CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 213, 8 September 1899, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

DR. LAISHLEY AND DR,

McARTHUE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—As Dr. McArthur writes bitterly charging me with wilfully misleading your readers in respect of the utterances of Sir Geo. Grey and the Hon. Captain Russell, I briefly reply that—

(1) When I quoted, I, in each case (a) was most careful to give specific references to the original text; and (b) altho' debarred from Avant of space from inserting extracts as fully as I Avould have liked, yet anyone who cares to refer will find that neither Sir G. Grey nor the Hon. Captain Eussell—as the final result of his convictions—ever substantially advocated or declared in favour of New Zealand federation: and, probably, no one will be more surprtsed than the Hon. Captain Russell to heat of his conversion.

2. AVhether, therefore, Dr. McArthur or I am substantially misleading with Isolated passages or piecemeal extracts can easily be ascertained by referring to the records In question, and to any fair-minded man who does not care to take that trouble it must occur that if I had wished to mislead I would certainly not have given specific references and thereby have supplied the means for exposure.

3. Dr. McArthur has evidently yet to learn that personal abuse can't alter facts, and that such, a procedure suggests that the cause that needs such bolstering must indeed be in a bad way.

4. Finally, as Dr. McArthur has the audacity to allege, amongst other false statements by him, that I had when I wrpte "full knowledge that Sir George Grey and Captain Eussell were converts to federation from 1890 to 1891," 1 may remind him of the retort made by one of Macpherson's backers to Dr. Johnson—that there are three classes of liars — "ordinary liars, damned liars, and literary critics."—l am, etc.,

R. LAISHLBY.