OIL COMPANY MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81885, 12 November 1906, Page 2

OIL COMPANY MATTERS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Mr Laing's reply to my letter dues not go far enough. 1 did not wain to know about the proxy forms The directors' circular wont fully into that, but what i, and oiliers, want to know is, What led up 10 their issue? li his paragraph lie says he is d.satisfied with the management, and in your advertising co.umns lie says the >amc thing. This is what 1 want to get at: With what is he dissatisfied? Mr Laing says he is one ■ f the largest shareholders. Presumab.y then he has a genuine interest in the company's success. He has been in the inner circle and consequently knows what has, and what has not, been done, and lie is not satisfied. But the directors have also a considerable stake in the company, and it therefore is not to be imagined that they are wilfully mismanaging it. It fo.lows, then, that on some point or points of policy or administration, Mr Laing' thinks one course should be purused, and the directors (or some of them) think otherwise, and L as a shareholder, want to know wnat it is, that 1 may be able to judge tor myse.f ;ind vote accordingly. I hope Mr Laing will voice his grievance through the Press, so that tho e wilt) cannot attend the meeting may know _ what the trouble is. i hope, too, that the directors will justify the action they have taken. If t bo true that some of the borers have had no previous experience-, then the work cannot be of so technical a character as to justify a wage of £6 per week, which Mr Fair to-d ua they were getting. The company must be run on business lines, or it is doomed to failure, and if the pioneer company fails, it v i;i drag c ] o w n the others with it, and give the whole province a set back from which it will not recover for years. There must be no favouritism. A'l stores and requisites must b« bought in the cheapest market, and no one employed because h c It.js ;l relative on the d.rectorate. ft is said these things have been done. If it is, it shi.u d be known, and either justified or stopped.—l am, etc.,

SHAREHOLDER. P-S.—There must be no stockbrokers on the directorate to rig the market or inflate or depress the value of the shares, according' to their interests.

ATTENDANCE AT CHURCHES. - To the Editor. Sir,—Kindly allow me a few lines til your valuable paper to make a few remarks about what Mr Be Irjingcr -.hd at a meeting- of tiie Primitive Methodist Church, asking what could l)t; done to reach the non-church-goer-. With all due respect to Mr lii-'lritiger, [ think consistency in <hurch in l nii)'is would have a great ettect. ij-iro', ho says, excuse them--elves by say Ilg - that they have never been asked to attend service. Weil, S.r, it is a well-known fact that all places of woiship are for the public, high and low, rich and poor a ike. These same people Perhaps would not enter a hotel bar, or go on the racecourse, or into a gambling den, without being iiiv.ted. But what can we expect when fathers will delibciatey go into then gardens of a Sunday and work the greater part of tile day with their childicn around them? With no training to keep the Sabbath Day, can it be expected that these children wi.l ever caic to enter a place of worship I here may be exceptions. "Whatsoever a man soweth,-that shall he also reap." I refer your readers to the sSth chapter of Isaiah, verses 13 and 14. —I am, etc., CHURCHGOER. Inglewood, November 10.

COUNTY ADMINISTRATION. To the Editor. S.r,—ln Mr ilopson's reply to my iciler he ;ias vntualiy admitted the mum facts 10 ins own way. ido not ui'L'nd 10 take any not.ee of in- misstatements, as I got the information uoni lie Secretary of tne Tieasury, alter I had ceased to be chairman 01 ilie Council. My suggestion lo h:tn was tiiat the Council app.y to the l rcasury for the 10 jjer cent on ;ne /,-cioo loan lor Tapuae and Oakura o iciieve me finances uj ifiis r.diiig, as ■ lie work') were costing so much aoove tile estimate (not io put in the oank, as he suggest)- As Mr ilepon has Mx-tt In >v suggest taai t was a pany to ail illegal expenditure ol /-■ lus 4 7/S .n wiiai is known as the snake iliidgu m Uie Uaitaia riu.ng, t alight be al.owt'd to give my vers.on ol lins matter. When tiie question ot app ymg to tne Tieasury lor £IOOO to: the lebuild.ng of this bridge came Ixlore tne Couiieil Mr Hopson objected lo the funds being used for tins purpose, as the bridge, although Under the jutisdiction of tne Council, was noi on a county road (al-

■ ■ tough this was one of the bridges mentioned to be built out of loan money at the statutory meetinsg of uilepaycrs held under the Act). Mr ilupioii was outvoted at tho Council meeting. Not satisfied with raising >liis piotcsi at the meeting, he wrote to the Treasurer upon the matter to rotieavour 10 stop 1)011 ailvaucing ilie mviiey. A copy ol tit;-, letter, signed Alaik llopson, J.l'., was sent tJ me by die Trea-urer for my explanation, which 1 sent, and at the first meeting "I the Ct uncil placed a copy of the same before them, which members confitnied by resolution, so 1 will cave the ratepayers io judge which of it- was uoiking' in their interests. Ai to "Sufferer's" question in tlii-. morning's paper re. collecting Tariki load bpeeal rate.- 1 cannot repjy to o. Al 1 know is that the Council of which I was a member for 12 years did not eol ect it, as tie pnvious Council had not done so. I was always under the inipiession il.cie was ■"me previous promise made to the ratepayer- that it would not be colli eted. "Sulfeier" must not take any notice of prumi-ei made by local bodit s. as a Ijoily of men may come along .1. any t me iliat does not know Ju•opli.—l am, etc., JI. OKEY. Frankley road, Nov i> tyoG.