THE £5000 LOAN

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43333, 4 June 1908, Page 3

THE £SOOO LOAN

[To the Editor.]

Sib, —In your columns of June 2, there appears a letter from' Councillor T. McGloin, in answer to one I wrote on May 28/ which was replying to one he wrote and was published on May 26, re the above subject. He starts off by congratulating me on my literary ability, and then goes on to tender me advice : to get an old sailor at the wheel to steer me straight. I thank him for his advice ,'re the old sailor, and can tell him that w that is the direction I would look to if I V wanted advice and not to an ex-con-v stable. How can he expect me to understand plain English as he knows I have the misfortune to be like himself, an Irishman ? He is not consistant when he states that he knows I am not a

lunatic, for he winds up his letter by stating that he is coming in to Te Aroha to open a private hospital for weakr-' minded creatures such as I am. Well sir, if he is not .more liberal with the money he intends to spend on the private hospital than he is with the cheque he is going to hand over to the Waikato Hospital, his £IO,OOO will go a long way; and weak-minded as he says I am, I would be sorry to enter an institution presided over by a wind bag, such as he is. He says the balance-sheet will show how I can take-Care of myself ; but I say the balance: sh@gt,will show how 'seven out of nine Councmors appreciated the services rendered-by the weak-minded individual he refers to. I have not got to thank either Cr. McGloin or his wouldbe stake holder for the way I was looked after. •-■Heigoes on to say that the rest of my letter is a credit to any County Chairman and prospective M.H.R, This is getting away from the subject. He told me in the street on Saturday that he considered I was too personal in niv letter, but I am.willing to leave it to the J readers of your columns to judge which is more personal. It is, perhaps, not perk,/- sonal to refer to the M.H.R. business, or to my last, election by one vote over Mr Brady, a man with a stake in the country like himself. Let me tell him I don’t know what stake Mr Brady has in the country, hut one thing I can tell him Mr Brady was a good Councillor, but McGloin never was, and unless he alters very much .he never will be. He goes on to say I found myself in a helpless mess; \ I ‘will leave it to the ratepayers on Jl- Saturday to pull me out or they themselves will get into the same mess by following the advice of the man who stopped the settlement of Waitoa Roads yesterday, by his want of tact, when we met the members of the Ohinemuri Councd. - Where was his sympathy for the Buffering ratepayers on that occasion He tells me to be careful not to get deeper in theHunga swamp, but it won’t , be bis fault if he does not get me in. .x where was he when the deputation went to meet the Hungahnnga Drainage Board on the swamp ? He w asn’t to he found; *"» y® emdtelk beKiiid their backs about what he would do and waste the time of the meeting talking about a drain he never saw against the men who had seen It! -f nrnß tbe X-rays on me to show the value Of my word, gives his version of the interview with the Bank Directors, and challanges me to put up a cheque for ™ *ke hands of Mr Thomas against his £3; and, mark you, Mr Thomas to decide between us as to which is the I biggest liar.- Well, sir. I will give him ! *“® ?* ke ’. let him send Ms £3 on to the hospital at once. I have not sold my farm and can’t afford to be so generous : but Mr Editor, I will throw out a challenge yhich will not he quite so oneI 1 •{« * jwßl place £o in your hand I if Councillor McGloin does the same, then l I let him pick two men from the membersI of the conference he refers to, I also to I P lo * two j let the four choose a fifth for I an umpire, they to say whose statement I is most correct. The man who has the I honour of clearing his name to instruct I you to hand over the £lO to our young I ■ mei l ß club, who, I think, are more in I need of it than the Waikato Hospital, who I r*? V - er of our rates this year. I McGloin states Price’s Road is on I a par with oiy other statements. He is I quite right as they are all perfectly true.' I He wishes you. Mr Editor, to inform me I jr 1 i _ no * Soiag away, well I am I x i ear that, as I would be I sorry to lose any man from onr district ■ trim can boast of having £IO.OOO He is ■ joining in to Te Aroha to build a I , private hospital, and I' am sure onr I Mayor will be glad to hear of ■ this as he has been put to a lot of trouble ■ by this same 4 Councillor McGloin, in the ■ last two and a-half years trying to get ■ the Government to put .up a hospital in I our Borough, with the same success as I he put our counciltq looking for metal I Jo* £he Main road to Waitoa; and I hope he will not leave the district until 1© accomplishes both objects ; then ■ truly he will be with us a long time. I He assures me 1 - he is , a specialist on I lunacy.: I&not this in accord with what ■ I stated in »y letter that he could not ■ taught more than what he already' I v ,upw. I tsll you, sir, he is like a barrel ■ organ. What he knows -b all in h’s ■ ** innards,’ and you fhave only to turn ■ the handle that works the wind bag, and ■ out it comes, roads, bridges drains, ■ metal, lunacy. and so-and-so and so-ahd- ■ j'h”. pouncillor McGloin concludes his ■ personal letter with the remark ■ “ This ends my correspondence with ■ Gavin and his loan-.’, This is most ■ l cordial, as after he had concocted, if not ■ %r!tten his letter, he came to me oh ■ Saturday in the.; street, to smooth me ■ orer- like the serpent, before he

swallowed me, but I said ‘ Come Mac, f I am as full of fight to-day as I was | when I first met you at Parihaka, ’ when our men stood to arms, while yours took poor old Te Whiti and destroyed the native villages.” I will ask Councillor McGloin not to consult men who will tell him about the fights I had with Town Councillor Edward Gallagher. That is like Parihaka, an old battle ; but let us stick to the fight of to* day, and I will ask him to remember that my writing may be like my reading of plain English, not very clear, if so, 'he can put the blame on me and not on my country.—l am, etc., T. Gavin. ' Te Aroha, June 2nd, 1908.