REPLY TO MESSRS KENRICK AND BAIN'S LETTERS AND CONTRADICTIONS.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 178, 5 March 1867, Page 2

REPLY TO MESSRS KENRICK AND BAIN'S LETTERS AND CONTRADICTIONS.

(To the Editor of the G-rey River Argus.) Sir— On Thursday, February 28, I stated " at the public meeting held in the Religious Institutions Rooms that it was my opinion the one-sided views taken bythe Press of the. proceedings of the Improvement- Committee was the cause of the dissension that had appeared that evening against <tlte Argu~& newspaper, namely, the -extracts; that were read from your editorial remarks ofFebruary 28, and am- now surprised to' finS 'that the gentlemen of the Improvement Committee allowed Mr Kenrick to shake: the* dutst itom > . his "meal-bag" in their eyes,ftp obtain their^ ■ ; signatures to the document 'Mdirectlyinsmuv athlg that I had made assertion in; referenca -.- to the correctness of your, abridged; Report ;.bf ; itheir proceedings ; ancl^in cohtinn'atidnj. ia. ; ■ ;'■'' another letter, Mr Keiirici lis^s charged me with vituperation and? false assertions, fop • ;haying asked him if thfieiiq.nette, of the ser* "'yX-£. vice of which he .^|^avmember placed him in possession of theK&^tipns ofland of which, "% ; 4" lie is now the leasehpfd^aßo-ve" the 'Po'st'^^ office, in pref ereric^^Ji^; piiblic, some of ■?% ■who were desirous '^lleaßing^he same; and v;¥^ were refused some months prior to his taking-;^:^ possession ; and if the etiquette of the. ser-v. ££% vice allowerl General Government officers to@f^ select the best sections byjtheispinning of aM^ coin, afttr a gentleman had^B|feri^ infonne^^^ - that there were no land, oniy^iii a swamp iu^S^ Arney street, left for schoolpurposes ; wheit^^P Mivßevell .most emphatically.;; denied evevll||| haying tossed up for a section; of land withi^^S 'Mr Keurick, his clerk, in his lifey and that^^P it was a falsehood for me to say so. . And Mr J||| Kenriek, in a very ungentlcirianly maniier^.?.;,^^ followed Mr Revell, and demanded ni^^ft^&J' retract my statement, and st<ited if no^pp^^p wouhf brand me to -the public :'-.a palpable J^^^^^f But, stiange to saj r , when il refusec^^^^p retract my statements, and^informed ii^^^^l meeting that other persons wore l n ' cS * I t^2llffii the old Com t -House at Blaketowh wl^^^^ these gentlemen were trying, their fortune^^^^ they then both suddenly reuienibered haviug tossed iip for a section of land, ; not in Grey-i : -= - mouth, but far away in Okarita. . And I sujjfx pt»£O that it is strictly in ,-n,-«ortlance-»yifcliftii©'"7 etiquettts of tlie civil service for surveyor3 ; ib^ii waste their, what- ought to be, valuable tim^j|fc|i at a cost of L 25,000 per .annum to the Pico^^ vinca, according to the votes granted tHat^ year, in given such information -" to the civil - service official " as to afford them an oppoiv tunity of securing the best sections of land in preference to ' the general public. .-• And .; further to my surprise, instead o£ an apology- ■ to the chairman, myself, and the meeting, for. the ungentlomanly- language made use; of by- .; Mr Kenrick, he has the impudence in hia " letter to off6r a challenge, Avithjbhe. assistance , of men of ability, to disciiss the question of ai municipality, 'which I think has been ssuffij cieutly ventilated before the public,;- ; ah(lwould respectfully remind Mr Kehnck that: . ' > it is not a.subject "to be settled: by. 'mle or my opinions, neither by- him as a Government. ~ official and a citizen, .but. by a majority of all who are concerned and :■ interested !ija; j;he: ;^ ; matter: .-..- .-.'.- . . ~:-U-.,i:---. i ""-' yC^^'^-r'-rvi. In reply to Mr Baiu^i^ho > h^S ;;coni&v to the rescue, of. a^V^brother , ; ", , official^ who states m. his. letfer-ttiat; W : "t;qKl\ him that. I was sorry. for ; sKe^^ mfetakei jiad. made the, previous meeting^iby sayjn^that I . thought ; Mr Kenrick .was facttiateW:Ky. in*. terested;motive3, L respfectfnUy;beg toydeny ■ - in toto ever saying so. vThe statement^inade by nic on, that occasion: was that I-.tjiioughfe two persons had made a.great mistake ajt the Improvement Committee oil . the night in question. „ One was myself, f or havnnjjStated. ''■.• that I would resign if Mr Kenrick'^motion . was carried and acted upon, cpntraiw to th&. request of the. memorial numerousj(J!? signed by the. inhabitants ; and. that Mif Kenrick. was i? the other person, for stating, that he lie would; resign if- his motion was not-^car^ ried, as I thought it would appear to the; public that we both intended to resign if wecould not carry our particular wish and • desire in fase of the majority of the \Com^ mittee, and would remind Mr. Bain that-other i persons were present as well as himself. i Also, that I think Mr Bain must admit that any person asldng Mr Kenrick the abovequestions at a public meeting in his presencethat it was his (Mr. Kenrick's) duty, as a public man and a Government official, tft answer them to the best of. his ability, and I appeal to a discerning public to decide if ,Mr^ Baio isliot laboring under a great mistake ta consider that any person is guilty of dastardly or cowardly conduct in publicly endeavoring to obtain information upon such subjects^ referred to above, and in the following letter, which is a.cbrrect.copy of one that has been. handed to me :— "Greymouth. . "Mr Whall— Sir— Y<m being a member of; . the Provincial Council, would you be kind 1 enough to inform me why the Government officials has so badly' treated "me. To giv& you an idea of the treatment I have received from them. My husband died on the 3th .- of Feb., '66. I understood, before he died. thatthe groxind he occupied belonged to him, that -he had the first right -to it. On ojt* about the 10th of Feb. I sent to the C'oux^; house to have the ground registered. Mr Kenrick, _in > a very ungentlemanly manner, fot into a passion, and said the ground had eeh registered 6 months before. The next .% day I came to Arney street, beyond the policecamp reserve, and had a piece of ground cleared, and commenced building on it. Be~ fore the hcuse was finished, Mr Kenrick sent me a notice, as agent for Hawks and Strouts^ to leave the house in 24 hours,- or pay-L5 per week for a small kitchen 8 x 10. I could not leave, for I had no place to go. 'About the 2,oth, Mr Kenrick scut Mr Flanagan! , ■ a poh'ceman, to kntow my intention about^flL leaving the house. told him thatMi^fll l^enrick co\Ud not, as a^Gdvernme.ut officialj "";i- --; ^: '-: " : " / "

act as agent fo>- any private individual, and turn, me out iv the street with a child seven y . months: old. In a day or so he and Mr g,- Kenrick sent me a summons to pay.Lsiu |. . advance for a week's reut. On the 23rd, the » Bailiff came and told me if I paid 5s fpr the summons' there %duld be ino more about it. He also.made ine giveup the key.: . J did so m oonsequence .of beiug compelled to leave thehouSe by: Mr Kenrick. I had the house & built m ' Arney, street, belo^' the police camp 1 '& f^erve- -The public of Greymouth having W « m f !y L3O for me to bury my it cosf me Lls for doctors and ■^funeral expenses. I had to borrow Lls more CTj 1 nnish my house with. A week after I m dcoupied.my house in Arney street, Mr H Iveyeil came and told me I would- have to m shift my house, that I was on Government m ground; I. asked Mr Revoll if Government K was likely to buy the house. He said there H was no chance of: their doing so. I asked him how knghe; would give me to move it. :■■ He said a fortnight, or- three weeks at most. 1 then had:to I)pito\v LlO to remove it. borne time after, Mr Bain, surveyor, put a . house; on; part of the same ground which I i was compelled to move off : since which the ground has been pegged off in allotments. Please can you inform me if I can in any way get? the allotment back, as wh^re I am now living is- low and swampy, and lam frequently flooded out. If you can in any way assist ; toj>pbjain possession of tlie land again,^yourwimc^nler a great favor on yours respectfully^/ % v^yK ; ■iW^W?W'OS<L "Jessie Oak." ' In wnclusia^t^, upon enquiry that by an extracjrdma'r^ap^ suppose legal process, strictly iiiaccoril^p with the rules of the civil service, Mr.B|jM is now the occupier of f our sections pii:. tliiaffrozitage line in Arney strect,:from ; vhieli;||B poor destitute widow aud,^phan Mstlvoompelled to quit, by those . whosd .dutyltw^'tp render every assistance t<» enable;the woman to. establish a home for herself and child; after having buen ejected by a bailiff from "a section which -was afterward sold at the" land sale, without improvements, at the iipsetVprices, and charged 5s for a summons and 'costs, without an order from a magistrate, to pay it. Sir, by inserting ihe enclosed in your next publication, you will oblige yours, &0., John Aktuuu Wjiall.