MR VAILE IN REPLY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1950, 6 January 1885, Page 3

MR VAILE IN REPLY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sin,— Auckland has not been my headquarter for the last foity-one year", nor have I been in business in this city for thnty-thiee years without learning enough to be well aware that in enttuing on this question of nulway reform I should have to put up with a large amount of personal abu-o and misrepresentation. A great deal of this I ha\e had to endme already, and 1 suppose shall have to put up with a great deal moio if I continue my work. I, however, niu^t confers that I was not piepared foi such .m aiticle and from such a qu.uter as your leader of the 30th. I thought I was infticiently well known to you and others connected with your paper to prevent you fiom falling into such an error. So little ambition have I to enter Parliament that I pledgo my word I would not ha\e spent one twentieth part of the money, nor a thousandth pai t of the time I have on this i ail way matter, to .secure a seat in the House for thu lest of my natural existence. Indeed, tho->o who know my home life, my tastes and habits, will know that a Parliamentary caiecr would simply be one of punishment to me. My sole object in penning the paragraph which has given i>o much offence was to show that I was most unwilling to contest a seat, but piepaied, if necessary, to make a greater sacrifice than I have yet done in order to do my best to carry out a rofoim that so much atfects the interests of the whole colony. It is in fact the only other elfort that 1 could make. I mentioned WaiLito heats because they weie mentioned to me. As to my " pet scheme, ' it matters nothing to mo vv hether it is adopted or rejected. I ha\e given it to the country for what it is worth, have never asked anything for it, nor expected anything but tiouble, abuse, expense, and misrepresentation, and in this expectation I certainly have not been disappointed. It beems to me to be one of the saddest feature of our colonial life that it is impossible for any man to take an active part in any great public question without having sordid or selfish motives imputed to him. As to the offending diagrams, the first you mention is simply an'enlaigement of the diagrams presented to each xM.H.R., with the Public Works Statement, year by year. It is not alteied, or varied m the slightest respect, except that it is made on a large scale. I om in no way responsible for it. As to the second one, for obvious reasons no diagram liko it is published with the Public Works Statement, but the mileage, as also the cost given in an exact reproduction of the information supplied by that document. No separate milage either for Canterbury or Otago is given, and as I have made it a positive rule never to go outside the Government records for my figures, it was unpossiblefor me to give the lines separately. This being the case, you may judgo of my surprise on hearing Mr Why to speak of them as ho did. Had I wished to do him any injury, I should there and then have *aid that they were a transcript of information regulaily supplied Lo him, and winch he was supposed to study year by year, and to be perfectly acquainted with. It was only tho sincere lespect I entertain for that gentleman that induced me to hold my tongue and quietly take the blame he chose to throw upon me, and I would not now say what I anj saying, had you not twice accused mo of something like misrepiesonUtioii m presenting these diagrams. I havo before stated that they weic absolutely neaessaiy to explain the piesent position of tho evil wayn of tho colony, and I a*>k why is it that some people are so anxious to '"buike" this unpoitant part of the subject, and make out llifct we aro fairly treated in being specially taxed to the tune of from 28 to 3GJ per cent, on our transit charges. If the Waikato people think this is l( faring reasonably well in the matter of railways," then I say I am way, but theie is no use in trying to effect an improvement. I however happen to know that they do not think they fare " reasonably well." I again repeat that I havo no " ambition" to ontor I'ailianiont, Had I so wished I could have been thoie long ago, and without the expenditure ot a tenth part of tho tinio and trouble this railway question has given me, I repudiate with contempt and scorn the idea of being actuated by the low motives you attribute to me ; for however honourable the position of a member of Parliament may be, to take up a gieat public question with the object of obtaining a seat in tho House would — in n.y opinion, at least — be a low and contemptible act, My whole, life givod the lie to the. imputation you ca>t upon mo. Thank God, theie aro still some few men scattered over the world's sui face who are willing to serve the country thoy livo in from a sense of dufcy, and without stipulating, or oven hoping for any reward. I claim to be among that number. That is my " ambition. Your article of the 30th is alike discreditable to your paper and to the district it professes to— but in this in< stance, I believe, dcos not loproscnt. Nothing I have evor said or done could justify you in publishing it, In these log-rolling days such a statement may appear in. credible, but my only lr.ofivo m taking this matter vi) wa.s this i I belio\od it was a public duty that had fallen to my lot. I have endeavoured to discharge that duty faithfully, energetically and to tho best of my ability havo spared neither time nor money, and have met with tho usual reward in a quarter where I had tho least right to oxpect it. Regretting that 1 should be compelled, to. «&y $q much about myaolf,— l ami fco.» Samukl Vaile. Auokland, 31st December, 1884. [Wo aro glad for his own sake and the sake of the cause ho has at hoart to havo Mr Vailo's emphatic protestations of his consistency. We regret that ho should lose his temper, For the construction placed upon his action he has only himself, to, thank.— El).]

Wisf Fam —"Far ten years my wifo was confined to her bed with such a compilation of ailim-nts th.it no doctor could toll what was the ruattrr or c4rc hrr, and I used up a small fortune in liumbuu stuff, blx months ago I saw an American flaij with Hop Bitters on it, and I thought I would be a fool once moic I tried it, but my folly proved to be wisdom Two bottler cured her, she is now as well and strong as any man's wife, and it cost mo only two dollars."— H. W., Detroit, Mich. Read