ELECTRIC LIGHT LICENSE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5, 6 January 1914, Page 5

ELECTRIC LIGHT LICENSE.

THE MAYOR AND MR MASTERS.

[To The Editor Stratford Post.] Sir, —Mr Robert Masters lias had I his final say, and I have no doubt that he would leel much easier in mind l if the same applied to myself. He ' states that he is retiring because J have attacked him bitterly. That is [a matter J am prepared to leave to the judgment of your readers. The fact of the matter is that any excuse is good enough for Mr Masters to retire upon as ho finds the position |he is in, a most unenviable one. Throughout the conti oversy he has failed to maintain his contentions j and considering the tone of Ins let ters, I have treated him with •indul gence he has not deserved. In his swan song he endeavours to flounder ! out of statements he made in a previous letter, and whic'(i f proved quite contrary to fact. He states with reference to the deputation that waited upon the County Council: “Not one member of the County Council dissented from what Chairman Hath away, and Councillors Walters and Christoffell so justly and emphatically said, and the Council unanimously carried the resolution supporting the granting of the license.” it is futile to dwell further on this point, but no resolution was carried by the County Council, on' the question ol the license, when the deputation waitd upou the Council. As to the date of the license, it matters no: what Mr Masters may have said to the Hon. Mr Fraser, Minister fo Public Works; the license as prepared was submitted to the Borough Solicitor, and he advised the Borough Council that the license woulu render the Deed of Concession nugatory. On this point, I think the average person would take the opinion oi the Borough Solicitor before that oi Mr Masters. Later in his lettei your correspondent states: “As L. the Government being seized of the true position, the Government knev, everything, except that the Mayo, and Councillor Richards, and possibly the Borough Council, were so strongly, and I venture to add se. fishly opposed to the license.” Thi statement infers that the Govern ment being in possession ol’ the wliolfacts were induced by the deputation to ajter their opinion, apar from the merits of the case. As a picturesque illustrator of the trutl Mr Masters is sublime. Before th Borough Council deputation waiter upon him, the Minister for Pub!: Works did not know the terras of tr Deed of Concession, or that it eveexisted, and stated this without an, possible question of being misunderstood to the deputation. Toward the end of his letter, Mr Masteu harks back to the land-taking point and the conditions attached thereto f re-affirm ray statement that thconditions do not affect the issue o; the question raised, as the condition' do not prevent the license affectiu. the Deed of Concession, insomucu that the Company would talcs any land they required, the conditions being simply machinery safeguards iu the acquiring of the necessary lam: by the Company. As a concluding masterpiece of mis-statement your correspondent attempts to prove his contention that I stated the license was to be issued under the Empowering Act and quotes that I said: “The license was applied for under tin original Act.” He admits that I did not say the ‘Empowering Act,' but read in the latter act himself. I made it very clear which act the license was to be issued under, when I stated in a previous letter: “That the foundation of the Act. was laid by the Govern ment of the day, to prevent tin water-power of the Dominion being exploited by individuals and privat* companies.” That was the Act o! 1908, and this Act was amended in 1911. The Empowering Act was a short Act passed in connection with the deed of concession granted the Electrical Supply Company by the Borough Council and your correspondent fails to grasp a clear conception of this Act and the Public Works Act. In conclusion, Sir, I desire to thank you on behalf of the ratepayers for the space you have permitted to ba taken up by this controversy, and as the resolution passed by the County Council, relating to the license, is of the utmost interest to the people of the district, I would ask you to confer a further favor by publishing it, a copy of which 1 enclose.—l am, etc, W. P. KIRKWOOD, Mayor.