CORRESPONDENCE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 12003, 22 October 1906, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Mayor In Reply.

TO THE BDITOB.

Sir,— "Ex-Councillor" considers he has a grievance because I. took no notice of hia complaints as to the cost of taking the opinion of the ratepayer* on the question of electric tractidn. I never intended to do so; in fact, his estimates were bo grotesquely incorrect that they carried their condemnation on their face. All I was concerned with was to refute his untruthful statements about myself. I see ho is at the same game in his second letter. His assertion, .that my, first official act wa3 to raise salaried officers from ,£2OO to .£3OO and give others, .considerable increases js an absolute falsjehdpd. What happened was this. The Council unanimously resolved to grant increases to various officers amounting in all to .£165. The action of the Council in so doing I am quite prepared to defend. I have always" believed that men should get good pay for good work. As a matter of fact the ouestion of these increases was under consideration long before I took office. Let me again urge "Ex* Councillor" to sign his name to his letters. That would be fair to me, and would save other ex-coun-cillors, who value their reputation the h-onble of coming to me, as several havo done, to assure me that the letters were not written by them. And now one. or two words as to the Borough finances, I quite agree that our, overdraft at the end of the year will be bigger than it is now. I', was careful to point that out when first •I, .took office! I showed that > during the preceding, "i' 2 months the district fund' had gone to the bad over <£4,000 and that unless the position was faced thvige must get woTse. I urged the Council to make provision cither by an increased rate or a loan : "but I was not successful. Who is to blame for the result? Certainly not the men who pointed out the facts and asked t^at provision should be made accordingly. As to whether the ratepayers ought to be satisfied witli my administration, and as to whether I am responsible for the "bickerings" at the Council table, these matters I am quite wreparod to leave to the decision of my fellow citizens. I certainly decline to discuss them with a gentleman who refuses to come out ito the open, and who seems to have conscientious scruples against the truth. — I am, etc.,

C.-E-.-MACKAY