The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1878.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 80, 17 July 1878, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1878.

I oi% reVi.ed of George Gordon Lo"d Byron, that from being but a ve ry co mmonp 1 ace. and comparatively obscuro individual m the world of Jttle.'s, he awote one fine morning 1o fiad himself famous. If. the wo<hl "notorious " be substituted, we ; certainly think that the expe/ieuce of Mr Cross, of Wanganui, will bear some msemblaoce to that of the noble poefc; for, while udhea.'*d of before the now-celebvated ineetiog at Feilding, since then his name i 8 m everybody's mouth, and his power of imagination the theme of general admiration. There is a forcible, fitting, but somewhat inelegant remark BOineiimes applied to ioattere of a nasty nature, to the effe>fc that -the. mo-'e they are stirred t !ie greater the smell, and the simile \h most appropriate wbeu applied io Mr Cross's utterances. The "Wan£ai)iii Chronicle" has come to the j-escue of tbe redoubtable but unvei'acious champion, and inasmuch as by re-opening tlve question, it has courled further strictures, Mr Cross might well hold up his hands and cry, " save me frpm my friends." In striving to whitewash its protrge our contemporary says : — " Had Mr Cross stopped here, his words could not have been gainsayed, and no opportunity would have been given for getting, up an indignation meeting. But unfortunately,.'- he was injudicious enough tdiustitute comparisons between the ports of Wanganui and Foitou, to the disparagement of tlie latter. What ; ,,inade tbe mattor worse was that he was notsuißciently posted up with regard to theFoiloi river, and consequeatly fell into one of two inaccuracies), which. have .since' beeu attributed by tbbse mosfc concerned to deliberate design. It mast, however, be obvious on the face of it that Mr Cross could not have wilfully misrepresented the facts as to the port of Foxton, for the simple reason that he was iv "an'; enemy's .camp, and further that it would have bean useless for him to have attempted to mislead men who wev'e themselves perfectly conversant with the facts." We are not prepared to accept the very laihe logic submitted ia defence. The fact remains that. Mr Cross made, •everal misstatemeuts at the nieetiDg— whether th rough ignorance or, design y we wil l leave an open ; question^ biit there can not! be a shadow of a doubt that he deliberately misstated afteb the in,eeting what had taken place, aotl supplied both the Wanganui papers with reports totally at variance with truth. We are acting upon the aHsttiapi/ion that he- was the gentleman who supplied the "Chronicle" aud " Herald" with reports, from the fact that he was the only person re-

p/eseating Waugnuui at the meeting. If that be correct— and if we have done Me Cross an injustice m that respect, we will be only too happy to correct it — lie stands cod ■ vicled o£ not only making false representations to the meeting, but deliberately, wilfully, and uutruthfully garbling the report supplied of the proceedings. As a sample we will just make an extract of the words attributed to certain speakers by the volunteer but not veracious reporter: — Mr Bartholomew agreed with Mr Cro9S, and could not see how the reductions could be made, except as to white pine. Ho also considered Wauganui was the best port for shipment, as there was constant steam communication, and the bar was workable almost at all times. Mr Jansen (Eichter Nannestead, and C 0.,) said he had been exporting from Foxton at the rate of sixty or seventy thousand feet of timber per month, but m the event oF the reduction m the carriage of while pine beiog obtained lie would, m conjunction with the other mill owners, ship from Wanyanui. He pointed out that five other mills wore iii course of erection m the Manawntu dbt net. Mewa Tarrant, Copeland, Lasli md oi'ie.'S ex-pressed similar views to those uttered by previous speakers. Mr Joasseu, through our columns flatly contradicted the report, and although the accuracy of boili papers was called iv question, his dejiial was allowed to go unchallenged. I>\ addition, to that, the mill-owners ah a body repudiated the words put ioto their mouths by the Wangauui scribe, while Mr Lash penned a lelLer of sympathy with the object oh' the Eoxtou meeting. Hitherto both the "Herald" aod "Chronicle" •uive exercised a most commendable .-''eiico with regard to the affair, no doubt ashamed at being made t!>e • n.'s-oawfor circulating Mr Cross'u no founded statements; but it is not .the first time tbao tliev have beea made to look ridiculous by their p-edileeLiou for amateur reports ami correspondents. The "Chronicle" concludes with expresiug at opiuioa that there need bo no conflicting in<O''es[s between Foxlou. and "VVatigauui, adding that if each one stands 17 po i iis ovvu merits, aud co.i Quo its e.ie 'gies to improving its own shipping facilities, without regard to its ne : ghbor, there will be quite enough lo do. Just so, and if we could feel that it was sincerity, and not policy which prompted the utie unce, wo would be better pleased. Unfortunately, we do not, nor eau not gVe die "Waaganui papers credit for any oiher.thau a pecuniary interest m this district, aud consequently a! I the sweefc words and good wishes are received by us cuing'ano salts. They would like it to appear that they have the i nteresb of this County yevy much, at heart, but theirs is but a lip service, aud wrap it up as they may; disguise ifc as they can, tliey are "running with the hare, and* hunting with, the hounds."