THE GORDON SPECIAL SETTLEMENT, AND MR P. E. CHEAL.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 160, 28 August 1886, Page 2

THE GORDON SPECIAL SETTLEMENT, AND MR P. E. CHEAL.

(to the editor.) Sir. — I observe in your issue of the 21sfc insfc., that you publisu a statement emanating from the Surveyor General, Mr McKerrow, that the delay iv the selection plan of the Gordon Special Settlement was caused by myself. As a statement of this kind is calculated to cause a false impression relative to my promptness in carrying on my professional work, I ask that in justice you give me as prominent a. position in your paper for my reply. From what 1 know of Mr McKerrow, personally, I am perfectly sure he would have been the last man to write such a letter officially, had he nob been wilfully misinformed. His own annual i*eports for yeai'3* past in which my name figures, while in Govei'nment service, pro yes_ that dilatorinesa in professional work is not one of my failings. The facts of the case are as follows, viz : My tender was accepted at the begining of February last, I commenced Miork on the 12th of that month; at the end of April my field work was completed, and by the 12fch of May ray plans were handed over to the Inspector of Surveys. I can see no reisan why a selection plan, after my areas had been checked, could not at once have been issued, if considered nccessarv, for the plans have lain at the office ever since that time until within the last month, when I had them to make some technical alterations, which would not have materially altered any of the areas. I could easily " saddle the right horse," as the cause of this delay, were I so disposed, but it would not be fair on my part to attack a Government official who could not reply in a public print. It may, however, be sufficient for me to state that the Inspector of Surveys certified to my account some two months since, and it is some weeks since I received a considerable percentage of my contract price ; the Government would have hardly given me this, if my plans were not in their hands, especially as I was liable to six pounds per week penalty if I did not fulfil my contract in three months from day of signing it, the liquidated damages for the past three months would have amounted to a considerable sum. I think this explanation is sufficient to prove that I am free f loin blame, relative to unnecessary delay. — I am, etc., P. E. Oheal. Te Aroha, August 25th, 1886.