THE COROMANDEL NEWS AND CAPTAIN HARGREAVES.

Thames Star, Volume III, Issue 1689, 2 June 1874, Page 2

THE COROMANDEL NEWS AND CAPTAIN HARGREAVES.

A few days ago it was reported that we were about to be prosecuted for libel in publishing a telegram regarding one Captain Hargreaves, received in due course from a correspondent at Coromandel. The alternative of standing a prosecution was to give up the. name of the person who sent, the telegram. We have been saved . that trouble The following article from Saturday's Coromandel News gives the name, and we . publich the article in , CN'der that it may ?be seen how the telegram originated.; We do not know Captain Hargreaves, but if he be guilty pf what the News charges against him, a residence at Mount Eden would conduce to public morality,, if not his own goodj; and if the News'* charges are groundless, then would the writer be none the worse for a short sojourn. wisb Governor Eyre:— We like to speak of a man as we find him, and as the question, of Mr liargrave's conduct, as master of the steamer Lalla Sookh, towards the public, and his owners .customer?, is just now under discussion, Ye shall say a word or two on that subject. As far as' we ourselves are ppncerned we have not only found him unciyil and impertinent, bat some r thing far, worse. He has done that which no man holding tho position ho holds sliould do, namely, mixed himself up in the party feab'n j which often distracts and divides a small commnity such as this. During tho late election he showed a mapked partisanship in. favor of Ijie Tokatea clique, and 'unfortunately all owed that feeling to interfere with' his duties as. master pf a public boat, ruu for the publip convenlenpe, There ere others than ourselvi % who are' made, in a business point of view to sufFer for Mr Hargravo's picjulices. We will speak at (lie present time, however, puly of what relates to ourselves. Wiicn the planfc ?f the News was ready for transmission to Coromandel; though it was down at the boat hours before she started, he left more than half of it lying on the wharf, from the Friday to the following: Monday. This was Jollosved up by his influencing tis pwners through false representations "to withdraw the " steamer's advertisement from our paper. Thenwis. the object gf injuring the Editop ofvthfs papev, in fa capacity as Herald correspondent, pur press parcels containing correspondenco to the Herald were purposely mislaid on their passage to Auckland, and tho parcpljs of Heralds sent downfor distribution nepc pu?poply mislaid, stowed away iv [ fh; cook's nall^y oti'one ooeaaieH, bq f^ei; cuiilcl not be fouu'd" Hie same evening of the. steamer's arrival in CoromandeU From time to time complaints were made, 1 ■ and the annoyance was abated for a week

or ten days and tb(?n renewed. At last, to ensure our press parcel of correspondence reaching the Herald the same day it was written, we were compelled to send it regularly by private hands, sending for some time also a press parcel envelope containing an old paper or two in the usual way to see how that would be treated. These latter never r. ached Auckland. But Mr. Hargrares carried his vindictiveness beyoud this, beyond the bounds of. the most ordinary prudence, for on one occasion he actuallj picked the poc'-iefc of one of the passengers, a Mr Wilson, one of the directors of the Plutus, taking from it the correspondent's letter addressed to the Herald, which Mr. Wilson was taking for us to Auckland. That letter nerer found its way to its destination. Since then Mr. Margraves, finding that our., supplements came under cover in Mr. Silk's press parcel, refused to bring them in tbi»jnanner, and forced us to have them sent as freight. This we did, and for a time or two. the parcels arrived,safety, but now,-though sent as freight and paid for as such, they are kept back beyond date. - ■ That, sent by Wednesday's boat—and that it was so rent we have today received "telegraphic affirmation—has not been forthcoming -up .to our going to, - press .this morning, and therefore our readers will excuse us- if. we are unable to furnish our usual supplement with this morning's paper. -In future we shall receive them by boot post,- and we scarcely think that Mr Hargrave will dare to tamper with the Mail bags. This Mr Hargrave is the master of the Lalla Rook,, who, .when, his Honor the Superintendent, and a ' member of his Kxecutive, Mr Dignan, came down to Coromandel, refused to wait a single mipute, when asked by his Honor to.do so, to take Mr Dignan on board, who was then seen hastening down" the Auckland wharf—yet who, on one occasion detained the; steamer half-an-hour in Auckland, to wait the arrival of some furniture belonging to Mr McCormack, and who, when Mr Dignan did get on board just as the steamer was moving,, needlessly insulted him with" an impertinent remark. We have said that Mr Hargrave, as master of the steamer, is impertinent and uncivil. ..He can'be otherwise if he chooses. The writer of this had seen him on tlje Coromandel wharf refuse to let-his "boat return for a.lady and.her family, who were going as passengers, jand then.within two minutes afterwards, and capin hand, comply with a similar request when made by one to whom he delights to toatiy. There are many in Coromanael who have peon discourteously treated, and disobli* ge'd by-this individv»l in business matters who have complaints against him, as well as we have, and to such our columns will be freely open; We hear' that Mr. .Hargrave talks of prosecuting the Grahamstown . Star forjibel. The author of the telegram is, one of the pro* prietors of this paper. He ig welcome to the information, and he may do. his worst. We treat his threats;; as empty wind, and were it not for the sake of his wife and. family, we should, before this, have prosecuted him'fop the theft of the letter already alluded to.