CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 130, 2 July 1853, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sic, —I will not pretend to say, on my arrival here yesterday, that I was surprised at your not having given publicity in your columns to my last communication ; of which a copy is noAV before me. I might have concluded, it Avould not have suited your, and your friends, political views and predilections. I have noAV to request that on Saturday next you will publish it as an advertisement, and charge the cost to my private account. Thus the public will be able to judge whether in fairness you ought or not to have suppressed such a communication.

I have no intention of noticing any remarks Avhich you in your leading article, your correspondents at Akaroa, or the Rev. Mr. Aylmer have made upon what I deemed it my duty, as Crown Land Commissioner, to do for the protection of the interests of the CroAvn and the public in regard to lands attempted to be conveyed by the Agents of the Canterbury Association to individuals. You have readily published the notice to me by Mr. Aylmer. But it is to be regretted that that Rev. Gentleman did not consider it would have been proper and fitting to state what took place at a friendly intervieAv I had on Friday the 10th instant Avith him, and Dr. Watkins. At its conclusion, I begged they Avould understand that it Avould be my duty to prevent them and others from claiming a right to lbe voters for the Akaroa District upon the strength of such lands being conveyed to them; particularly, as I Avas given to understand (and this is borne out in Mr. Aylmer's fnotice) that if I remained passive, it was intended to be construed into an admission on my part that they had good titles to the lands noAV in dispute. To my surprise, the following day, though Aye parted, seemingly on friendly terms, I had sent to me, open, into the Inn at Akaroa, this extraordinary notice. Mrs. Campbell was still more surprised than I was, and considered it necessary to Avrite as follows to Mr. Aylmer. " Mrs. Campbell presents her compliments to Mr. Aylmer, and begs leave to correct a mistake he has made—no doubt inadvertently—as to the time she asked him if his vote vvas preA'iously engaged for the office of Superintendant, and she considers she is bound to do so, as she Avas the person Avho spoke to Mr. A)'lmer. Colonel Campbell Avas too ill at the time to attend to business of any sort; but he alloAved Mrs. Campbell to ask any person she pleased for their votes, and Mr. Watkins and others promised to support Colonel Campbell, and he of course has iioav lost their votes, by doing his dutj-. It Avas on the 14th of May, Mrs. Campbell spoke to Mr. Aylmer on the subject, and she particularly remembers that day, as it Avas on the Saturday before Miss Aylmer and Mrs. Green left Akaroa for Lyt-

telton,. consequently, before the List was exhibited of those Avho claimed to register their Ajqtes. Akaroa,'J»ne 14th, 1853." As you are likely to hear a great deal from your precious Akaroa correspondents about my having been on the 23rd instant struck off the Electoral Roll of the Akaroa District ; I have, in fairness, to request that you Avill give publicity to the accompanying correspondence between Mr. Watson, Returning Officer, and me. I think my Electoral friends in the Canterbury Province need have no apprehensions as to the ultimate result.' I ani, Sir, Faithfully yours, James Campbell. lyttelton, June 29th, 1853. Akaroa, June 9th, 1853. Sir,—May I request you will do me the favour to acquaint me why you have now made an alteration in my qualification as an elector for the Akaroa District. When I last sent in my claim to be registered, I merely set forth that I was—as lam still—" a householder within the Town of Akaroa, at a rent of £50 per annum;" and in the List of Voters, my name appeared, upon your authority, as Returning Officer, as I believe, with a _€5 qualification only. "In the List.now exhibited outside your office, though I merely stated in my claim that I occupied the same house at the same rent per annum, to my surprise, I find you have made me a voter Avith a £50 per annum qualification. I have, therefore, to request you will, as soon as possible, have this rectified, that it may not be left, till the List of Voters has to be revised by you, and any unintentional mistakes in claims to vote come to be corrected ; and no form of application having been given in this District, as in Wellington, &c, there will likely be many. I conceive that my qualification ought now to be only £10. I should have made this request sooner, but severe illness has hitherto rendered me unfit for business of any kind, and it was only a day or two ago that the circumstance was brought to my notice. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your very obedient servant, James Campbell. John Watson, Esq. ! Akaroa, June 9th, 1553. Sir, —I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date, and to state that according to Public Notice given, a Meeting of Justices will take place on the 23rd iustant,at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Akaroa, when all objections as to the qualifications of applicants to register, &c, will be heard and determined. At present I am unable to make any alterations whatever or assist you iv anyway. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, John Watson.. The Commissioner of Crown Lands. Akaroa, June 11th, 1853. Sir, —Your letter of the 9th instant has not a little surprised me. Am I to understand from it, that you refuse to comply with my request and will not rectify an error which I am sure you have unintentionally committed ? Should you, however, persevere in this determination, I shall hold you, as Returning Officer for the Akaroa District, strictly responsible for any injury or los< I may thereby sustain. 1 find that a Notice has been served upon me by Mr. D'Oyley, of Akaroa, that "he objects to my claim to be registered as a voter for the Akaroa district, on the ground that I have not such a Leasehold Estate in possession as is required by the 7th section of the Act of Parliament, intituled-an Act to Vraiit a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand." I have been so unwell, as I before informed you, as to have been unable to attend to business of any kind : but you were no doubt aware that, through this serious error on your part, the above notice has been served upon me. Am I, therefore I beg to repeat, through your refusal to rectify it, unnecessarily and to" the injury of the public service, to be detained at

Akaroa to attend a meeting of Justices on the 23rd instant, -when, as youtellme, all objections as to qualifications of applicants to register, &c, will be heard and. determined ? I do not ask you for assistance of any kind. What I want is, that you will at once rectify the error you have committed, and which I am convinced you have power, as Returning Officer to do, or I shall be under the necessity of forwarding the correspondence which has taken place upon the subject for the consideration and decision of Government. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, James Campbell. John Watson, Esq. Akaroa, 13th June, 1853. Sir, —I have the honour to inform you that I duly received your communication of the llth instant, and remain, Sir, Your most obedient servant, John Watson. The Commissioner of Crown Lands.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —Allow me to represent to your correspondent Avho alternately signs himself " One of, and Not one of, the Committee," that he can have very little regard for the truth of any statement he may attempt to palm on the public, but, like a boy Avho told one untruth, endeavours to hide the same by concocting one hundred others. I Avill pass over the falsehoods contained in his first letter (they are too notoriously before the public), and confine myself to a portion of that in your last number, Avherein he modestly states " that after attending the Constitutional Society a few nights, &c." he withdreAV. Why did he not have the manliness to tell the truth at once, that he was ignominiously expelled by the Avhole body ? Sir, he Avas expelled, and by a class of his fellow colonists over Avhom he considers himself so much superior. As the Constitutional Society met for discussion on various public matters j why' did he not prevent anything objectional from Mr. Davis by some doggerel rhyme, tragedy, or comedy ? and prevent himself being kicked from the stage on the representation of a piece of his own composition ? I still remain, Sir, One of the Constitutional Society. Lyttelton, June 20, 1853.