THE PATRIOTIC FUNDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11797, 28 July 1900, Page 7

THE PATRIOTIC FUNDS.

THE MAYOR IN EXPLANATION.

When a member of our staff interviewed his Worship the Mayor yesterday respecting municipal affairs, the question of the administration of the funds cropped up. His Worship, referring to some remarks made at the meeting of subscribers to the funds, said: — 'J Being absent from town and only returning on Thursday morning, it was not until the evening that I had leisure to look over the report of tlie meeting in connection with the disposal of the patriotic fund. lam exceedingly sorry to see that my position has been very much misrepresented indeed. So far as the report itself goes, the' only one who seems to have made special reference and mention of my name is Mr Denniston, and he said he was disappointed with the attitude Mr Chisholm had taken up, and that he had fallen under the glamour of the great autocrat in Wellington. ' If Mr Chisliolm had been present he would have spoken in quite a different strain. As a matter of fact, it is beyond Mr Denhistoii or any other person to find out what my altitude towards the patriotic fund was. The telegram I sent from Wellington was in reply to a telegram sent me by Mr James Mills, chairman of the patriotic fund meeting, and I' thought that the information that would bo of value to the Organising Committee and to Mr Mills was what, so far as I could gather, was the real position of the Government and the intentions of the Government with reference to fund —not what my intentions witli reference to the fund were. Consequently I attended not only the Municipal Conference, and heard oil that the Premier had to say there, but I was also one of another conference —a conference of chairmen of patriotic committees present in Wellington, numbering probably 15 to'2o, —who had a conference with the Premier on the matter, and it 'will be a surprise probably to' Mr Denniston, as well as to others, to learn that I w&a the only representative present who stated most emphatically to the Premier that if the intention of the Government was to make one fund for the colony I was quite satisfied it would meet with the strenuous opposition of the Patriotic Committees in Otago and Southland. When I heard the Premier's proposals I thought it was my duty, in reply to Mr

A House'built upon the Sand cannot have a permanent foundation; and the same may be said of every xmdertaking in life. Success, to have a permanent effect, must be built upon something solid, or it will crumble into ashes when seemingly within our grasp. The foundation of anything of value must be carefully laid, or it will soon become useless. This remark is particularly applicable in reference to our health, for if it is not' firmly established through the blood being pure and the stomach in regular order, we are liable at any time to be fatally attacked by disease. Holloway's Pills and Ointment lay a foundation of good health -which will be permanent and strong as a rock.—2-5

Mills's telegram, to send a telegram worded in the way it'was. From that message it will be seen that T did not commit myself to any opinion whatever, or take up any attitude to the fund. Moreover, at the conference, when the question of having a fund disbursed from a centre was mentioned, I stated distinctly that thai also, I was cjuite certain, would not find favour with the committees in the south, but that they would insist upon local trustees being appointed to administer the fund."

Mr G. L. Denniston in a letter to the Mayor, referring to this matter, wrote: —

My remarks were made in a jocular tone, and were so taken by the audience, but I should have known by experience that it is a dangerous thing to trust a joke to the tender mercies of reporters. As far as I can recollect the words I used were, " I confess to feeling a little disappointed at the tone of the telegram from our worthy and energetic mayor; it was necessarily despondent, and I fear he has got under the glamour of the great autocrat in Wellingto.i. I am confident when he again feels his foot on his native heath he will adopt a more confident tone." I had in my mind the statement in your telegrams that, in your opinion, legislation was " inevitable," and that the chairmen of the several patriotic funds were practically unanimous in desiring it, whereas our information was that we were supported in our opposition ,by chairmen in many quarters. From the account you have given of the proceedings in Wellington, to our local Patriotic Committee since your ■ return, they all, including myself, must be convinced that- you fought a good fight for our interests in Wellington, as might be confidently expected from one who has worked with such conspicuous energy and success .during the whole course of the patriotic movement since its inception.