states: "that it is also a fact, whether Mr McLeod recognises it or not, that, after filling the Chairmanship for two years, there was such a strong feeling against him, that he was nearly left off the Board altogether at the last election." Ido not know that there was any such feeling, and I am sure Mr Rea could, if it suited his cards, explain the exact reason why I got at the foot of the poll and the present Chairman at the head. But I know it would not suit his cards to do so. But, never mind, there is another election coming in September next, and if Mr Rea is then a ratepayer, there is no law to prevent him standing, and I am sure he will get, at least, the support of the Chairman and all the power behind him. Finally, as Mr Rea puts it, I have no intention of resigning to please ..him, for the ratepayers who put me there do not expect me to do anything of the kind, and I study them, not Mr Rea. I am, etc., : James McLeod.