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Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 106, 16 October 1878, Page 2

Oue Wanganui contemporary has again stated that its information re the policr, was received from a correspondent at Palmerston ; furthermore it has given us the name of the writer. Under those circumstances, then, we have no other honorable course open than to freely admit that we have done the " Herald " an injustice by our remarks. Had we felt so inclined, we might easily have passed the matter over without notice, comment, or explanation. This wedid not feel inclined to do, for we consider it far more creditable to acknowledge a wrong or admit a mistake, aad make the amende honorable, than to publish a statement and shirk the consequences. We faithfully believed we were correct m our supposition with regard to the authorship of the paragraph ; we find we were wrong, and we now tender the " Herald " an apology for the error we fell into. Having thus relieved our mind of that burden of responsibility, we will now turn to the facts— or more correctly speaking, supposed facts — contained m the paragraph under discussion. The "Herald" states m its issue of Thursday, that " the paragraph re the Becond constable was based more particularly on information supplied to us by Mr E. Wabbubton, solicitor, of Palmerston." We do not know whether M> Eliot Wabbubton will be satisfied to bear the onus of the following state-. ment attributed to him: — "There is often a delay m Court business, arising solely from the fact that one man is set to perform the work of two or more," but' if so, we must, injustice to, the Constable, give it a flat and unqualified contradiction. There certainly have been delays m the proceedings' of the Court through, the non-service of summonses, but the fault has been with the Wanganui bailiff, and never with the P&lmerstou official. If Mr Wabbcbtox made a charge reflecting so seriously upon Constable Giklbspib, we arc somewhat surprised, and more perplexed, to discover how he arrived at such a conclusion. As a matter of fact our reporter has been present every Court day, and it is also well known ax a matter of fact that Mr Wabbubton does not attend .the Police Court, so the only conclusion is, that the information furnished to the "Herald" has.heen received by Mr Wabbitbton secondhand. In a former issue wo expressed some wonder that a resident of Palmerston should apply to an obscure journal out of the district to. make known its wants. The key has Jbeen found, and the enigma solved, m the unreliability of the assertions made. It was, no doubt, considered that if it were published m a journal which would be seen by those, frequenting the Court, and capable of judging of its truth or falsity, it would be open to contradiction, hence it&publication where it could not possibly do the district , good, but might considerably damage the official so unfairly attacked. Had Mr Wabble-ton attended the sittings of the E.M. Court, he would have had an opportunity of knowing that on more than one occasion Mr Wakd has borne testimony to, the -satisfactory manner m which Constable G-iLLESPiE discharges the duties of bailiff, and we feel certain his wellknown sense of justice would have saved him from making what is decidedly an unfounded and unfair charge against that officer. We must apologise to our oontemporary for not having made this explanation before ; but although m type, it was crowded out of our last issue.