The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1884. A PRIZE-MEDAL SCANDAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1635, 15 March 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1884. A PRIZE-MEDAL SCANDAL.

MJrHislop, the well-known jeweller )f Wellington, a short.time ago stated hat a .paragraph which appeared in)ur paper referring, to inferior.medals ssued by the Wairarapa Pastoral Society reflected on him, From, the nquirieswe have.made we find that nedals; of which a Complaint was made >y a leading exhibitor were the gold >nes We were •informed that these nedals were gold-cased, the interior ifiJhem being composed ofjsilver. We nformed Mr Hislop of the result of •urinquiries, andhein reply has favored I is with a lawyer's letter, threatening is with an action for Blander unless we'J

lotract and apologize. Wo are anxious to do justice to Mr Hislop, and are taking steps to obtain one of the medals in question. We will submit it to an expert, and if it is found to be genuine gold throughout, w will cheerfully retract and apologize ; but if we find it to be gold plated we will be content forMr Hislop .to take the legal proceedings which he threatens. So far all that we havo said simply amounts to. an assertion that the Pastoral Society formerly issued medals of an inferior character. Till we have ascer-; tained by an absolute test that this assertion is incorrect, we cannot retract it,—[Since writing the above we havo been informed by a Masterton resident who interviewed Mr Hislop a few days ago, that this medal manufacturer admitted to him that the gold medals supplied to the Pastoral Society from his establishment were composite : in their character, but that he made them so by the direction, and with the approval, of the Pastoral Society. It would bave been more straightforward on Mr Hislop's part if, when we expressed to him our desire to clear the' matter up, he had given us this information instead of sending us a second lawyer's letter threatening us with an; action for damages unless we retracted' all we had said about pastoral'medals, and published an apology. ;if he. thought to intimidate us with his volleys from Messrs Buileii & Gully's office he was mistaken. In the interests of exhibitors who have had spurious medals palmed on them, we shall feel it our duty to ascertain' whether tho Pastoral Society or Mr Hislop is responsible for the deception, which has been practised. We havedespatched the' following letter to the secretary of the Pastoral Society, and it will not be our fault if the mystery is not cleared up:—" Sir,—We are crediblyinformed thatMr H iSLOPasserts that certain composition medals whicli he formerly supplied to the Society, and which were issued as 'gold medals' to successful exhibitors, were made in accordance with instructions received from'the society, and that the society approved of the substitution of the composite article for the sterling motnl. We beg that you will inform us at your early convenience whether this statement is accurate. We ask you todo so in justice to Mr Hislop, who complains that he has been libelled; in justice to ourselves, who are threatened with legal proceedings, and in justice to the exhibitors who received the com-' posite medals under the impression that; thoy were sterling metal. We also ask if we might have access to any correspondence which may have passed) between the Society and Mr Hislop' connected with the supply of these medals.—We are, etc., J. Payton &

Co,, Proprietors" Wairarapa Daily,