THE RIFLE MEETING.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XIV, Issue 2505, 17 April 1896, Page 3

THE RIFLE MEETING.

(TO Till-; EDITOIIi. Sue, —I must again defend myself against your footnote to my letter iu Wednesday's issue, find will produce evidence iu my favor. After the meeting was over on Saturday night, I was standing at my shop door talking to Mr J, P. lloruo when Mr Ingpen came up and in course of conversation I said—“ Well, the ammunition is for sale in small quantities to anyone who wi-hes to buy it.” Mr Inn-pen replied, “I understood that Mr Jhmicttwas gohig to propose that at the meeting, and i am surprised that ho did not do so.” Now. Mr Ingpen was opposed to me on the ammunition question. Messrs Nelson, J. P. Horne, 11. P. Horne, and Langhan, who were all at the meeting, positively assort that no such oil or was made, and I think, Sir, that their word is to be relied upon equally as much as your reporter’s notes. 1 have now done with the subject. I have brought forward witnesses who corroborate my statement, and who are not interested iu the matter, beyond fair play, and I think I have proved my case. —lam. itc., Joseph Chicken. P.S.—lt lias just been discovered that alter all the same brand of ammunition that I brought from Oamaru has been sold by the Club before, and Mr Nelson used some of it at the 200yds range on Wednesday last, so that those members who object to me using the ammunition have evidently found a mare’s nest. [Mr Chicken is answered by Capt. Burnett, and our reporter has no occasion to say another word.— En. Ex.]

(to the editor). Sir, —I was surprised to see that Mr Chicken impugnes the correctness of your report of Saturday’s meeting. It is true I did not say “ I will buy your ammunition,” but what took place was this ; During the discussion after the passing of the first resolution, Mr Chicken said, “If I am to part with my ammunition why should not I have the money for it ? ” I replied, “ Oh ! if it is the money that is the difficulty, we could soon arrange that.” Mr Chicken replied, “ No, it is not the money that is in question, it is the principle-” Of course I cannot vouch for the exact words, but that was the effect of the conversation, and every person who was at the meeting to whom I have mentioned the matter quite understood the conversation in the same maimer as your reporter. Messrs G. Loveday, W. Loveday, A. Cox, G. T. Hall and Ingpon all bear out my statement as above.

What Mr Chicken says about being allowed to use the ammunition he brought back from tire Hillsborough and Trcntham meetings is quite true, but as I pointed out at the meeting the Club also ’bought ammunition at those meetings for the use of the members, while this year the Club bought none at the Oamaui meeting. Mr Chicken said that had I asked him not to use the Oamaru ammunition for the remainder of the Shield matches, he would have agreed with me. Well, as I did not know that ho or anyone else had brought a round back, I could hardly be expected to ask him personally not to use it. What took place at the Committee meeting was as follows: — During a conversation, I said to the other four members present who had all been at Oamaru, “ If any of you fellows have brought back any of that good ammunition from Oamaru I don’t consider it would be fair to use it for tho remaining ranges fop the Shield.” Mr Chicken at once got much excited, and said that ray remark was aimed at him, and that ho intended to use the ammunition, I then said, “Very well, I will propose a resolution that that ammunition shall not be used,” and did so accordingly. Tho ammunition question never entered my mind till'the meeting was half over,and had never been mentioned to mo by anyone. You will see that I did exactly what Mr Chicken contends for, that is mentioned the matter in a friendly manner before the resolution was proposed, and had he agreed with me tho resolution would never have boon proposed. I may say that at the Committee meeting Mr Chicken said that this ammunition question had been discussed between members of the Club both at Oamaru and in Woodville, so that he could not

have been so much surprised as he wishes you to believe he was. My action in this whole matter has been taken in the interests of the Club, and would a similar matter crop up again I should take exactly the same action. My only wish was to keep all competitors for the Club’s shield as far as possible on a level, and not to allow anyone to secure an undue advantage over the other competitors. lam absolutely disinterested, as I am not competing for the shield. I think I can fairly claim to have the Club’s interest as much at heart as Mr Chicken or any other member, and can honestly assert that I devote twice as much time to the Club’s affairs as any other member, and that so long as I am connected with the Club I shall strive as I have done in the past to see that its competitions are carried on fairly to all members without fear or favor to any member. I may add that if the resolution passed at Saturday’s meeting had been a genuine expression of the Club’s opinion on this ammunition question, 1 should have resigned my position ; but when three members, who voted for the resolution rescinding the Committee’s resolution, told me that they had voted in error, and a member who did not vote said he had refrained from voting for the same reason, but that he was in favour of the Committee’s resolution, I saw that in reality the great majority of the Club approved of my action in the manner. I should not have written this letter had not several members of the Club asked mo to do so, and I do not intend to enter into any further correspondence on the subject.—l am, &c. HUBERT Burnett. Woodvillo, 17th April, 1890.