EGMONT ELECTION

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XVIII, Issue XVIII, 4 September 1912, Page 5

EGMONT ELECTION

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —At Kaponga on Tuesday night Mr Astbury made a great song abouD the famous £800,000 Post Office loan negotiated by Mr James Allen a few weeks back, and stated the renewal of this loan at 3^ per cent, was a "cruel and miserable steal," as the loan had been previously arranged for by Sir J. Ward and Mr Myers at 3f per ceri t I\ow, why does not Mr Astbur* make sure of his facts about a matter of which apparently he only has hearsay evidence to go upon. In" the House on luesday, Mr Allen read a statement rrom the Secretary to the Treasury to the effect "that no arrangement whatever had been made with regard to the renewal of the loan." How does Mr Astbury reconcile that with his statement? It's more than I can do. If the Secretary to the Treasury has no record ot an. arrangement for the renewal who has ? Surely he ought to have the clociiments referring to the -renewal in his hands.

Then again Mr Astbury cries out that the Government lias over-esti-mated its expenditure and underestimated its revenue for the ensuing year. What a back-hander for his own party, for the Government was not m power long enough to arrange its own Estimates when the«e were prepared, and the Estimates which Mr Astbury so loudly condemns are the Estimates of his own party! Keally the Opposition candidate should be a bit more careful and not die tnese pitfalls for himself. But why does not Mr Astbury tell us a little about the iniquitous payment of the legal expenses of the persons who were the defendants in the •famous "Hme charges." He does not tell us, for instance, that Mr Skerrett, counsel for Macdor-ald, and others was guaranteed his fees by the Ward Government and that finally the Government (Mackenzie, I think) had to fork out the sum of £504 to pay for the defence of men quite able to pay their own expenses. _ Further, when Mr. Myers of Bell Gully, Bell, and Myers, who was acting tor Mr Hme, on hearing of this agreement, asked during the inquiry it the Government would pay the expenses of both sides, Sir Joseph Ward said, <JSo» Now, when two years applied for his payment the late Government was in the unfortunate position ot being on a rerv rickety pinnacle, and so, to smooth the way and gloss things over,. Sir Joseph offered to pay Mr. Hine's costs. That gent eman nghtly declined to have anything to do with it and preferred to pay his own expenses. If bkerrett had never applied for • payment Mr. Hine would never have been offered payment. Why doesn't Mr. Astbury tell us these things* because he knows perfectly well that no right-thinking man or woS,nnn?: °uld YOU for a candidate 3v fg ai P- arty that ™uld be guilty or such improper conduct. If g^'emment were afraid of the result of evidence, at the Hine enquiry, it should have engaged iv s o?n co™se!, to w a tch its interests and hau Sd Co 6 eXPenS6S °f **«• Kai tp? OW ' J Q-St at a concl«si°n can you f JiL ,Sl V vhere Opposition canratw^ nfT S v^r dins the °Puna^ laiJway? I confess thax from his | statements I can't see what his intentmns are. Speaking at Eltham, Mi..Astbury stated, vide Star of Tuestli «T OT 27 > that "he «-ould sul gest that a new survey b?. made of md cih make Ihie' Startl'n * »«TAnrS H iil-in T Y&P% UP *owards Kaponga, stiikmg m, if possible, near the Ka- «• stiaiglit hue, north of the Eltham secme an appropriation for the Te Roti-Kapuni section of the Opunake line with the authorisation of ffihe? to Kaponga and Manaia," and- then comes the of hi statement: "He favored generally the S» lw*7 Commission's, rfute to Odu! nake." How on earth does Mr Astbury manage to make his Eltham 'and Manaia statements agree? I'm Thinkhff h-t/l ? ks •Woll't se6 thronsh his little vote-catchini; eanw —I ara c ,;; r "a~ristides. 3 I We are not, editorially, fi»htin* the cause oi either candidate in tfe present by-election for Egmont The ing toi themselves m the matter- buft as an act of Simple fairness wa h<^~ reprint the following notf 'which S peared m Saturday^ Star, O y e r M r" Astbury's signature: "Tbire is ?' S& tyif ra7v\ ddress Silvered at Eltham and piiblished in the Star to O pu n ake , v lde the Oommwi-;Tre Poit. I made-this .clPar at M&vri* and w ls h my remarks there to be Sd