The Captain's Veracity.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 198, 22 February 1907, Page 2

The Captain's Veracity.

It is an important matter that the point at issue between ourselves and Captain Cleland, of the Feilding Fire Brigade should be put fairly befcre our readers, as there are so many extraordinary versions going about, we give a brier summary of the position. At a meeting of the Brigade on 11th February, in reply to a question by our reporter as to why Captain Cleland did not write to this journal correcting statements which he said were not true about Brigsulo matters, he said he "had informed the editor on more than one occasion that his reports were incorrect, but his letters were consigned to the vaste paper basket." In leply to this we pointed out that the only communication we had received fiom Mr Cleland was an anonymous letter signed "Visitor," (which he had handed to a member of our staff), expressing appreciation of his services at a fire. We did not say that it was written by Mr Cleland — we said "the gentleman" who wrote it, a term we never apply to him — in fact, we knew it was not written by him, although he not only knew the nature of the contents, but boasted of having a copy of it. We did not consign it to the waste paper basket, but had n) objection to its publication provided tho writer signed his name to it. At the meeting of the Brigade, on February 18th, Mr Cleland said that the letter was not signed "Visitor" — how did he know unless be had something to do with it? — but had the name of the writer at the bottom of it, and "challenged Mr Pirani to produce such lettermore than a dozen people have, seen

the letter, and it had a man's name at the bottom of it." That is surely explicit enough. Wo accepted the challenge, viz., "that tho letter was not signed "Visitor," but had a man's name at the bottom of it," and Mr Cleland whiningly backs down and wants us to prove that lie wrote the letter. Again, we say the letter was written by a "gentleman," but it was not signed, except i with the word "Visitor," and it was ; given to a member of the staff by Mr Cleland himself, and that is the only communication Mr Cleland ever had with the editor before the challenge.