THE MAYORALTY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 156, 26 March 1908, Page 8

THE MAYORALTY.

SPEECH BY HON. T. W. HISLOP. REPLY TO MESSRS. AITKEN AND D'JTHIE. There was a large* attendanco at a meeting of tho Hon. T. W. Hislop's Te Aro Committee, at Messrs. .Richards and Pcarce's Rooms, Cuba Street, last night. Dr. M'Kenzio presided. A plan of campaign having been arranged and officers appointed, Mr. Hislop was asked to say something with regard.to the alleged misrepresentations in tho newspaper Dominion and in tho spcecli of Mr. Duthie.

Mr. Hislop said that, after the extremely fair way in which the matter was reported in tho papers and commented on that evoning by tho "Post," he thought it was scarcely ncoossary to say anything, but he would state, in tho first placo, with regard to Miramar, that ho was astonished to seo such a statement as appeared ,in The Dominion, to the effect that lie attributed tho failure of the Miramar scliomb to Mr. Aitken's policy. No such statement, or anything' like it, was ever made. What ho had said was that ho acknowledged tho compliment paid him by Mr. Bell as' chairman in saying that very great vigour and determination had been displayed by him in getting through the electric light project. He had then gone on to say that Mr. Bell's in the chair re-. mindedXhim of tho two ..Miramar schemes, which it had always been a great regret to him had not gone through, and ho had stated that lie was conceited enough to believe that if tho same vigour had been shown with regard to the Miramar schemes, either ono or tho other would have gone through. In reforeiico to the-gasworks and tho gross misrepresentation of what ho had said, ho would! repeat what lie h'ad already said ill the columns of The Dominion; and which was, no doubt, remembered by those in control of tho paper, that tho shares wero selling at .about 100 per cent, profit, and at. that_ rato ,tho goodwill would be worth about £125,000. Mr. . Nathan, however, -scouted the idea _of the works being purchased for anything like that figure, and asserted that the goodwill was worth over £200,000." He (Mr. Hislop),' in bis spccch of Monday night,.merely asked, if that' was tho value now, what would it bo when tho city. had double its present population? That was quite a different thing, from tho construction which it was sought to put upon, his words. In regard to the state of tho accounts when ho took office, a specific instance of which ho had referred to, namely, the bungling over, tho "washup" loan, lie had shown that tho mistake the'ro was not tho mistake of the treasurer or any person'other, than the Mayor himself. Ho thought it was extremely lpprchcn-' sible on the part of. Mr.. Duthio to try/and tako sholtor by, insinuating th it tho state of tho accounts was due to a deceased ofTi--cer. -He (Mr. Hislop) had had personal experience of that: officer, and .had ■ interviewsand consultations with him on becoming Mayor. Ho found him ,quito ready, willing, and ,ablo to adopt all his., suggestions for the simplification 'of tho accounts and setting thorn, out in tho same torn as at pre-, sent. All that the officer required wrs suggestion and a littlo guidance, Mid so far from it. boing- true, as Mr.. Duthio insinuated, that lie was got rid of, ho himself bogged of him to remain in office. As a matter of fact, th'o officer referred .to was full of information, and it only required tho order to bo given to him to have that information set out in any form desired. ■