A VINDICATION.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 536, 26 October 1875, Page 5 (Supplement)

A VINDICATION.

3rsf, — la your issue of 7th inst.; a letter appeared addressed to Mr A Potter, a butcher, of Hamilton East, and signed by Mr Joseph Mullions, in which the last named person gives his reason for resigning his position as Trustee in. the Kirikirir>a Road Board; and requests Mr Potter to favor him (and by your favor) the public; with hia valuable leg'il and nioral opinion relative to the action of the Board in the matter of valuation aad rating, and tbti personal conduct of the chairman particularly. Whj it was considered, necessary to publish the above letter and Mr Potter's raply, which appeared on 16th inst., I am unable to understand. Thoy contain no matter cither instructing or amusing to your general reader, the only point in them being untruthful and unjust assertions and mean insinuations against myself. Mr Mullion3 on Wednesday neit will have an opportunity of explaining or jUatiyiag his conduot td the Katepayers, who, I regrot to fay, have to p" a.y forhis eccentricity, and, at the onie time, Mr Potter may bs permitted to air his legal opinions. It is with the greatest possible reluctance that 1 take notice of this corraiponience. I ,fee| perfectly certain that no one who knows Mr Potter, will believe hit slanderous insinuations, but as 1 am known in other Ittfcti of the Colony where your paper may nave circulation, or be quoted, and Mr Potter is not knot a; I uavo thought it perhaps ia well to

explain to your render* how much wheat there it among the chaff which Mr Potter has sent to be gristed in your mill. You will observe that I refer mora particularly to Mr Potter than Mr Mullions. I do bo because I beliere the former to hare been the manipulator. No doubt Mr Mulliom has his small grierance which I will let day-light upon, but the desire to sea his name in print is the well-known characteristic of our local bush lawyer — and if he did not actually pcn — he no doubt dictated the epistle by Mullions. It will be sufficient for my purpose then to reply to the allegations oontained in the letter of 16lh met., signed u Albert Potter," in which he refers to the alleged obtaining of tenders by Captain McPhtrson in a prirate manner, rind laying them open before the Board " as wrong in principle and higtily reprehensible in practice. He (Mr Potter) is a stranger to such & course. Such a proceeding not having occurred in either of the Boards he has had the honor of serving. There is an amount of cool impudence in the abore, sir, which I eonceired inimitable, and the rile insinuation conveyed in the '* receiving of tenders" portion is worthy of Mr^ Potter j" and none bdt he." The explanation is simple :— At a meeting of Trustees at which Mr Mullioni was not prer sent (for good reasons whii h 1 we all regret), I was requested to invite Mr Henry Mul lions and Mr «J M Gelling to tender for the Secretaryship and collection of rates — these being the only two persons known to be available, it was considered not worth whilo advertising — I invited them! to do no accordingly, and in due course received letters addressed to the " Chairman Kirikiriroa Road Board." The u6ual course I pursue upon receiving letters is to open and read .them, and I did so in this case ; and when the Trustees met the letters were laid before them, tfnd Mr Henry Mullions, son of Mr Joseph Mullions^ late Trustee, was not elected to be Secretary and Collector, and J will tell you my reasons' for voting against him. First; his accoiini* fdr the past year are difficult to understand, that, is a mild w,ay bo put it, but go over to : Mr Gelling* office, look at them 1 , and ba'tisfy ydtirself. Second, There appear pn the Ha"to-booS arrears to the amount of, if I rem'omb.9r. rigtitly, £132 10s,. and among the defaulters I find the name of Henry Mullions for two years 1 rates, either, if I am not mistaken, lie voted lot hie father at the' annual election like a man;. lidtwithsidndirig tUS, law of disqualification. My third reason 1 was ttiat he lives four niiles from Hamilton Township, a"nd should 1 require to see him on Board bus ; n'e3s, I could only do do b'y walking a distance o^ eight miles or ask fyirfi by float to do so and let the business stand till he did it. These, Mr Editor, are, in my opinion; reasons Sufficient for the nonelection of, Mr Henry Mullions,] without the chairman, of tHe Board tiavinp recourse to dishonorable means to attain that end. With regardto the valuation of land fdr rating purpose*, I challenge any Road Board in the District to' ihow a»vbe±cer adjusted valuation than the one in question, and a p r oof that ?t is satisfactory is .seen in the fact that Mr Mullions and oiie other gentleman were the* onty ratepayers who exp'i eased their dissatisfaction to the trustees at the meeting held for the purpdie. Mr Potter appeared to be content. The trustees do not pretend to 1 be able to please everybody, and moreover I da .not think that they will admit that I am the Board, as Mr Potter appears to think. The valu4tton made for rating purposes, at a penny in the jiound sterling, was as under ;— For first class land say 60S ; second 40s ; third 20s. . tet me see whit Mr Potter says about it. "To rate the most valuable portion of a district, land tHat is held at from £4 to £10 per annum, at £2 10s; arid one of the Board absolutely letting bis land at L(> per annum, that the Board valued »t 50a, the whole thing explains what you "£ery properly tsrm unfair and positively unjust." I can sc^cely be lieve fch'at you have printel -what Mr Potter wrote, but if you have, I put it to yiii, to the ratepayers of Kirikiriroa and your readers generally, if they ever read such unmitigated "rot " (excuse the expression, it is colonial but expressive) ; who ever heard or ever dreanit of anyone in Waikato letting land at £6 an acre, or even 6s ? THe Board tHat was Honored by Mr Potter's membership and legaj assistance rated all lands, good, bad, and indifferent alike, and yet He describes the excellent valuation and rate of the present year as a sort of legal fraud. The treasurer to the Board, my friend, Mr Cuniming, a gentleman of retiring and modest disposition, will I am sure relieve tHe conscien tious scruples of Messra Mullions and Potter by accepting a cheque for any sum which they may consider themselves under-rated. The portions oiE Mr Potter's letter referring to my social position, and giving out daii Hints as to the dreadful things which I Have done, and have not done, are t admit of a charactea which should not Hay« been permitted to appear in the columns of the Waika^ 6 Tiniea. A man may permit himself to be elected to the chair of the Boad Board without at the same, time taking upon himself the position of political leader., and at anyrate decline to do so lam not an Assistant Storekeeper to the A C Force. That sta'ement is just as true as the rest of Mr Potter's utterances. We cannot all be equal, sir, and altHougH I may not occupy the same High social position as Mr Potter, still I hope to be content, and in my Humble station endeavour to the best of my ability to do my duty honestly to the ratepayers of the Kirikiriroa Highway District. — I am, &c., J. McPikEßSOar, Chairman Kirikiriroa Highway Board. „ Hamilton, 20ch October, 13f5. [As to whether the letters to which Captain McPherson refers, were or were not matter pro per for publication, we exercised our judgment at the time, and we see no reason to alter it. Our esteemed correspondent's suggestions on journalistic propriety are therefore thrown away. While we snail always feel thankful to correspondents for hints and suggestions of general interest, we shall exercise our own unfettered Judgment as to wHat is, or is not worthy of publication. We fully understand and sympathise witH Captain McPherson'a strong feeling on the subject, and therefore we readily excuse what might otherwise appear unwarrantable dictation.— Eb. W.T.]

As a fact for G-ood Templars, it m*y be mentioned that in the Auckland Police Court, Judge Fenton, who disposed of the charges, remarked upon the sad scenes witnessed every day in the dock there. He said he could not but believe the responsibility rested with society that allowed so many temptations to Be placed in the way of tipplers. Inspector Broham, •tated that there were no fewer than 95 publichouses in Auckland. If these were olosed, he was afraid the revenue 6f the province would suffer leriously. ''Then," said Mr Fenton, " these miserable objeots," pointing to the man in the dock, who wai i pitiable object of the effects of drink, "are the people who p y the interest on ©ur public troikf.' 1