HYDE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 645, 11 February 1882, Page 3

HYDE.

(From our oirn correspondent,) Hyde, January 30th. T must this week trouble you with another communication from Hyde. I observe that in your last week's issne you give a few extracts from a leiter received from Mr John Dowling, of this place. I confess I felt rather surprised when I read the extracts, i>nd observed that I was held morally responsible for the petty thefts which, I am sorry to say, occurred here some time back. Who, I wonder, is Mr Dowling's informant ? He, I am sure, must have been a very bias«ed man. 1 give yen a quotation from a letter written by me to your columns, dated the 23rd May, 1881, and appearing in your issne of May 26th, 1881. It is as follows : "I am sorry to see that reports to your paper are exaggerated. I bear of none but one nugget being found, which weighed over four oz. M'Nally and Gill were the lucky mpn, &c." In the same letter I remark as follows :—"So I would strongly deprecate a rush of people until something worth while ia found." Row, Mr Editor, here is a sufficient refutation of Mr John Dowling's unsupported statement, and I now ask that gentleman to quote an instance in which I

have exaggrrated if he does peccavi. With the people of Hyde I am clear, but to show others "how things st.uid I write this It will be noticed that in some of my late letters I have been ine l in.Kl to take the part of our teacher in some local di-pute. Coupling this fact with MrDowling'sevidentaninVosity tii that gentleman, I leave your readers to judge the rest. I shall Dot in this instance take the teacher's part, ns I know that he is quite able to do so himself. I m;ist certainly coiii-rat-.late the proprietors of the ' Mount Ida Chronicle' on the very hiyh compliment paid to it by the writer of the letter in question. The proprietors of the 'Mount Ida Chronicle' must feel highly flattered when they are told that the inability of the writer to seek i-edress elsewhere has caused him to condescend to make their valnable shest the mslinm of his grievance. But a trace I would, in conclusion, advise Mr bowling to become a subscriber to the 'Mount Ida Chronicle,' and in future read for himself, and then if he chooses to criticise, T, as "your own," am qnite agveable to be hauled over the coals ; but mind, gentle reader, I'll retaliate to the best of my ability quid pro quo. On the whole I think I cannot conclude these remarks in a more suitable way than by quoting to the writer of the effusion mentioned the following old and worthy adage. " Cobbler stick to thy last," or "ne siitar ultra crepidam." The windy weather we have had latelj is very unsuitable to the ripening crops. Harvest will be in full swing in another week, and but for those horrid wind? we would be able to blow a little. As it is, I have always said, and say so still, Hyde crops cannot be beaten this year; that is, within a,, radius of fiity miles. ' The Hydonians are going to have their usual race meeting on St Patrick's Day. A large and influential committee, consisting of the following gentlemen, have been chosen :—John Laverty, chairman and treasurer ; J.ohn O'Brien, secretary ; P. Laughton, A. Trotter, P. Kinny, J. J. Ramsay, R Trotter, H. M'Aulv, A. F. Casper, N. M'Nally, R Gill, W. Mardling, J. Grant, and W. Davis. The Coninnttee is, as t said, an influential one, and members picked represent all parts of .the place. Subscription lists will be forwarded to all parts of the district, and no pains will be spared to jnake it a success.

February Sth. As I gave you all the news in my last week's letter, which you were compelled to holdover, I have little news to report this week, save that our worthy friend Mr Petrie (for whom I still entertain a profound respect, instilled in younger days) was here yesterday, and examined the young hope-' fuls of our town. I was not present to see the young ones put through, and therefore cannot say how they passed, but no doubt a report will be published ere long. The children have now got clear for one year, and. judging from olden times, I should be inclined to think that they were not sorry that such is the case. It is not now, as in the days of yore, when half a-dozen senterces of reading, and the parsing of "five brown cows" formed the staple part of the examinatory regime. Harvesting has begun, and the boisterous winds spoken of in my last letter are now stilled, fine sunny days haring succeeded. At the Wednesday's School Committee Meeting, Mr John Laverty was re-elected chairman, and Mr L. Mathewson Secretary and Treasurer for the ensuing year.