GRAFF v. PARK.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1446, 4 September 1885, Page 3

GRAFF v. PARK.

MR GRAFF IN EXPLANATION.

("TO THE EDITOR Off THE STANDARD.) Sir,— To-morrow when tins is published the public will have a correct knowledge of all the bearings, of the .above case and the result of it. Mr Park may come out of it all right as it is a purely: technical case and as such subject ,to all the vicissitudes of tho Court. . But Mr Park has been breaking the law for all that and he would have been convicted without any dpubt if I had chosen to lay the information under section 75. Any one taking the trouble to read said section will also have a clear conception I of what the Legislator meant when he framed the Act, namely, that a Councillor m no manner or way should receive any material benefit from the Council either directly or indirectly, not even as much as by his presence influence any matter m which he or a remote partner was interested. In. other words the Legislator intended that there should ribt be the slightest opportunity for any Councillor to abuse, his position .by influencing' the Council on the whole, ■■any' brother^Gounoillor specially, or the paid servants of. the Council for the sake j -of material . gain. He meant thereby -.-. to ;make the Council free from and- intrigues .and to consist of ;.'j,mea who should sit at.'.its table with the - - jft'irest aspirations' " arid • the most disin • ter^stea motives, doing their duty to the • : besVof tHeir ability without the slightest iespe'ctatipn of material pay merit. That these proceedings, however, were taken ' : nj^;ijhder secti^iis 61 ip.d -63 and by me; a question of equity, of just re- ' -coinperise for a wrong done, but a wrong .:• of -sueh^aiiature that I cbu'd not bring • ; Mr Park v into any court of law with '• v i^fe. lightest" "expectation of redress. ' Your contemporary called me an "outalder," but he must have suddenly grown "Very did to' forget WJien he and Mr Park came into the place and how short tim-s Sf'iß since I lived m Paltflerston. And I .. \yould have been, there how, only for one .man, Mr Wi Parki who came into Pal- •• ineraton about two ydars ago heralded by' ■■'■•-tinHa sounds of trumpets and : .eynibahj, as •' is'alyvavsthfe case'Ayhen Palmers|on gets • a/big fish m th^, net. JOh I Yes! Mr . Park was bringing so many thousands : -ftrith him and he was going to spend tjiera. As a matter of fact he did spuiul . .ihem ! Part of his programme, I bjKeye, was to usurp the wholesale trade on, the Coast and he started with crushing the nearest retail dealer, viz., myself." ; r ; flo never inconvenienced any one else except me, but the inconvenience he brought pn me consisted m my losing ' house" and : hprnej stationery •ai d other business as well as future prospects m a SlqigeJ had -chosen as my permanent 6tfte, where: I hail struggled on for 11 yedrs, and where Tlioped eventually to prosper. It was very hard to be "forced to the wall" by the very first "outsider " . coming- into the place, but; it was still harder when it resulted m poverty, iriispry, and hardships for me and mine ■••' ever since. Many will exclaim that be- ' ing V f prced to the wall " is a natural phenomenon Of life and a< "common occurrence ..in business; tut then you must riiike a great distinction between motives of .aecessity and motives of greed. In . this instance, it .was not as if M» Park's existence depended .on my « # uin. There was plenty of room for the two of us\ However,. Mr Paik must reign supreme m spiitary grandeur ; he must not on'y have all the pounds and shillings but also' the school children's pennies to sy^ell his hburd... When I found out . his .little gams 'l interviewed, him to try and arrange a fixed scale of prices^ Of courßev he was smooth and smiling, apparently chiming m with my proposal, but the " under selling" instead .of ceasing increased. When this kind of • pressure becairie unbearable I went to him and asked hini to buy my stock m order: to save as much as possible. for my .creditors by preventing a sacrificing forced sale. ■ He thonght the matter over for a couple, of days and then declined. Jl tliird and last time I interviewed him ; m order to avert the coming disaster' for me and mine and at the same time playing into his own hands. By his assistance I proposed to carry on the business as his servant, to charge him nothing for the shopand the services of niyself and wife as long as it enabled me to save house and' home and my billet at Court (for the crush oE a forced sale " would be so ruinous that my position at Oourt would be untenable).. I argued that he would derive great advantages from ap arrangement like this ; he would get shop and attendance for nothing ; he would be able to dispose of mucb. surplus stock and pre Vent any one. else from starting m. opposition. But Mr Park withheld the saving hand;,' l- suppose he thought it would pay 'him better to let me collapse. : A tleast his motto did not seem to be " Liv"e and let live." Well, it " was a glonoui^victpry.. Instead of a thankful servaut^he made me a bitter enemy f but ; not an enemy who. would take thetrouble to go out of his way to injure liim, but for all that one who was not fool enough to refuse the whip-hand of him if he himself presented and in-, vited ule to take the whip. But holding a whip does riot necessarijy say that I am going to use it Much has been said by the Manawatu Times about niy ultimate use of such a power. But nobody has a right to judge me m that respect before I have shewn my intentions. It will be for the public to enlarge on that topic when the' time comes— not before. Apart from these personal reasons for taking the matter up, I learnt from many sources that there was a general public feelin"- that r flagrant breach of the Act had been committed ; that Mr Park by his behaviour had courted an inquiry, and that thiswas a fitting opportunity of getting a magisterial inquiry on the j-^j? meaning ,of the Act. I have now explained lhy reasons for taking up this matter ; but the supposition mentioiied by you Mr Editor, that I would possibly go for other erring Councillors is altogether "monstrous." ..There is scarcely any present or fornaer Councillor except. they have shewn me tokens of kindness and willingly helped me m former days, and if I lowered jnyself to such an extent a« iugested I would really be as Waek as tU opposing side is trying *«. pwfl* WCt . H. Gbaff, B.aln»e«Jton Norfh, '"Wednesday.. . . . Kow tiie case is oyer and depided^ m mv favqr I add a notttscriptum letting the public kripw iri what way I ppopoeed tfl tise my power, As soon as the case vaJJ'over my solicitor, on my behalf, offered to give the defendant a clean receipt if he paid an amount to cover the expenses, say £10. . If the public on this information will judge me as harshly as they have- previously all Ican.say isthat Palmerston North is socially and morally m a sad state. While I am wilting this tbelocal con-. Stable presents me with a warrantof commitment on a judgment obtained against me by Mr McDowell, draper, of Palmers, ton iforth, for the payment of ■ i 2, ifl default of which 7 days m durance vile. Is this a kindness from the other side Of. rf Mr McDowell rtaliy m. sp great a Imrry auout this trifling anipunt? Let g^ fFj Balrfterston North, XlNy^ay. .■...'•■■■"