“WE ARE SEVEN."

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14364, 15 May 1920, Page 6

“WE ARE SEVEN."

(To the Kill tor.) Sir,- —What a yarn Mir Hcv’oir Seven amt .lorry Band of Martyrs were spinnine on page four of your issue of llio J2Mi. Do please allow mo spare for comment, and to sec if “the reasons why" will stand a scrutiny by sidcli ,elil. They developed "a definite policy”; yes. and were a very lons lime comm,? to the start of it in practical work. The electors found flic lai! quickly enough recently. The riprill people lo carry out a policy arc Mic people who have faith in that “policy." That’s true enough in one sense! Evidently the pr.licy hatched by the “siek seven” hadn’t much sinning in it —let alone solid substance —else why did I hey abandon the lot. like school kids because llie electors turned down Ilnur scrap-iron clcclric outfit? I would suggest 11 1 : 1 1 the whole is made up of parts, like (hot definite policy of Sewn Sisters! The public minid liekeystone, and it evidently sliatt-red the whole fabric of tiioir faith. AnoMmr thing. Mr Editor. Some of us thought (lie Town Clerk’s comments on certain councillors’ naughty conduct in selling, motor lorries to the borough was Ih■ • ( reason some of "us,'’ res’gned. '1 was the result of llie poli after nil! Yet Hit* I Town Clerk had lo invent some rig- i marole in your paper on Ihe, meaning of ins report at a previous council meeting to persuade Ihe nalriolic seven hi avoid an awkward pass at the visit of Ihe Prince! I wonder if llie general public know how near we were lo missing a sight of the Prince in Hamilton as a result of Ihe “bow-wow and kow-low-10-me" notions of the manly seven. So "Ihe issue was highly teehnieal." "so highly technical that the ratepayers could not judge on it themselves." That is little short of a down - right I —deception. The public did judge. Kvidentiy Ihe electors thought that the "highly technical" experts ha I floundered absolutely out of llp-ir depth. The one (rue comment Ihe Sacred Seven make is lhat il was a vole of nnconfldenee. That is quili- obvious—and personally I am pleased lo require I no highly (eelmical acumen lo enjoy liosimple spoken fact. Had [ been one of Hu- befogged individuals who were lo blindly trust this galaxy of expert—well. 1 would have missed the good joke “no confidence.” And “Ihe work of Mie Council could not have been carried on with an obstructionist clement in it!” Do fhev mean the work of the Council or llie work of "The Cabinet” of the Conned? Mr Kdifor, it amounts to this—“if you don’t think as 1 think, well shut up and remain silent." And the Retired Seven are offering for active service again. Why? Because they have "been asked," They must have, decided that point. Air Editor, before, their resignations were in. That was a ftirt of the prearranged policy surely, a part of the “definite policy" they were working on. As they further remark. The recent poll was not an expression of the real feeling of the town,” I for one would like (o know whal olher'emphasis they need lo be ; convinced. “They arc asking for it." and they are going In “get it. on Ihe hip,” even if we send lo Christchurch or Dungaree for ll—and the horough will pay the call, no douhl. as it has done before. And Ihcy have “(he interests of the (own at heart!" i All- Kdrior, can you inform nie what is , going lo become of the principle, an 1 the principal as well, of Ibis progressive little horough if we arc lo indulge such highly technical experts as the “Hoary Seven" have proved up to Ihe present. | moment? “We” will “lower the rates"! Air Editor, some of us are j “old birds,” and have not forgo Hen that the rale in the £ was lowered on an enhanced valuation once before, and the gross amount payable became almost double that of the previous year as a result. This elementary thimble trick is played out. As a body I think llie electorate wants the rates procured 10 he widely expended. They do not grumble at the amount demanded, hut at the foolish profligacy of (hose responsible lo Ihcm for that expenditure. What lias Hie newly-elected “manager" to do with the rales department? The newly-eleeled manager is lo look after Ihe gas and cloclricily departments, and | his dulies are not connected with the 1 borough engineer at all. That is un- j less, if relumed as councillors, another highly technical and not understood scheme is to he hroughl forward bv llie Seven Conlorlionisis. Tin- question of "recurring maintenance" is to he cured also, Air Editor! Thai means we are only to have two layers of sand per monlh spread over Hie borough roads instead of half-a-dozen. Won’t fin- motorists lie done oul of a pleasant pastime? Xn pebbles to shoot over Hm fences and into the gulter. No, it will he more humps and some!; or Is it a covert threat that liiey (the seven) intend at last to inflict concrete roads on the long-suffering electorate? That will mean real interest—not at heart, but at the bank. The possible comment in derision is inexhaustible—Hint could he made on llie long-winded and hackneyed oiecloral bunkum of tha jack-in-the-box hunch again seeking to foist their lurned-down opinions on (lie ratepayers. Your space and patience are probably definite, AH- Editor, so really this letter must he quickly concluded; but i do hope that the twaddle of Ihe 12th will again appear in your issues, that Ihe people may rend it as carefully as il was written and criticise 11 as il was not expected lo he by Ihe gen I h-men who subscribe (heir names. .Misunderstood” would 'lave been a hotter signature after accusing the very people they beg a vote from of not being capable of judgment. Paragraphs i lo s of their lelter suggest a tremendous lot. of abstract and "up-tlic-slecve” work, hut wo want the material proof. They have not, supplied il by deeds done. Aly name is It. H. CLARK. Victoria street.