HAMILTON BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17782, 16 May 1921, Page 8

HAMILTON BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

Si"Vr~l. crave,, your indulgence that I may place" the faUowing- facts before the puhb'o of; this district s—Oh May-31, 1920, Mi..' (h Bb- Herbert, a weli-k'nown and respected.- resident of Hamilton, and an levelled? accusations against the - Mayor and Council of Hamilton in record" tor the Power. I w*ot* oa the same subject on June-1. To these* attacks, no answer was f made. Criticism, which waa at any. rate honest, was levelled" against' a pubic administration. On Saturday, last I ventured once more to ca}|., public. r attention to a matter which t have>reasoff to. believe is regarded by rrtatty responsible citizens as a grave scandal. At the municipal elections the ratepayer*'.were- led' to. believe that the finances- of the. borough' were> in a- satisfactory condition. Immediately after l the election! the true' state- of affairs was revealed* I asked; ; the Mayor to explain who. was ■ responsible for' a suppression of farte Which" in the nature of things appeared, and not without purposes No* reply has yet been made. The criticism is,, r submit,, not groundless nor irrelevant, The; limit' which may be ' .allowed public, men in ignoring criticism With impunity has, it seems tc- me, been passed. I believe that' frank and open criticism is the' life of: democratic governand that tt is welcomed by all » bcmest- and capable public men. It is ; itfE possiblo to conceive', such" arrogant silences except On. the] assumption that those responsible, themselves so> strongly entrencfied" in, Hampton that they can affofti to- flout' the heavens. These tactics sneeeeded once. I ask the Mayor: again to thevpYesericeiof.a.lafger- audience : why the- disclosure? of the-. state of- the Hamilton- finances was' postponed until after: the » assert' the right which, I submit, %lbnge to the humblest' citizen to be heard and to be answered. F. A. db la Mahe. Hamilton, May 11, 1921.