Harbor Engineer.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 203, 2 October 1888, Page 3

Harbor Engineer.

[TO THE EDITOr..] Sir,—Your contemporary having for some! time past persistingly refrained from comJ menting upon matters of local interest sav J and except the external Harbor question, itj attack upon the Harbor Engineer comes upon! us as a surprise. That the relations of al public body with; its servants is of publij interest no one will deny, and therefore thj is to be congratulated upon its nevi departure. The article, itself, however canJ not bear scrutiny when looked at from il common sense point of view. It accuses th® Engineer of withholding information as t<l the terms of his appointment. Forthe sakA of argument I assume that he did withhold the information. We are told that upon his answer would be based amotion for dismissal. The Engineer must be taken to have foreseen the result of his answer and therefore he was perfectly justified in refusing to reply. The required information is upon the records of the Board and was easily obtainable. In the face of this it looks much like a trick to make him condemn himself out of his own mouthin other words to make a statement which would be subsequently used against him. Next as to the question of the Engineer dismissing himself. Only a fool would seriously expect him to take such a course and the interpellation by Mr Townley on that head must have been intended as a joke. Il could not have been the result of previous thought, for it is patent that as the Board appointed the Engineer so the Board alone in a formal way can dismiss him. This itself should demonstrate that the Engineer does occupy a different position to the other employees of the Board. Of the Engineer personally, I know nothing, never having exchanged more than half a dozen words with him. Nor have I allowed my private opinion on the Harbor question to influence me in this matter. Yours etc., Perplexity.