KHANDALLAH DOMAIN.

New Zealand Mail, 11 August 1898, Page 30

KHANDALLAH DOMAIN.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As one interested, may I be allowed to take up a portion of your valuable space to deal with some of the points raised by •Observer," although perhaps it were better to ignore the ebullitions of anonymous writers. If "Observer" felt aggrieved at the epithets proclaimed from behind the hedge of " Linnseus," is it fair that he should, from behind his hedge, retaliate upon the first head that came into view ? That head appears to belong to the small party which guaranteed by their own little properties the repayment to the bank of the sum advanced for the purchase of • some 30 acres of forest land for preservation as a public domain. Badly some of them could spare their subscriptions, and the overdraft, alas, is not wholly cleared off—this by the way. Now, I may assure "Observer ' that each one of the gentlemen forming the Association deprecates the personalities imported into " Linnsms'" letter, and avers that it did not emanate from him. He must, therefore, look further afield. These individuals form, I presume, the cotetie of "Observer." Coterie, or clique, in village life* is, I take it, the bourgeois expression for an aggregation of persons who do not happen to hit it with another aggregation, but, as nearly everyone in rhe village was asked to help in the direction of affairs of the domain, there can be no exouse for the suggestion of oliquism. Possibly some feeling was expressed at tbo retiring nature of some peoplo from wbooi assistance might reasonably have been expected. If they phose, however, to .separate themselves, well, what's clique for the goose is clique for the gander; Acnides, sulking in his tent, no doubt looked upon the world as a coterie. . . There are some other points in "Observer's " letter too palpably disingenuous for discussion. Finally, may I suggest to •' Linnseua" and " Obwrver" that it would be much more manly w<-re they to come out from behind their Ksguise3 ?- I am, &c, Khandallah, Aug. 3. A. E. Btbles. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —With your permission I will put "Observer" right about those sheep. They w«re turned into the school grounds on the >»dvice of mombers of the Education Board to aaewt in the eradiation of gorse, and with. £ thtnk, dUtinet benefit in that connection. I would also state that sotny of the were worried iu the school grounds by dogs, and their owner had ih praiseworthy habit, oi hMsdiug over to the school funds the amount 3 he received a-.; compensation for these 3c»w*. The committee were in fluids wliil' it lasted, ane. their only grievance against ?;he owner ii for removing the before they were all worried, but one doe?, "--eary of well doing under such •.frcu;?cancea I supnose.—l am, &c, Geo. McCiiiTMBY, Chairman of School Committee. Ktadaibh, August -i. TO THE EDITOR. Sit» —- 1 would not trouble you about the Khandallah Domain B»a».d but I hnar it is averted that I am the author of the letter in your paper oi" last week signed "Lin'sius/ 5 This! positively deny. I J^ 8 "' nothing whatever of the letter in question, either directly or indirectly, until I s«w *s. ittyour paper, e,wa oven now I have no iUo^

.'>.i•yr.f'fj.T V for' •'.■'l6

original guarantors who had the whole responsibility qi paying for this reserve, I feel bound to say also that the letter of " Observer " in your issue of last week is decidedly misleading. The meeting at which the ;names of the proposed board were suggested was a public meeting held in the : public school, and advertised for several days previously, at which meeting most of the residents of Kbandallah attended and several from Crofton. I believe every subscriber in the room was asked whether he wished to be nominated, and the statement that a certain few met and nominated each other is absolutely false. If others wished to be nominated, Why did they not attend the meeting ?—I am, &0., S. C. G. Vickejbs.