HYDE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1602, 5 August 1882, Page 13

HYDE.

NOIES BY JUVISNIS. July 30th.

We have had a regular downpour of rain, hail, and sleet during the past day or two ; and even while I pen my notes the »ky looks dull and lowering, and promises us some more wet weather. We arc very quiet just now, nothing out of the common disturbing our usual routine of daily hard work. 1 noticed in your last issue the death of Mrs F. G. Odell, the wife of the under-secretary to the Education Board of jL>unedin. Mra Odeli was the eldest daughter of Mr Wm. Annett, of Hyde, and her early dea.h ha,» called forth the expression of much Bympathy for Mrs Odell, who was for many years tho earnest, indefatigable, and successful teacher of our local school

Your " Kyeburn own " seems to have taken my few remarks auent his criticism of Hydonian county affairs administration very badly. Uid he for one moment suppose that I would allow a statement such as he made to go uncontradicted 1 He no w comes out in the role of one sadly abused by "Juvenis." Wouldn't ie have ssunded better for my confrere to have replied to my criticism when it appeared in print? Oh, no! that wouldn't "wash"; the matter was fresh iv tho minds of the readers of the Witness thon ; but now, after the lapse of a month, when peoplo have forgotten about the matter, he creeps to the fore as an abused innocent, and accuses me indirectly of untruthfulnees. Since he ha« done so, 1 shall, with your permission, just prove ruy former statements, and thon leave tho matter to your readers, in re the bridges I mentioned, 1 may say that I speak from personal knowledge, and not from hearaay. Firit, there is a footbridge at M'Hardy's, thon one at Morgana, one at Thomas', and one at Messent's— the latter a traffic bridge, if I correctly remember. Thisstatement I defy "your own" to contradict. But moro. What about the road from Mescenfa to Little Kyeburn ? How many people will It benoflt? and mark tho expenditure, £110 and £76 as per last week* Chronicle. Does your Kyeburn own" consider all this correct, and can he deny any of tho statements ? I fancy not, " facts are stubborn thinirs " I may say that I have no wish to dispute the necessity of all the woks I have enumerated, but when a correspondent goes into matters affecting a district 21 nii'es from his own, he Bhould be sure that his own district is free from any defects, and remember the old adage about people who live in glass housos, &c. I may bo a very young man, Mr Mitor. If I am no doubt it is * delect which will boou pa* away-too booh, I fear; and my vision may be as contracted as your "Kyeburn own," but my statements »re certainly founded on the bast of authority—to wit, " ocular demonstration." Ido not wish to interfere in Kyaburn matters, and the bridges mentioned might have spanned the lovely Kyeburn's muddy strf am for manyyiars to comu ere I should h*ve ventured to make charges of favouritism. I represent a district in your columns, and when a correspondent 24 miles distant makes an assertion in reference to this district, it calls for notice at my hands. As for writing untruthfully, when your "Kveburnown" sheets home to me any statement made by me which is untruthful, then he may with cause make such charges; but until he does so, thny must inevitably be tro&ted as base and blandcrous insinuations. Ido not know who is tho more personal in this affair, my Kyeburn friend or myself, but when a man tells another that when he writes truthfully he will be a valuable " own " he should be ready to prove that the person he charges does not write truthfully. That "your own "has not done, and I think he will find it a hard matter to do. In conclusion, I may say that I have newish to abuse my Kyeburn conjrere, who acts the role of iniured innocence so «eU he evidently «, like M. W G troubled with his " conscience," though tho evils he tries to remedy lie so far away. Remember, my dear friend, that " charity begins at home ami wlUi ibou next takesfc thy "canstit-utu. al walk along tho banks of the lovely Kvebum, take earn Urn thou Stumblesv on 0W of the bridges I hoyo warned.