THE MERGING QUESTION.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 39, 13 November 1894, Page 3

THE MERGING QUESTION.

(to the editor.) Sir,— Some light, L think, may be thrown upon thr above subject. Cir Hemmiugway states, as per your report'of the last meeting of the Council: (Ist TLat Manaia township was canvassed ; (2) that he knew of no misleading statements in the petition ; (3j that the anti-merging agitation emanated from Opunake, and had been carried on by a couple of Road Board members and an old schoolmaster ; (4th) that he was accused of miarepresenttion, which he denied, and further denied that he had admitted it; (slh) that he courted the fullest inquiry, and would stand by the decision of the chairman of the Awatuna meeting. The above are the salient points as far as Cr Hemmiugway is concerned, and I shall now dispose of them seriatim, and see how he stands :— Re No 1: Townships are disallowed by the Act, and those in charge of the petition acted wrongfully in including Manaia. Re No. 2. Certainly not in the petition, but what about misrepresentation out of it ? Re No. 3 ; The agitation did not emanate from Opunake, but from ' Waimate, and why should not a couple of members of the Road Board and an old schoolmaster have their opinions respected as much as those of a couple of members of a Council, and a still older “ cockatoo ?” Re No. 4. Since insult has been added to injury, the accusation and denial shall be placed beyond all question. “In the mouth of two witness a thing shall be established.” We can produce a dozen witnesses, and the chairman, too, for whom Cr Hemmingway asks. Will the Council then believe the charge of misleading to be a “ concoction,” and unsubstantiated ? Moreover, Cr Hemmingway’s misquotation from his speech at Awatuna is a complete fabrication. So far from saying what he now avers, he scouted Opunake, and warned us not to be tacked on to the new county lest Parihaka swallowed up the bulk of our rates, &c. This also we can prove. The anti-mergers did not wish to be too drastic in regard to the measures they were taking in opposing the merging petition. They merely said misrepresentation had been made and admitted. The number of ratepayers who were so misled, and who signed to that effect, was of sixty, as shown by the counter petition ; yet the Council affected to disbelieve the sixty, and treated them with contempt, not even deigning 4o grant a month’s delay to allow of an explanation being made. Adequate “substantiation" of misrepresentation could have been sent along Vith the counter petition had it been thought needful, but who expected that Cr Hemmingway could deny what he had so publicly acknowledged, to say nothing of his trumping up a charge of “ concoction ” and speaking contemptuously of those who differ from him in opinion. At the first merging meeting at Awatuna, we were told by Cr Hemmingway that the Council was compelled by law to credit each separate riding with the rates raised in it, and that there would be no difficulty in having the district rates spent on their respective roads. Secondly, at a subsequent meeting he

.admitted that thci#Vt*rtcaier;t« vere contrary to the Act, and at the previous meeting ho had spoken from memory, and declared' that he would oppose’ merging to the Utmost if the district rates could not he spout on the said roads, and he would have a condition inserted in the body of the petition to merge, or else a special resolution of the Council, to conserve these rates, for he was-sure few would have signed they petition had they known the true position. But what action did Cr Hemmingway take to fulfil his promise ? . | He stra : ghtway went to the Council chambers and declared that he had made no misleading statements; . that he •' never admitted making any ; and, to crown all, he charged the publically-appoinled anti-merging committee with “ concoction.” This is slaughtering the innocents with a vengeance! Surely he must have been possessed of the same spirit as Herod the Tetrarch. It would seem that the majority of the councillors made more baste than good speed in the endeavour to carry out their own inclinations to merge, rather than desiring to discover‘the truth of the conflicting statements." They altogether ignored the,'doubts regarding the legality of tor merge, which was after., their ’ own hearts, ignored the wishcsvpf the rate payers who dared to point out errors in it, but they raised evjsry possible objection, every possible doubt regarding the petition of the wrong color. One can hardly help comparing the advice of the old Scotchman to his son about to emigrate to their action in regard to to the two petitions. He said : “ Mack money, Sandy—honestly, if tae can, but mack it I” Which might well read : “ Merge, Waimate—morally, legally, if it can be done; but merge itl ami &c., A Phoudlock, Or the “ old schoolmaster,” aged 40 years and one month.