LYTTELTON WATERSIDERS

NZ Truth, Issue 477, 8 August 1914, Page 6

LYTTELTON WATERSIDERS

Stewart's Secretaryship.

His Righteous Reply.

Why no Balance-Sheet was Presented at the Annual Meeting.

To*se Editor. Sir,— Having had my attention drawn to the article m y«u*r paper of the 25th ult, headed fl Lyt«ton Watersiders," kindly allow me ofa.ce m your "valuable" columns to reply rto your unjust insinuations. I think that you, a man of intellect, I presume, and editor of such a "highly esteemed" paper- as "Norton's Truth," should have made inquiries into the true facts of the case before publishing such an article. Your informant, who is, or thinks he is, an intellectual "gentleman," has only sent you what suits his own purpose. He is trying to make believe that I had any amount of time to prepare a balance-sheet before the unnual meeting. I presume he did not state that the books of the Union had been locked up m the Coronation Hall for six weeks, and that they were only got out a few days before the annual meeting. That meant that I had six weeks' back "work to "write up before I could , start on .a balance-sheet. I had also to issue about 620 ballotpapers and make preparations for the election of officers, besides my ordinary work, • THAT IS WHY No" BALANCESHEET was presented at the annual meeting. Did., your informant tell you this? I don't think so. It .did not suit him. At the, annual meeting, a certain member of the Union, who said he could have done all I had to do m about two days, had a resolution to this effect passed:— "Th.at the, secretary be given to tho end of the month to prepare a balance-sheet;" but that if it took longer to do, he .was to do it at his own expense." Of course, this gentleman has far more brains than any ordinary person, At tho c'hd of the month the balance-sheet was not ready, and the "brand-now" secretary, l as you call him, took charge.' Now, sir, you -will agree -with trie that wjion a man has to' work m his own ume^and at. his own expense, ,he can please himself how long lie takes to do it. As I was working mmy own time, arid at my own expense, I just pleased Eoyself when I worked and when I did not On July 3rd, I took the books home, so as I could finish tho work without going to Lyttelton. Tho "brand-now!' secretary know all about this. I then worked at tho books at my own leisure. .You, must remember I was worklug at my own exponse. When' l was nearing completion, I went and saw tho auditor, and it was arrangod that I should .take tho books to him at 10 a.m. on July 10th. On tho Thursday evening, July 9th, I had finished, and had everything ready for tho auditor irt the morning. As you say,, an unfortunate flro broke out m the early hours of the morning, and tho books at which I had been working the previous night were destroyed, with tho rest of tho things, Tho reason why the other books wero not burned was that they wpr^o In'ony bedroom; but THEY WERE DAMAGED , by "aqua pura."< Tho .books; I had , been using tho night before woro m, the kitchen. On July 13th I attended a meeting of tho "Union. and gave a. full explanation of everything that had happened; but this apparently has been omitted by your informant. Why? Because it did not suit his purposo that everything should bo known Regarding tho expenditure, it is well known to tho members of the Union how the money was spent. From tho date of his joining the Union, -a cer- . tain person. .who practically has tho majority of the members on -a big string, has dono his utmost to financially cripple tho Union, and has been the prime mover of absolutely useless deputations and sub-committees sot up. Ho was elected on most of them. . The members of theso deputations all received the same rate of pay as if they had been working, viz., from Is 5d to 1b Sd per hour. Then, again, nearly all the meetings of tho commltee wero held during tho day, nnd tho members , were paid at the same rnto as if they had been working. Some of tho offlclnis even had their train fareH when they attended metlngs. A member was sent to Wellington to • ORDER RULE BOOKS. ETC., from the "Maorlland Worker." Ho wns paid IBs per day wages, 10s per day hotel expenses, £1 for Incidental expenses, and had his saloon passage, with deck cabin,, paid for him. That is how they spent the money. In adclition to that, there was £6 10s going every week m wages, besides the ordinary expenses o^ tho Union. Of courso your( informant know all this, but apparently ho dfd not let you know. Why? Because it did not suit him. Ho only wanted to mako people think that tho members of the Union did not know how their money was being spent. Regarding tho resolutions pussca, they mean nothing tome. Perhaps tho Union will have to recognise their liability towards mo. Porhnps your In- 1 formant will give you tho reply sent by tho Chrlstchurch Klro Board. . Hud that resolution, that I bo required to work at my own expense, not been passed, the bookH of tho Union would not havo been tttk«n from the otliee ln> Lyttelton. But, of course, tho members wore being led by «■ 'man of bruins. He had never made a mistake, oh, no. He lift* proved to tho members of tho Union that ho l» Infallible. Ho ought to KCt an Illuminated address, or a watch-chain, for his loyalty. In summing up. 1 may »ay that nil that appear* In your paper In only an attompt to lower mo In tho estimation of my frlonilß.— l am, etc.. R. M. STEWART. Chrlstchurch, 30/7/' H.