Public Opinion

Southland Times, Issue 22822, 22 February 1936, Page 10

Public Opinion

Letters must be written in ink and on one side of the paper. Unless a signature, not necessarily for publication, accompanies a letter as a guarantee of good faith, it will not be considered. An asterisk attached tu the signature to a published letter denotes that some portion has been deleted by the Editor, a right which is exercised in questions of public policy, libel, good taste and fair play. GORE UNEMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE. To the Editor. Sir, —In your issue of February 18 I notice a report of a discussion by the Gore Unemployment Committee when a letter was sent to it by myself, asking for a return of the amount of unemployment money that had been spent on Mr Whittingham’s farm at Waimumu. It would appear that _ before the letter was read Mr Whittingham remarked: “He knows that I voted against him and worked against him at the elections, and that’s whfcre the sting comes in.” I am very pleased to know that Mr Whittingham did work against me, because I have been told that it added a large number of votes to my list, and after the numbers went up that should have satisfied Mr Whittingham that his working against me did not avail anything. Then Mr Whittingham said the amount of money spent could easily be ascertained. If that is so why then make any fuss about it? Mr Murray asked whether the inquiry was in order, and the chairman, Mr W. D. Shelton, replied that he did not think it was. Now I did not ask for an inquiry, I asked for a return. Mr Murray and Mr Shelton ought to have known that, because the letter was perfectly plain. Then Mr O’Byrne said that Mr Whittingham was just as much entitled to take advantage of the scheme as any other person; it would appear that Mr McDougall was trying to get one back on Mr Whittingham for the incident on election day. Now, sir, I would like to ask Mr O’Byme what reason he had for assuming that I was trying to get one back on Mr Whittingham. I also might state that any member sitting on a local body cannot get any concessions of interest for himself, and if it applies to local bodies then it should apply to this committee. The chairman said that if the full facts were known it would be found that the unemployed workers had actually been favoured in the matter of free transport beyond what they were entitled to. Why not let the facts be known? Here is a committee actually on the job, and it seems to have no record of what it is doing. Mr 'Whittingham said the scheme had been a success, because he had taken men out of the town to do useful work, and a tremendous amount of valuable work had been carried out. That is so, and this valuable work added £2 an acre to Mr Whittingham’s farm. Mr O’Byrne moved that I be advised that the information would be supplied on application to the secretary of the Southland Executive Committee. This was seconded and carried. Mr Murray remarked that the previous Government was now out of office, and throwing mud was not going to do any good. Does Mr Murray not know the difference between a civil question and throwing mud? I maintain that Mr Whittingham or anyone else who is gaining a personal benefit should not be on that committee. —Yours, etc. d. McDougall. Gore, February 19, 1936.