MR CORRIGAN'S ACCOUNT SALES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 17 April 1915, Page 4

MR CORRIGAN'S ACCOUNT SALES.

To the Editor

Sir, —Mr Corrigan has accepted my challenge to prove dishonesty against the Patea Works, but up to' the present he has forgotten to deposit his £50. Mr J. R. Corrigan charged the Patea Works with having received per lb more for cow hides and id for bull hides than Wanganui Works and crediting" him with £36 less. As this was a most serious charge, I challenged Mr Corrigan to prove his insinuations, and 1 deposited a cheque for £50 with the Star Office, they to be the judges and the loser to forfeit, his £50 to the Hawera Hospital. Mr Corrigan now seems exceedingly anxious to widen the scope of my challenge so that he inaj- have more avenues to escape losing his money, but we will in the meantime take one issue at a time, and that in terms of my challenge, lest Mr Corrigan side-steps or wriggles.

Mr Corrigan asks "how we came to have the original account sales to deposit at the Star Office if he had sold the hides." Now, although J.R.C. sold his own hides and instructed usto send same to Wilson and Canham, we instructed Messrs Wilson and'Canham to send the proceeds from the hides to us, so that we could pay ourselves the freezing charges then owing to the works by Mr Corrigan on: frozen meat. A statement of Wilson and Canham's weights of the hides,, prices, etc., as well as cheque, was sent to the Patea Works as instructed,, and. a duplicate from Wilson and Canham was also sent to Mr Corrigan. Yet this candid gentleman tries to persuade readers that he did not know until recently from my letters that his; hides-did not go into the Patea hide contract, and that he now finds he did not get a square deal to the tune nf nearly Id per lb on his hides. Unfortunately for Mr'Corrigan he publishes, a letter from the Patea secretary to himself, written in August last, w*hich appears in yesterday's issue of the Hawera Star. Mr Corrigan had written Mr Brewer re the company charging him for hide sacks, wharfage, 'exchange, etc., he evidently thinking or having a try to get the company to give these items in, and Mr Brewer

wrote Mr Corrigan as follows:. "Re charges for sacks, wharfage, exchange, etc., we do not know what arrange^ ments you made with the buyers, consequently you will have to "see them about this matter." So had Mr Corrigan^ forgotten that he had sold his own hides, he was reminded again to the contrary by our secretary by letter published. Yet Mr J. R. Corrigan has the audacity to tell the public that he only recently discovered from my letters that his hides had not gone in our contract and that he did not get a square deal. The public will see when Mr Corrigan raises such points as the company paying for sacks for his hides, wharfageon same, exchange on cheque for hides, and asked the works to pay the droving on his cattle from Manutahi to the> works, we were quite justified in stipulating with the purchasers that the money was to be sent direct to us in exchange for the hides. I hope Mr Corrigan will be quite satisfied with, my explanation as to how we came to have the original account sales, and I have no doubt that my shareholders and the public will appreciate the firm manner in which the" company acted.. Mr Corrigan has made many statements and attributed same to me, then sets to work to demolish my supposed statements, and J.R.C. attributes the following statement to me: "Mr Powdrell, in a subsequent letter you stated I did the whole of the business my self > and that you had nothing to do with the disposal of my hides, nor did you handle the proceeds." Now, Mr J. R. Corrigan, I never at any time, made any such statement about the proceeds; in fact, we did handle the proceeds, as I have stated. Now, Mr Corrigan, re the challenge. The amount I will increase if you like, and I am sure the Star will allow you yet a few lines to say when you have deposited your cheque, which I venture to say yon have no intention I whatever of doing. However, if you will not accept my challenge or apologise, you may yet have another oppor-' tunity to publicly "explain your charges against my company/ .In !'the meantime the public are well able to judge between us on past performances. ' W. D. POWDRELL.