Original Correspondence.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 74, 7 September 1865, Page 9

Original Correspondence.

• ~ — -Q — — —. . - Dtjr Correspondence Column is at all times open to the temperate "discussion/ of- questions of public intei-est ; but we do not hold ourselves. responsible for the opinions; expressed by .our Correspondents. In ho Case can' any' letter be inserted^ unless accompanied by the real name^and .address, of the wrjter, not for publication, but as a guarantee -ofgood faith. - ■ • ■ - , (To.ihe Editor of, the . Bruce Herald.) Siß^-Having, acknowledged that my statement was correct,, as to /the Speaker's salary having been regularly. drawn, T will not enter the arena of discussion to point out in what respect, the saihe cannot be said regarding youra, but conteh\- myself by assuring you that .1 was n<st~ aware of the existence of Major' Richardsoh's letter -of / the 19th January When T wrote my remarks on, 20th July, so that againf. "your ranclom shots fall harmless.; ...-, It certainly" appears^ straiige that the then Provincial Treasurer did-: not take notice of .the" SpeakerVletter, but it may be that he then, as many others do now, : considered it. of such an" equivocal" character — ■a whim simply— that the "wished-f or policy" shonld be not to take any notice. " ' NotAvithstanding "the authority," it. is too much to ask the public to believe that Major Richardson Avould be guilty- of so ; much tall talk as to the " hi) an6ial : position" without thoroughly examining the accounts of the Province ; but, sir, if my letter of the 20th July was the first intimation to Major E,. that his instructions had hot been attended to, then all that he.hassaid regarding v "our expenditure" has been "in ignorance," to use a mild term Major- R.has^ no doubt been living "principally" at -Wellington, but that does not prevent him getting the statement of accounts published quarterly iri the ' Gazette' ; besides, three months after he wrote that letter, he was in Dunedin. at the meeting of Provincial Council ; as a member of Conncil he had those accounts subriiitted to him, and further, as Speaker of the Council, he had these accounts specially submitted to him by the Auditor, under the. . terms 1 of the Audit Act. On the first page, and amongst the very first items in those accounts, appears the item Speaker's Salary, paid to 31st March, 1865. I add no more : a poor farmer cannot afford to permit his bank account to run for seven months without beino- examined. ■.-.;. ..,.'. fi -.. Yours, &c, I "• ' f JOHN L. GILLIES.