LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1140, 1 April 1870, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

The Kdilor docs not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by correspondents. Sik, — I am sorry to trouble you with another letter concerning the post-office at Havelock, but as Mr. Peters, in his letter ia your issue of Friday last, tries to cloak the facts I have stated against him, I trust you will allow me a reply. In the first place, he relies upon private grounds of dispute between us as the cause of my giving up the postmastership. Such I distinctly deny. In my letter I only urged public grounds as my reason, and I stated facts which Mr. Peters cannot contradict. I have several witnesses as to the truth of my assertion, that on the occasion when I had to pay £1 out of my own pocket for the conveyance of the mail to Napier, the mail trap did not call or stop at the post-office, but drove by ; and that afterwards, when a demand had been made upon him for the payment of the money, he persistently throw the mail bag into the middle of the road, instead of driving to the door. What he says about the danger of the driver dismounting I perfectly agree with, but there is nothing to prevent the driver pulling up at the door, instead of simply throwing the mail bag into the middle of the road. With these remarks, I will decline any further correspondence with Mr. Peters on the matter. Apologising for again troubling you, I am, &c., W. H. Schultz.

"O temporal O mores!" Sib, — Like Napier, everything goes by fits and starts — a storm, and then a lull ; something, or nothing. A short time ago Mr. Ferard gave us a dose of uninteresting misrepresentations of Mr. Marshall's school. An issue or two after Mr. Marshall takes up the pen in self-defence, which proved how unjustly he had been ti'eafced in the matter of this school fund. Mr. Ferard, no doubt, was awaro of the circumstances of the original purchase of the school reserve, which now gives to the fund such a respectable income, and which must eventually be a rich and valuable estate. I think it but jusfc to Mr. Marshall that some recompense should be given him, in the way of endowing his school, with part of the funds that he was the medium of giving to educational purposes generally. We find that, in the year 1854, many settlers were extremely anxious for the education of the then growing-up population. Great difficulties had to be encountered, with no funds at their command. In their great difficulty, Mr. Marshall came to their aid, one that has ever proved himself a disinterested supporter of the education of the young. On leaving Castle Point, he had to break up a home, endeared to him by many happy associations. It would be needless to recount the very great obstacles which had to be encountered in the early settlement of a school at Ahuriri. Again, we learn that at the first land sale of the township no funds were forthcoming for the purchase of educational sites ; at this imminent juncture Mr. Marshall came forward and paid for this site out of his own pocket (one of the most valuable in Napier), and had the deed drawn out in the names of three gentlemen in trust for educational purposes. Had it not been for this generous act of Mr.. Marshall's we should now be without any funds coming in for educational purposes. Mr. Ferard should be just, and not take up the quasi-dramatic attitude and cry JEt tu brute, and when found to be wrong, slink away like a dog with his tail between his legs. For this last act of Mr. Marshall's many kind exertions he receives nothing but buffets, instead of a kind consideration for his many long and fruitful exertions in the great cause — a cause that is taxing the undivided attention of many of our brightest men in England. Trusting that ere. long he will receive that support (from those who have the distribution of these funds) that he is so justly entitled to. I am, &c, Settler.