MR KEMSLEY IN EXPLANATION.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5387, 21 May 1879, Page 3

MR KEMSLEY IN EXPLANATION.

Sib,-— ln justice to myself, I cannot allow the report of the Municipal Council's proceedings last evening to pass without remark". Ido not mean to imply that you have omitted anything in your report of those proceedings; but ray conduct, as there 1 discussed, bears upon its face some little misrepresentation, and it is therefore necessary for me to place a " plain unvarnished tale"' before the public, and then they ;will fully comprehend the situation. 'Th6 ! 'Fire Insurance Association of Napier 1 promised' to' assist in supporting the brigade, (provided that the Municipal Council would guarantee to maintain it in an efficient state. The Council not being in, a position 1 to take over the brigade," it was Arranged that the guarantee should consist of the certification of accounts and favorable 'report ai to efficiency by the JJire Inspector. Now, if any one had to find fault with the appointment of Fire Inspector >ifc 'should -have been the Insurance (Association, who should have, been consulted ibejEore the .appointment was made.; . It was also arranged that all corny municatioii between brigades and Council ' should be conducted thrdugh the Inspector, but the Council have received the returns from the Spit brigade^ 'which have ngjer been. submitted; to- Mr Miller, or to myself. They have also received a communidatiob' 'from* the same quarter 'complaining- of my paying the Spit brigade ; subsidy, £5 short, •which" communication ha^T»evei*'been ; referred/' to me for an explanation^ but was digested' in committee, ; and liability to criminal proseoution fully talked of^l.-iO I';:!'. ;./.■.:•;-'.■•:;. i Now, this is the .explanation of the £5 busineflflu ,,Mr W. .Miller, mypredeeesflor, received from the Hawke's Bay Insurance Company 'the sum ; of '£2o -towards 'Fire Brigade. support,, £o of , which he handed to the Spit Brigade, and £15 to the Napier Brigade. '.When the Council caused the cheques to bY made out for the past quarter's subsidy they deducted the whole / of the '£20 from the *JN apier Brigade. . . Ke- { ferring.theso cheques back to .the Council would mean waiting another month for the;n)oney (already a month behind), and kttowirig that bpth brigades were in want of 'funds I rectified the error by paying to the respective Accounts their rightful due, at the same time writing to the Superintendent of the Spit Brigade, and requesting him to call and see me. The precedent- uWler' which I -acted was that my predecessor Had received the whole of the subsidy in one cheque, and divided it between the two brigades, such cheque unaccompanied by instructions. -In. respect to the application mentioned respecting goods per Mendoza the amount applied for was £16 108, for hose which had to be bought to replace some that had Keen' damaged by service, and not £27, as ybirgive i the impression. goods required from home are necessary to maintain the efficiency of the brigade'(as I have an idea that efficiency should apply to the plant as well as to the meraib.erg), >tlie Public Works Committee having promised some time back to pro-cure-the: articles required for this purpose. ■'"The steam fire engine has now its last set 'of pump valves in, the manual engine has 'but one length of suction hose undamaged} and other portions of the plant tfeiri'g in' a kindred position I considered it my 'duty to apply for them, and if not to the Council, to whom 1 ? If you will kindly find room for the above, ,1 promise not to trouble you any more about fire brigade matters, but adopt the apathetic course pursued by others,— I am, &c, Geo. V. Kemsley, Late Fire Inspector. /-. Napier, May 17, 1879.