CORRESPONDENCE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5161, 24 August 1878, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by correspondents NAPIER HARBOR BILL. Sir, — In your issue of this date you have published a letter re the " Napier Harbor Bill " now before Parliament, signed " A Traveller." The gist of this letter comprises two gross mis-statements. Firstly, it states that the object of the bill before Parliament is- to grant further borrowing powers to the Harbor Board ; secondly, that the works executed have proved a complete failure, as 20 years ago large steamers anchored opposite Watt's wool stores. The untruth of the first assertion you have contradicted by publishing the synopsis of the bill. I can only add that the t*o small pieces comprised in the schedule, to be made over to the Harbor Board, contain lands conveyed ra 1860 to the Superintendent of Hawke's Bay and his successors for harbor purposes, but which since the abolishing of the province have not been made over to the Harbor Board ■ by Act of Parliament, although the rents accruing from the principal part, that on which Messrs Watt's wool stores are situate, have been paid over to the Harbor Board account. Respecting the second assertion, that large steamers have anchored twenty years ago opposite Watt's wool-stores, I can only call it a großs falsehood. Moreover, I am prepared to pay to the Napier Hospital the sum of one hundred pounds sterling if it can be proved to the satisfaction of any two Justices of the Peace (to be selected in this district by yourself) that a steamer of the tonnage of the Rangatira ever has anchored there. As the Herald in those early days was only published twice a week, and as it confined itself principally to local matters, the arrival of steamers was carefully reported; if the "Traveller's" statement is correct, the columns of the Hawke's Bay Herald will easily prove it. If the " Traveller " iB not able to prove the correctness of his assertion, I will be justified in stigmatising him as a malicious libeller — probably the well-known individual who, in his blind prejudice against the harbor works, has frequently told deliberate falsehoods, and who, although signed " A Traveller," is generally to be found within a few miles of the Spit. — I am, &c, The Bar. Napier, August 23, 1878.