MR J. S. MYERS AND MR TANNER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11889, 12 May 1899, Page 3

MR J. S. MYERS AND MR TANNER.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I am glad to see the questions Of Mr Myers in print at last, and I know yon will be equally courteous with my replies. For convenience, I will number the five paragraphs consecutively. 1. Mr Myers brought a • petition to me immediately before the session of 1898, and though I cannot fix the date, I "will accept his statement that it was three days before the meeting of Parliament on June 24, which would make it June 21. I did not read the petition then, or at any other time before presentation (for which I have never ceased blaming myself), but, glancing hurriedly at the document, I remarked that the handwriting was beautifully executed. 2. I did nob have it in my possession four weeks before presentation. I presented it on July 6, as can lie seen in “Hansard” of July 7;• and the time from June 21 to July 6 is fifteen days. - 3. The “ Hansard ” statement that I had not redd the petition is correct, and the explanation is that I had.. presented in 1897 a petition on the same subject from the same petitioner, and, naturally (but' wrongly), assumed that the petition of 1893 recited the same allegations in the. same order. It seemed a work of supererogation to read through several pages of closely-written matter, on a'subject I was familiar with. Re the petition of 1897, anyone can see in the Public Library the Journals of the H.R. 1897, Session 2, Schedule of Petitions, page xx. 4. Re the withdrawal of the petition July 7, I had no option, as anyone can see by reading “ Hansard,” No. 4, p. 282. lat once returned the petition to Mr Myers, with word that the language was objectionable, and he shortly after, forwarded me an expurgated copy, which I presented after careful, perusal,‘on July 27. - See Journals H.R. 1898, Schedule of Petitions, pagexxvii. The Committee on Public. Petitions'' considered it. and reported to the House August,3o .that, as no •additional-evidence was forthcoming since hearing the petition in 1897, the Committee saw no reason to alter, its previous decision—“No recommendation to .make.” When this news reached petitioner, he prepared a fourth petition, which he sent to Mr T. E. Taylor, M.H.R., who uresented it on October 15. and on which the Committee again reported November 3, that it had no recommendation to make.” 5. I.have.po knowledge of any allegation that only three members of the P. P. Committee had been present at the hearing of Mr Myers’s Jfc e till it was contained in a question me by Mr Cox at. Phillipstown, April. 26, 1899. This must refer to the hearing in 1897, when Mr Myers appeared before the Committee in support of his own case. I know that a committee will sometimes appoint a 'sub-committee of three to draw up a report, but, if tin 1 allegation is correct the Chairman of the Committee could best furnish an explanation. I was not a member, and know nothing of the matter. —I am, etc., ' W. W. TANNER. Wools ton, May 11, 1899. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I see “the irrepressible” Mr J. S. Myers has been trying to show that Mr W. W. Tanner, M.H.R., failed to - answer certain questions he had put to him at Phillipstown, a few weeks ago, concerning a petition which Mr Myers forwarded to Mr • Tanner for presentation to the House of Representatives last .session. As Chairman of the Phillipstown meeting, I may be allowed to contradict Mr Myers’s statement, as Mr Tanner answered all the questions put to him in a very full manner, and I gave Mr Myers a great deal of latitude in his remarks when he replied to Mr Tanner’s explanation, so that Mr Myers is quite incorrect in his-statements. The meeting seemed to have no sympathy with Mjr Myers’s amendment traversing the vote of confidence proposed in Mt Tanner, as he could only get his seconder' to vote with him against the motion. Further comment on the matter, so far as I am concerned, is not necessary, as I do not wish to enter into a discussion of the rights or wrongs of Mr Myers’s, case.—!' am, etc., ■ ■ JAMES W. HUNTER. Creek Street, Linwood, May 10, 1898.