A WANGANUI LAW SUIT

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10966, 4 June 1903, Page 6

A WANGANUI LAW SUIT

TO THE EDITOB.

Sir, — I am more than pleased to sec that one of our dailies has got backbone enough to put the full report of the Wanganui law suit into its columns as it appeared in last Saturday's supplement of the New Zealand Times ; and if its readers will only picture themselves .in my position they will readily see my reasons lor saying as above, in commencing — to prevent misunderstanding through my name being mixed up so much with this case — I wish to say that mine was a separate case altogether, although very much tangled up with it. My joy, however, comes from I'vthe fact — as it now appears before the" public — tha.t I was innocent of being the* j cause of Mr Reid making sueh 1 an enor- • mous loss over the Aramoho Freezing • Works canning and butchery businesses, as I had actually made preparations to pay him his loan on the securities of these works 18 months before it was dve — in plain words, a year and a half before the term pf this *loan expired. Seemingly thi&--;wWvnot., communicated to -Mr .Reid, if to others, and however much more I should like to have to say at present re this matter to -explain, I prefer to refrain j in the meantime. However, I wish to say that ever since the trouble became known to me, which was on the 4th January, ' 1902 (nearly four months after my return from the Old Country), I have felt very much like wanting to creep under the earth, or out of the way of everybody, as it soon became apparent to me that the finger of public scorn was being pointed fixedly at me as being the means of this, poor old man, about 80 years of age, losing nearly all liis hard earnings. , j I can assure you my sufferings on this J account alone > have been quite indescribable. Thank heavens ! the atmosphere is , now clear in this direction and the trouble that has been killing me by inches j has now passed over my head. My own l troubles now I can Btand up to with a' good heart, and take my chance of having | my rights or wrongs adjusted, and if 1 am to be laid aside by the want of means j to get that full measure of justice that I crave for, I can go to work again and try td earn some more, and feel I will : not be found wanting to be able 1 to earn my own living and also the living of those depending upon me. I am now as still full of hope as ever that my monetary losses I may retrieve. But my commercial honour, once gone, I could never retrieve; and' df all- those I have been talking • to since this trouble began, by way of trying to explain the unfortunate position I had "been brought into, scarcely one of whom would believe that what I was saying was the truth. I ask them to do me the justice to believe me. now. Many times it has been my lot to spend a couple of,h&irs or so talking to one or two at a time, and when I had done, and felt satisfied in myself that they not only understood but believed, all of a sudden they would break out or ask a question or pass a remark that taught me at once they neither believed or would not Understand, and all my talk and pains, had been in vain. So after what I have already stated, is there not sufficient reason on niy part for my wanting this Wanganui law suit matter published far and wide, as I feel it is my duty to make every dffort to redeem or remove any reflection that -this must have cast over me? Just one other matter in connection with \ my present unfortunate position. It is one j that several have called my attention to, vizr^as to why I signed " Pauper" after my ''haiite, and which seemed to suggest "funny "business." Nothing of the kind. 'I can assure you I have been reduced to a pauper through fighting my case. I took an affidavit in December, which was filed in the Supreme' Court, that I was a pauper.- I have been living on* charity ever since, and have got no means of my • own. In March last I had to submit to a very searching examination by the Court as to this plea, and have been told I stood the test renlarkably "well; and after earning such a title of distinction, surely I may be permitted to use it. Hence my reasons for signing myself Thos. Mitchell, Pauper, Arainoho, which' is my true name and address for the time being. Finally, I can assure you that my disposition is rather to starve than to beg.* But rather than, give in, and seeing that it was absolutely necessary to get ' some outside financial assistance to carry my case on', and knowing all the facts as I must d 0, ,1 said to myself, I will ask for help from a selected few. But, with the exception, of one> or two, my selection was all the same as discovering bad eggs. Notwithstanding. all th^ I regret to say that the refusals I got came .from' those whom I claim to have Been the means of putting hundreds of pounQs almost directly into their pbekets in the past. But, thank Heaven, Providence came from the quite unexpected. One gentleman in particular volunteered assistance whom I do not remember speaking to but once fdr a very short while before in my life. Naturally, I can .point to- him and say he is a 'white man' if ever there is another. It is my intention after these present troubles subside to apply to the necessary talent, when I shall be . able to give the real .material to produce a drama that ,will introduce all these -genuine characters on the stage fdr the education and advancement of our future generation. It will be a purely colonial production— " Wanganui at that; and I feel certain it is bound to startle as well as amuse the whole play-going world for ever after, and will be known as "The Drama , that Made Wanganui Famous." — I am, etc., THOS. MITCHELL, Pauper, Aramoho.