The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1887. A COWARDLY ACTION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1637, 22 September 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1887. A COWARDLY ACTION.

The following letters were published last Saturday morning in his circular by Mr Ehodes:THE " NASTY LANGUAGE." TO THE EDITOR. Sir,-—I enclose a letter received froai Mr Twomey relative to the assertion he made at Pleasant Valley "of ray having used nasty language about him," etc. ; also letters from three other occupants of the railway carriage contradicting this statement. As Mr Twomey has not had the honesty or manliness to publish the contradiction injhis own piper, where he published the falsehood, nor yet to apologise for k, I shall feel obliged if you will insert it in the Arbiter, if you have space and deem it worth while.—Yours, etc., W*M. POSTLETHWAITO. Geruldine, Sept. 15. Sir,—At Pleasant Valley 1 said that I had beard that you had "made use of nasty language with regard to me." I was told that you had, and was going to sk you to deny or admit it at the Pleasant Valley meeting had you been present; but, of course, your absensn rendered ii impossible. 1 am not going to allow any man to refer to me in opprobrious terraa without resenting it, if the man is worth it ; but, ready as 1 am to defeod myself, I shall always be found equally ready to do justice to an opponent. I find now, on making enquiries, that I had been misinformed, and that the report which reached me was not true. ' It was only yesterday Out I met in Timaru the man who satisfied me ou this point, and I now hasten to acquit you of the charge, and te give you permission to publish this letter, <

which I send you without pressure or solicitation, if you deem it desirable.— Tourß, etc., J. M. TWOMEY. ; Temuka, Sept. 10, 1837. W. Postlethwaite, Hsq.

Now as regards this matter Mr Twomey never said it occurred in a railway carriage. Mr Twomey met Mr Postlethwaite in the railway carriage and shook hands with him, and that was all that occurred there. What Mr Twomey referred to' at Pleasant Valley was this: On leaving home for Pleasant Valtey that day he ; was informed that Mr Postlethwaite iin a conversation with Mr Rees ! Thomas used objectionable language in reference to him. On the way Mr Twomey called at Mr Thomas' house, but he was not at home. He met Mr Thomas on the following Saturday in Timaru, and Mr Thomas said Mr Twomey had been misinformed; that he had a conversation with Mr Postlethwaite, but that the language was not (■xactly what the story represented it. Together with sending a verbal mes«age to Mir Postlethwaite, Mr Twomey sent him the above letter on- the following day without solicitation, and it appears to us thai by doing so he ! acted honesjly and manly. Mr ! Twomey also gave, as the letter shows, Mr Postlethwaite leave to publish it, and if Mr Postlethwaite had the instincts of manliness and honesty as highly deieloped in him as he would wish t»eia to exist in others he would have returned the letter and asked that it should be published in this paper. Instead of that he thought he could make political capital out of it by publishing it accompanied with a mean attack on Mr Twomey in Mr Rhodes' circular. When Mr Postlethwaite and others of his stamp support Mr Rhodes, and go to extremes like these to injure Mr Twomey, there mustbe something in it. Mr Postlethwaite does not think much of the interests of the poor; he has always been the man of retrenchment; the man for cutting down wages; and the man for. conserving the interests of the rich. He supported the Atkinson Ministry, and then came before the electors and told them they were " a lot of Yankee log-rollers." Here he is now ready to fight to the death to put the " Yankee log-rollers" in power again. There can be no doubt but that it is in favor of the class to which Mr Postlethwaite belongß the Atkinson party roll the logs, or they would not have their support. He thought also he would have Political Reform Associations so as to bind the •lectors over to vote as he would tell them ; he expected, in fact, he could drive them like dumb-horned cattle into the polling booth. Mr Twomey took Mr Postlethwaite's part when he required help: how has Mr Postlethwaite returned the By doing everything in hie power to injure Mr Twomey. Now Dean Swift said: "He that calls a man ungrateful up sums all the evils a man can be gnilty of." Mr Postlethwaite is unobjectionable in private life, but in politics his actions have reduced him to a level that" none is so poor as to do him reverence." • His latest attempt to damage Mr Twomey was cowardly. Mr Twomey acted a manly part in making reparation as soon as he had jound he had acted on wrong information. No man could do more, and very few men could be found to do what Mr Postlethwaite has done—that is, refuse to accept an explanation in the spirit in which it is given.