The Invercargill Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1862.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 13, 23 December 1862, Page 2

The Invercargill Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1862.

Mr. M'lvor, together with his protege, the Southland News, are on the horns of a dilemma. If that astute member of the Town Board made use of (as he now says he did) the words imputed to him by his friend, he brings a somewhat serious charge against those Government- officials who, according to him, refused to remove a road through the Cemetery a few feet to one side, — (he change being required in order that several graves might no longer be desecrated by continual trampling; if, on the other hand, he did not make use of the words, both he and the Southland News are making themselves more than usually absurd. "We have previously stated our hiowlcdge that the words in dispute were not made use of at any meeting of the Town Board, and should certainly have taken no further notice of the subject, did we not consider that correct newspaper reporting is of very considerable importance to the public at large. It is by no means a pleasant task to write down any man an ass, but what can we think of him who coolly informs us, through the columns of the Press, that he made use, at a meeting of the Town Board, of words which contained not one syllable of truth. Both in the letter to the Southland Neios, in which Mr. M'lvor takes upon himself the responsibility of the objectionable words, and also in the somewhat rambling dissertation on the subject with which the editor of the above journal favors its readers, the whole gist of the matter is lost sight- of. It is of not the slightest consequence whether a gentleman used the term, a >; burning scandal,' 1 or whether he p^eferrou saying " a foul disgrace," — cither of them are sufficiently eleg.iut a/id expressive to convince his hearers that he was i i earnest. The abuse, as long a3 it was of a general character, might be congenial to the speaker's feelings, beyond that it was not worth a snap of the lingers; but as soon as a specific charge is brought against its em~

ploijees, the head of the Government thought proper to ask a few pertinent questions. Our readers will bear in mind that we acquit Mr. M'lvor of using, during the sitting of the Town Board, the expressions complained of. — but admitting, for the sake of argument, that he so far allowed his temper to get the better of his judgment, nnd that he was correctly reported in the Southland News, we will repeat two of these questions, and whilst Damon is taxing his philosophic brain as to who laid out the road line referred to, Pythias will have plenty of time to lot us know who refused to change the pegs? That is a nut for Mr. M'lvor and the Southland News to crack at their leisure. We do not believe that a respectable body of men would make a charge of the nature alluded to unless they possessed a certain amount, of proof, and were ready to give the accused an opportunity of defending themselves; and as even the Southland News does not report that any questions were asked by the Board at the time Mr. M'lvor made his remarks, and as. at the next meeting of the same body, they would not recognise the report of our contemporary relating to what Mr. M ; lvor said. and. indeed, questioned its accuracy in other particulars, we should be justified, without further proof, in doubting its truth. But we possess ample proof, Mr. M'lvor's letter notwithstanding. Our reporter did noi call ou that gentleman ; he met him in the street, and Mr. M - Ivor addressed him first ou the subject of the report in question, teliing him that he [Mr. M'lvor] had not made use of the expressions attributed to him by the Southland News. They walked together to the Town Board Oliicc, and whilst there, having compared the two reports, Mr. M-Ivor distinctly stated that that which appeared in the Southland News [having reference to the Cemetery] was incorrect. Why he has since so far stultified himself as to deny what he was previously at some trouble to assert, is of little moment to us. There is one other point which must be cleared up. In his letter he says our reporter was not present at the time the subject of the Cemetery was under discusssion, or rather whilst Mr. M'lvor was so lucidly holding forth. That is altogether uutrue. Our reporter was present till the question had been entirely disposed of. As we said before, it is not a pleasant thing to doubt either a man's sanity or veracity, but in tlii3 instance the gentlemen we are speaking of appear to have lost at all events the former, and that being the case, we must not, in common humanity, be hard upon them in regard to the latter. The man who says the Government officials — i.e., the surveyors — refused an application which was never made, must, in our judgment, be bordering on temporary insanity, more especially when we state that, if the road in dispute has ever been surveyed, the Government had nothing to do with it. Of course, the Southland Neics, with its usual amount of sagacity, can discern a fault in the resolution of the Town Board ; it is in his opinion a rather singular one. Modest man ! it wounds bis sense of propriety to hear his productions spoken of iv so complimentary a manner.

We have said enough, and will conclude by bringing to our contemporary's remembrance the words of the old Roman orator, trauslat;ng them for his benefit: —

" PerJuips" said he, " Silus, the person you heard say so vms in a passion : perhaps, likewise, i/QU did not perfectly understand him : perhaps too," he continued, " you did not hear a suiglc ward of what you pretend to have heard .'"