MR. WASON IN REPLY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1308, 19 July 1884, Page 3

MR. WASON IN REPLY.

To thb Editor. Sir, —“ Lot the.galled jade wince, my withers are unwrnng.” Contemptible as Mr Wright’s effusion is, 1 hare been |requested to answer it. So far from making Mr Wright’s gross .treachery to his constituents an election cry, I challenge the electors of this Ashburton County to find in any speech from the first I delivered at Methven to the last 1 delivered at Ashburton, anything that justifies the assertion. Mr Wright denies having stated he would spend his last sixpence to keep me out of the Bouse. Will he kindly inform the electors if there is any truth in the report that he is contributing towards Mr Walker’s expanses ? I -can apply to Major Atkinson, Mr Bowen, Mr Ormond, Mr Montgomery, Mr Macandrew, and, last but not least. Sir Julint Vogel, whether or no I was in the House the useless creature Mr Wright pourtraya. Mr Wright, beyond his vote and his money, has little influence now in this County. Let any. elector who looks to him for grievance apply to representative men like the Hon. W. S. Peter or Mr Andrew McFarlane for his character. A person signing himself “ Elector,” says I have solicited and obtained the vote of the largest landowners in the County. This is a deliberate falsehood. 1 have never solicited a vote from any one. '

Mr Friedlander wants to have proof that there were a cumber of electors on Vogel’s Committee who would have supported me at the general election had 1 retired in Vogel’s favor. Did Mr Fried- • lander not recommend Mr McFarlane to induce me to withdraw from the contest with Vogel 1 At Sir Johns Vogel’s reqnest, Mr. Horne, the chairman of my Committee, met Mr Walter, the chairman of his. Why 1 . Let the chairman explain. Again, the following letter, the original OS Which is with Mr Caygill, will give the (IsotOTß some idea of the pressure that .• wU attempted to be put upon me:— DEAR— ,There is a very strong feeling in this district that Wason should retire from the contest With Sir Julius Vogel. If he d es do so sow he will stand a good chance at the general election, in fact, most of the electors who are now anxious to see Vogel in the House will, support Wason against any local ijjfin in the future. Vogel at the general election, if he wants a seat, can represent any town he likes. I believe you are the .only man to whom Wason win listen. If you will write him a letter and address if to Quill’s hotel, Ashburton, so that -he may have it before Vogel’s meeting on Friday evening, when he could take the opportunity of retiring in favor of Sir -J. Vogel. Should he act upon your advice and do so he will obtain the goodwill of the electors now, which will not be forgotten at the general election. He has no . chance as it is ; Vogel will go in two to one, and Wason will be put to great expense and will have to appear again 'as a beaten candidate, so 1 hopetyou will write thoroughly in favor of these views,—Yours The letter I. will only say was written by a now very prominent supporter of Mr Walker’s, and was addressed to a gentle- , * mam In town with whom I have long had intimate-legal and personal relations, and whom the writer probably imagined would he enabled to exert the crashing influence that is only too often sabmit*ed to. I am, etc., , J. Oaxbcaet Wason. THE WAKANDI ELECTION. To thb Editor. ’J&B, —I trust that you will my op your valuable space in writing -above subject. Being essenaNewZealander, it is but natural ';Cll>at Xshould take an interest in the goi'. Lp’.yWf'ritoent of my native country, mo e es-■-/jrbeclaDy.a&the present time whan it is r .,lmperative that we should send represenid previous to of our legis■r, in • election ustom to cry opposing can- * estimation of not heave

him ? Those that put him in the place he has [lately occupied see their error, and while giving him credit for all he has endeavored to do, will hasten to take the advantage now offered of returning Mr Grigg to Parliament, a man imbued with liberal ideas, whoso brains and energy have placed him in the position he now occupies as the largest farmer and employer of farm labor we have, whose able and comprehensive address to the electors is a convincing proof that they have in their midst a man capable of taking a leading position amongst the statesmen of the colony, and I would wo had more like him, men who have confidence in the natural resources of our country, and the indomitable pluck to surmount the difficulties that beset ejery young place ; then the cry of the unemployed would be heard no more.

Sir, Mr Grigg is in every sense of the word a benefactor to the working man ; men who have been in his employ have so risen that they are now farmers themselves. I* not this the man whe, such a stake, we can safely depend upon to administer our affairs in a judicious and beneficial manner ? The working man who is desirous of securing a free home for himself and those that come after him is depriving himself of ever being able to do so, unless he votes for Mr Grigg and shows his appreciation of one who has probably distributed more hard cash to the working class than anyone in New Zealand, and who is now willing to give those abilities which he has hitherto so successfully used in a private way, in endeavoring to raise the colony out of the depths of depression which" our late legislators (save the word) have plunged it into.

In conclusion, I think we may safely trust to the sense and good judgment of the farmers, working men and other electors of Wakanui, of whatever denomination, who have the interests and advancement of the colony really at heart, to place Mr John Grigg at the head of the poll by a thumping majority.—l am, etc., Bakaia.