CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 58, 8 March 1878, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE TARANAKI ARCH BUSINESS. To the Editor of the 'Evening Mau,.' Sik, — Seeing iv your paper, of February 12tb, a paragraph, written, I presume, by the Editor, regarding my conduct re triumphal

arch at New Plymouth, in which you say — "It is greatly to be regretted that the name of a Nelson constituency should be dragged through the mire, &c." I wish to say that I q,uite agree with you, and would add that it is much more to bo regretted that a man (I cau't say gentleman), holding, I believe, a good position as a leading man amongst newspaper editors in New Zealand, should so demean and disgrace himself by writing and circulating such falsehoods against men who did nothing on the occasion referred to that they need be ashamed of. The statement that I led a party to destroy the arch erected at New Plymouth is absolutely" false, as also are many other statements, such as that I was astride the arch fixing a rope, &c, and that the next day I and others were not to be found— to these and many other such assertions I give an emphatic denial ; they are nothing more than downright lies, and the persons that wrote them are indebted to their imagination for their facts. I wrote to the Taranaki Herald denying these statements, and a portion of my letter|was telegraphed to the press generally, but in the telegram I am made to say that I denied being one of the foremost " in destroying, or attempting to destroy, the arch, whereas I denied having anything to do with it, and was far from the spot at the time that the attempt was made. The whole thing would seem to me a farce were it not that my public character is assailed, and that those I have the honor of representing will naturally expect that I should not remain silent under such false and sweeping assertions as are made in many of the leading papers of the colony. I see no safety for men holding public positions if such reports are to be published and believed by the public ; there was a time when I, in common with others, believed what I read in the papers of New Zealand, but I am sorry to say that my confidence is much shaken since I have read the accounts published in many of our leading papers regarding this arch business. The police of New Plymouth must be very unfit for the position they hold if they permit an M.H.R. to break the peace and then defy them because he is a M.H.R. Does the public believe that lin connection with eight or ten others were marched off to the common gaol for attempting to pull down an arch? Sir, the thing is a farce, and has been taken hold of by certain political touts to make capital wherewithal to gull the public and to throw discredit on any who do not happen to agree them in politics. They may succeed for a time, but the tide will turn, and let them be careful lest they get carried beyond their depth in the ebbing tide. The Press Agency has denied that Major Atkinson's friends had anything to do with the destruction of the arch, and in the leading columns of the Taranaki News of February 16th will be found an article which puts the affair in its true light, by reading which it will be seen, that the attempt to destroy the arch had no political significance whatever, but originated in a dispute amongst the Reception Committee. It was erected against the wish of a large majority of the people of Taranaki. I hope that what I have written will remove from the minds of my friends and the public the impression that must naturally have arisen after reading what has been published regarding this affair, and I trust that my statement will be as readily believed as that of the person who tries to damage my character in the eyes of the public, and is ashamed to put his name to what he is not ashamed to write. — I am, &c, Richmond Huksthodsb. Motueka, March 6.