A GRIEVANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1916, Page 6

A GRIEVANCE.

To the Editor. Sir, —Permit me, through the columns of your paper, to endeavor to expose what appears to be an attempt to make a cowardly attack on me by some unscrupulous person, or persons, by hiding behind the columns of your paper. The matter I refer to appears in your issue of April 22, in Maketawa notes, which read:—"Other men in Waitui district, which has sent every eligible man in it, want to know if it is fair that young men eligible in every way can come from other districts and take positions vacated by their sons. The patriotism of men who employ such birds of passage is of a very low order," etc., etc. Now, Sir, as I am the only resident of Waitui who has employed outside labor this season, I naturally conclude that I am the man whose patriotism your correspondent considers of very low order. The only man I employed (some 10 weeks ago) was not eligible at the time I employed him, but he has become so since and has gone back to his own district to enlist. I have always taken an active part in every patriotic movement in this district, and am. a member of a committee which we have for patriotic purposes Will your correspondent be kind enough, firstly, to name through the columns of your paper those other men in Waitui whom he refers to, so that'l may know who my enemies are, who are trying to hit me from behind; and, secondly, will he tell me what he thinks I should do to raise my low order of patriotism to the standard of his own high o~rdcr of patriotism? Does he think I should leave my wife and three young children and my farm and go and enlist? If so, let him go and set the example, and I will follow. Lastly, let me suggest to him that for the future he should make sure that he has not been misinformed before he writes anything against the character of his fellow man. —T am, etc., S. S. FAGAN . Waitui, April 29, 191 G.