PUBLIC OPINION.

Patea Mail, 25 November 1881, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

Contributions, Letters, Inquiries and Answers thereto, are invited on Farming. Commerce, Politics, and matters of interest to the Patea district. Names of writers need not be printed. MR, KEYS AND MR DALE. Mr Dale is a strange sort of a peieon. He is apparently never satisfied unless ho is in trouble himself and getting others into it. In bis last letter to you he twists and twines as usual, and now wants to throw the blame of his late criminal libel case upon me. He says ho has two witnesses as to the whole of the conversation upon which he pretends he took his action. Now I will adopt his course to this extent: I hereby challenge Mr Dale to publish an affidavit signed by his two witnesses as to the truth of his statement, and then let the public judge who has been telling the truth. I stand by my signed statement, as published in the Mail, which Mr Dale knows is the truth. In the concluding paragraph Mr Dale is good enough to “ leave me to the public and my own conscience.” I have been well known in Patea for over thirteen years, a little less time than Mr Dale. In all that period I have done nothing to , cause me to have a guilty conscience, so that there Mr Dale has fired a harmless shot, though there can be no doubt about the intended insult. I will now leave Mr Dale to his oxen conscience, and ask him to make the same statement as I have—l mean as regards his conscience. John E. Keys. Note* —Mr Houghton has had nothing to do with the above letter, directly or indirectly. Mr Keys is entitled to defend Ida character for truthfulness. We think some allowance should be made for possible misunderstanding, instead of harsh imputations.— Ed. Mail.