AN EXPLANATION.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1011, 19 March 1883, Page 3

AN EXPLANATION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —My attention has been drawn to the opening paragraph of a letter signed “Factotum,” which is generally understood to allude to ; mj’self. His allusion about my iidehtßyl wi|h| f'Glan [Aher,” because on 1 sbnie Subjects we hold similar views, is hardly worth considering, but I cannot very well, allow his statement about my being a “ natural obstructive” member of society to ?pasa unchallenged. Considering the sequel of all my opposition to men and measures, since I have been connected with public affairs in Patea, I flatter myself that I have made less mistake than the majority of public men here. My opposition has invariably been to propositions brought by persons who cannot see an inch beyond the lip of their noses. If you take my past year’s action as a guide, you will, ;find (hat in almost all cases the; sequel has proved that my opposition has turned out the correct thing. When the £IO,OOO loan i was before the ratepayers, I was the only solitary individual; who publicly spoke against it, advocating the £5,000 proposal. Is there now a person in Patea (except, perhaps, the father of the £IO,OOO proposal),

“ Who has now left the district for the district’s good,”i but will; acknowledge that I was right. If the Borough had agreed to my proposition then, we could now be going in for a loan for Harbour purpose without any further rating. Now the matter is very doubtful. Next ray . action in the Harbour Board : the sequel shows that I Was the’ Only solitary individual belonging to that Board that could see any distance ahead. All my prognostications have been fulfilled with regard to the effect the additional wharfage would have on the trade of the port. And the future will prove that the view expressed by me at the last meeting of that body is the only practical - view of the question, taking into consideration our present financial posit tion and the absence of any scheme by the Harbour Board for improving them, Mr Mace, who is an able practical man on a question of this sort, has placed the matter; very lucidly before usiin younlaSt issue and deserves great consideration, and if every one that is interested in the success of our port were to take the same amount of interest in the matter (as he has done), :to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, the inner training wall (west side) would be on the way in less than six months. My action in the Borough Council is only obstructive when “jobs” and useless, expenditure of money to suit one or two councillors is carried out, such as the Leicester street affair, expending-in great haste large amounts of public money on a street with no inhabitants, and fancy gutters at £6 15s per' chain; which the first shower proved to be perfectly useless, necessitating them to be reconstructed by Borough'labor. If a transaction of that sort is not the correct thing to obstruct, the ratepayers can at any time have an opportunity of electing some one more congenial to their wishes. The great error of public men in Patea is that they allow personal feeling to override their public actions, which is always detrimental to the public good. If it was not for the personal feeling of the majority against the late Mayor, the Borough Loan would have been floated 'about .four months ago. Through that we have had to agree to a low, mean pawnbroking transaction of pledging, which the outside public look at as a hopeless state of bankruptcy. In conclusion l(as,'space will not allow : to go more fully into the matter) I think Factotum’s allusions to me, considering the sequels, are thoroughly unjust. Yours, &c,, R. A. Adams, Patea, March 19th.