THE TEVIOT MEMORIAL AND MR. WARDEN HICKSON.

Tuapeka Times, Volume I, Issue 21, 4 July 1868, Page 3

THE TEVIOT MEMORIAL AND MR. WARDEN HICKSON.

(To the Editor of the Tuapeka Times.)

Sir, — I perceive in your last issue (27th ult.) a letter, including a memorial, signed "Veritas." I am sorry my acquaintance with " Veritas " is only of a kind to make his garbling statements utterly ■worthless in my light, and comparatively of no value whatever to the residents of Roxburgh, and I should | premise of much less weight with the Government. " Veritas *' has put himself forward on more occasions than one, ostensibly under the guise of a public benefactor, inordcx to gain his own selfish ends, to the detriment of others; he must, in consequence, expect to be attacked by the opposition side, and he must also be fully prepared for a strict scrutiny into his motives ; his vapid effusions will be caught up and made of more importance than perhaps they really deserve, or than he attributed to them himself His sutward policy, of which he has a large stock, constrains him to be as formal and business-like of address as the lawyer's clerk who added at the end of a too ardent love letter, the saving clause, " without prejudice," but really I cannot accord even to " Veritas " that small modicum of good grace, and disinterested policy. Now sir I deem it to be my duty in the interests of the community, to throw a little 1 moonlight upon the subject by introducing to your readers the fol- , lowing letter. Teviot, Ist July, 1868. His Honor, James Macandxew, Esq., Superintendent, &c. Sir, — We deem it an imperative duty, not merely to ourselves individually, but to the public generally, to publicly appeal to your Honor in vindication of our testified integrity and moral character, so unjustly impugned by Mr. Warden Hickson in his official report to your government, in which he characterises the memorial signed by us, and forwarded to your Honor, relative to the township of Rexburgh, as being "almost destitute of truth : " Now, sir, the unfounded charges so wantonly preferred against us by Mr. Hickson, in his public capacity, if not deservedly repudiated, might reflect upon us in a very serious manner indeed ; but we have the infinite satisfaction of assuring your Honor, that the charges preferred are based on material, while Mr. Warden Hickson is not virtually in a position to substantiate on moral grounds.

We therefore claim the special privilege of firmly asserting to your Honor that Mr. Hickson's report, if practically and morally considered, will not stand the test of truth. We humbly trust, therefore, that your Honor may be pleased to take the premises into your favorable consideration, and deem it, in public justice, expedient to submit Mr. Hickson's report to a judicial investigation, so that we may have a fair chance of exonerating ourselves from his groundless imputations. In granting this privilege, it will give us an opportunity to rebut other untenable statements made in that report. We are higl^y gratified to be assured that the memorial will Btand upon its truthful diction ; but we are sorry to be forced to state to your Honor that Mr. Hickson's i report is absolutely inconsistent with the eommoa principle* ©f menX and practical

truth. Your Honor will be good enou^n to lay this letter before the Executive as Boon as possible. We have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant*, Geo. M'Kay P. J. Fitzgerald Patrick Ormand Thos. Cameron James Cameron Peter Boyd Duncan Beaton James M'Kay John Brophy Daniel Clarke Dalton Thos. Ross Henry M'Donald Chas. Thompson The truth of the syllogism contained in the preceding requisition •will, I have no doubt, tickle "Veritas" a little, and prove rather unpalatable for the delicate logic of his immaculate friend. It appears to me that Mr. Warden Hickson, in his eagerness to save " Veritas " and the Commercial Hotel, must have stretched the elastacity of his conscience a little too far ; but " Veritas " and Mr. Warden Hickson, in their ignorance, invariably shut tha door in their own faces, for the sake of exhibiting their agility in scrambling in through the window, but I thall take jolly good care they won't scramble in through the windows of injustice, while thera is liberty and light. I may state for the information of "Veritas," that it appears to me, looking at the facts as they stand, that Mr. Warden Hickson, in penning such a report, has so far forgot himself and the position he holds, that it is only charitable ao suppose, that his mental faculties are getting a little confused, so much so, that I seriously question whether he is altogether compos mentis ; possibly the cause of it may be the immense mental and physical labor he has lately undergone ; in addition to his other onerous duties, being called upon to act in another capacity, that of reporter and measurer of distances, which he appears to have executed in a very creditable manner. But we must allow for human sympathy when he draws so largely upon his imagination ; possibly he felt a little uneasy for the safety of his personal friend, or it may be that his nervous system is slightly shaken at the prospect of the fiat going forth at no distant day — " By the powers that be, Friend, thou art not wanted here.** In conclusion permit me to sak "Veritas " to state in his next letter whether the fourteen names attached to the memorial forwarded to his Honor the Superintendent by Mr. Mackay, are not individuals interested in the township, and how many of the thirty-four signature* attached to his memorial, or Mr. Beighton's rather, as both I suppose, are synonymous, have an interest within three miles of the township. I found parties names attached to Mr. Beighton's memorial, who reside at a distance of eighteen miles from theTeviot. Mr Beighton, or "Ver* itas," pardon my again using th* synonyme, must really, in justice*, acknowledge that, out of the thirty four names attached to Mr. Beighton's request, that Mr. Beighton himself is the only individual interested, unless he can prove that J. Beighton is not part and parcel of John Beighton. Mr. Beighton procured by some strange influence, the signature of a certain vacillating M. H. R., and blazes it forth in his letter to the Superintendent, as & special triumph. Now, it is my privilege to inform " Veritas " that that honorable member's name has had just the same weight with tha Government, as a straw has on the surface o£ tlie iniglvfcy- Moljmeux. Most people are of opinion that " whatever is, is right," but an acquaintance with pen and ink, and that sort of thing, is vary apt to reverse this opinion. No sooner do we begin to study metaphysics, than we find how egrigiously wrong we have been in supposing that Mr. Beighton's store, and Commercial Hotel, really composed the whola township of Roxburgh. — I am fee, Sam Slick Roxburgh, 2ud July 1868.