ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the Otago Witness.

Otago Witness, Issue 257, 1 November 1856, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the Otago Witness.

Sib,— ln your paper of Saturday last you insert the evidence of the case, Dr. "Williams aguinst Millar, without stating xvhal was the nature of the action. You might have as well inserted a story from the Arabian Nights 1 Entertainments, as no man can from the report undeistand the evidence. It is pure trifling with the public. If the facts of the case were inserted, the public would see that it is a matter in which they are concerned; as you have given it, the information is literally worth nothing. What was the reason of this ? Was it a fear of Dr. Williams, with whom you are now on friendly terms ? Or was it a fear of Mr. Jones, who is reported always to look to No. 1, he being a heavy subscriber ? Or was it shear disregard on your part to what benefits the public ? To these questions give what answers you please ; but I beg to inform the public of the following facts that they may be on their guard when they have to deal with gentlemen. The case was this :— An advertisement appeared in. your paper for contracting to erect certain guide posts over Flagstaff on the road to Wuikouaiti. 13r. Williams was the gentleman to whom oners were to be made. I offered to erect mounds either of turf or stone, 17 in the mile, at a certain rate, and a hut at the clump of trees, to be built of turf. The line was . (Continued in Supplement.)

Order of Merit. — The only distinction which should be recognised are those of the soiU, of strong principle, of incorruptible integrity, of usefulness, of cultivated intellect, of fidelity in seeking for truth. A man in proportion as he has these claims, should be honoured and welcomed everywhere. Some of the Duties of a Kirk Session. Officer two centuriks ago. — In 1616thfi|Eirk %: Session of Penh ordained " John.Tenender, session"-' officer, to have his red staff" iv the Kirk on Sabbath , days, therewith to wauken sleepers, and to remote \ ■ greeting bairns furtli of the kirk."

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left to myself, and the number was not less than 17 in the mile. I erected them of stone wherever stone could be got, and elsewhere of turf. The turf mounds I made at least 2 feet larger than my specification, and the house at the clump of trees I erected of split slabs in place of turf, because turf could not be got, and I made it several feet larger than the specification. During the erection, Dr. Williams , had seen the progress of the work without objections, and Mr. Jones also bad seen it and only objected to the line which I had followed in one place ; and I altered the line to meet bis views, thereby erecting several additional mounds. When the work was j completed, I requested Dr. Williams to examine the work, but he did not do so. In a few days afterwards he paid me £20 of the contract price, and proraised me the balance shortly ; but when I called foxit be made some objections because some of the j • mounds were down. I found these had been thrown down by cattle ; but after a good deal of altercation we mutually agreed to refer to Messrs. Hans Strain of the North-east Valley, and James Stevenson of the "Wakari, whether or not the work was executed according to contract. They examined the work, and reported that it was executed better than the ' contract; but Dr. Williams not only still refused to pay the contract price, but raised the present action for £20, the penalty in the agreement for non-fulfil-ment of the contract, notwithstanding of £68 of the contract price being unpaid ; thus this same Dr. Williams tried not only to avoid paying me £68 of the contract price still due to me, but to bring me in for £20 of penalty. The Justices dismised the case with costs, thus proving that I was right and Dr. Williams wrong, yet to this hour he refuses to pay me the £68 due to me. He knows that lam a poor man and find a dificulty to bring the case before the Supreme Court. Mr. Jones is a large subscriber, and although Mr. Gillies objected to his evidence be cause it was evident that if Dr. Williams was not bound to pay me, Mr. Jones would not be bound to pay his subscription, yet his evidence was admitted ; he was certainly interested, but his evidence was taken notwithstanding. Mr. Scott's evidence which in many important particulars contradicted Mr. Jones, you have not inserted. The case is very important for the public, because it shows that no poor man should contract with any gentlemen without having an agent to watch over his interests, and without taking care that the contract be legally so formed that there shall not be at any time more than twenty pounds due; I doubt not if Mr. Jones had paid his subscription that Dr. Williams, although he is a gentleman, might pay me ; but as it stands there is due me £68 — part of which I paid to my workmen. The men appointed to examine the workjeported it better done than I contracted for ; but I must go to the Supreme Court to compel the gentlemen to do me justice ; and they know I am poor, and think I cannot go there. These are the general facts of the case, and the public will now understand whether or not they are interested in it. — I am, &c, . D. MILLA.It. Sawyers' Bay, 27th October 1856.