REPRESENTATIVE FIRING. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2798, 25 January 1871, Page 3

REPRESENTATIVE FIRING. TO THE EDITOR.

;••- ;4How me to call your attention to; ■tW unfair manner in wbioh one of the repre- I •©entativeß of No. 1 Company was chosen. pß»y;the GoTernni^tit regUUtions^ ieaoh Com-. |ja*iy sent one man to represent it at the! sffringifor provincial representatives for eyery ; 15 on the roll. The province wan divided into three difltricts, in each of which several •Companies were placed. The Company re- , spreaentativesj who were to be chosen by such 'firing as the captain shouldappoint,,were.to 'fife7oii "certain days,,.and,the three highest • scorers' from^eaeh district (if they scored 40 "points), were' to represent the province at the ensuing General Government matches in Auckland. ,■.•.•■'■'.• ■ . ■:- ■■■■■■ - •■. ; •':; •'-■•■

• Captain Wales, of No. 1 Company," left >lt to" the members of that Company to decide on-,the mode of firing by, which their. •iepresentativeß should be chosen, and they 'decided that there should be three competitions, and that the six highest aggregate scorers should be _ the Company Representatives j and it was agreed that in <case any one of the six could not fire in the •competition for Provincial Representatives,, the seventh man'was to take his place. The competitions took place, and the fob , lowing were the six highest scorers : Capt. Wales, Sergeants Douglas and Wedderepoon,; •Corporals M'Gregor and Stalker, and Vol. Oreaghj I was seventh, Vol. Mackie was ■eighth, and Corporal Treseder was ninth. Sergeant Wedderspoon- finding, I suppose, nfchat he could not conveniently go to Auckland, even if he 'won a place, wished, with ■Corpora! Wales's approval, to sell hia place as company representative to Corporal Treseder. If course, 1 objected to this, as if Wedderspoon could not fire, his place was mine by light; and also as 1 considered that it was wrong in principle that volunteers should buy and sell places as representatives in any snatch, on the ground that it would be extremely prejudicial to the interests of the Volunteer Force,. inasmuch as it would tend to give a mercenary character to what, should lie a position purely oi honour, and one •moreover which should only be attainable by excellency in the use of the rifle. Nothing was said about the matter till the week during •which the final competition was to take place, ■when, on Monday evening after the annual (meeting of the Company, Captain Wales, knowing that both Mackie and I were laid tip, appointed the next evening for Mackie, Treseder, and me to compete for Wedderspoon's place. I managed to get into town next morning, and there found a note appointing that evening for us to fire. lat •once sent Captain Wales, who resides at Pott •Chalmers, both a written protest against the firing, on account of the place being mine, and one by telegram. I went to the range in the evening and protested verbally against •the firing to the officer iv charge. Corporal Treseder made the highest score that evening. IText morning I telegraphed to Captain Wales to know if there was any answer to my protest. He replied that Wedderspoon would retain his place. On enquiry, I found that Wedderspoon's name had been sent in to. the Adjutant in the return containing the names of the Company Representatives, which return had not been altered. I therelore supposed that the matter had ended and

went out of town, leaving word with a friend, however, to te'egraph to me if any change was made in the names of the Representatives, in order that I might get into town by Friday's coach in time to claim my place and fire on Saturday morning (t^e morning appointed for No. ? t District to fire). But great care was taken' that no change should be made in time for me to get into town. Captain Wales, late on Friday morning, substituted Treseder's name for Wedderspoon's in the Adjutant's return, and as the names of the Representatives had to be sent into the Militia Office before 3 p.m. (at which hour the office closes) on Friday,, I could not get back in time to do any good. Thuß you will see that the ninth man in the •competitions by which the Company's Representatives were to be selected was sent in as rßk Representative, on account, as I firmly b|elieve, of his being a particular friend of the Captain's. I fancy had Captain Wales been 7th in the preliminary competitions instead of sth, he would not have been so anxious to send in the ninth man to the exclusion pi himself, even though he thought that by so doing he was putting " the honour of the Company in safe hands," to use an expression of his own. I must apologise for troubling you with what appears to be purely a personal matter, but my conduct in the affair has been very much misrepresented.—l am, &0., C. W. CUTTEN.!