AN EXPLANATION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 215, 11 April 1873, Page 5

AN EXPLANATION.

{To the Editor of the Mount Ida Chronicle.) After adverting, in your issue of t!ie2Bih nil., to tlie " curious jt-alousies " \\ nidi charai;te rised the ivcent elections of Mayor and Councillors'for the Town of jNaseby, you conclude the sentence with ■Liu* fnli'iwiiij; most unprovoked and nnjus. iliable attack, upon n local ruining c ompany , wliich, though not named, anyon" can sec at a fiance to be the -Extended ! Wat er liice and .Sluicing Company. ■ ■■■'! After yourself exhi biting. •• uo small i amount; of "curious jc-alousy " at the op- I position raised against Air. Wilson on the | t?i* 1 -udl d, i i I gather your mean ing cor recti 3% tl.iat tiiat-ganilemari was connected- wLiv you in -business, and explaining that there were three-■candidates in the field for the I honor of representing the iSouih \V«rd, I you proceed t<> say, " now, if-Lliat gentle- j i-nmu had been thrown out. "three councillors out of the six vvoukl have been all fro 11 one mining company—a company whose interests are notoriously said to be adverse to the :Viounv Ida Public Works.". A more wholesale or svveepiug charge than this it would be dvlliciilt to imagine, or oue less capable of being justified by f'acis. -

I defy you, sir, to make good your assertion, or to show in wnat way-the company you have maligned h-ivo interfered wiili t.Jiose works,.or displayed the slightest hostility, or offered the least opposition or 'obstruction thereto. The Co. upon which you desire to cast obloquy, and ..hold up to public execration and sc<>rn, have- done as much, if not ■more, (or the welfare of the mining interest. of-Mount Ida , than has your journal, and have exhibited a liberality of conduct which few, perhaps, in their position would have done.

Possessed of important' mining rights, fairly-and honestly acquired the company, instead of using them as they might have done; in a selfish and monopolistic spirit, have turned (hem as much as possible: to profitable public account .by al such ininers as. desired so to do, to run into their ditch, on payment of a small fee. By.this,liberal action of the company, a large' number of claims along the line of race have been opened up, and profitably worked, Whereas, had tiie company been what your insinuations w r =»uld make them appear, this ground must have remained to the present time, virtually locked up,-and. must have continued so to be, until the cemplelion ■of the channel now in course of construction. s

In ■conclusion, I desire to remark that there has been no difference between the Grovernment and the company on the subject of these works, nor has any obstacle j been offered by the company to their cont s true lion. I think, therefore, that gentlemen wielding editoriil pens, would do Wflt to pause before they publicly attack individuals or companies, until, at least, they satisfy themselves of the correctness or otheiwise of the charges which by publication you induce the public to accept as luc.s. —I am, &e., . Lancelot Hoke, . Manager, Extended Company. [lt is a pity that Mr. ilore, before writing to us as above, din not more carefully reul our small paragraph,- which has so t-xciled his wiMth. We were of electioneering jealousies, smd took up three cases that fame under our notice. We never said fchafc.Mie Extended Company were opposed to fclie public works, what, we did sav was, that; their interests were notoriously said \.o be adverse to these works. Our own view of all this jealously, was as clearly expressed as we could do it. We said :—" It is a pity that citizens o> electors should vote at all for a:.y man who tihey thought would be biassed in liii public action by his' private business relationships." Aiiy opinion that we do hold, we have never shrunk from freely expressing without disguise or inuendo, and certainly it has never occurred 1.0 us tiiat the Extended Company were enti.led to anything but praise, for the quiet way in which they have sunk their own direct interests, where the public, benefit^was in question.—Ed, M.I C.] . I