Page 7 Advertisements Column 1

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 135, 25 February 1918, Page 7

~ | ; b j ol | To the Electors of Wellington North. ■ LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,qo , . ■ T I beg to inform you that on Friday, tho <!3na I addressed a letter to Mr. John Hutcheson asking him to assist ine in tracing a lie to its .source, At ten niinutes past.nine on Saturday, tho 23rd, I received from i lu i ll ? u^c ' l€Son an evasivo answer, in which Mr. John Hutcheson said, that, unless ho received a reply before noon he would hand over the correspondence to the papers. •'nw-Do/vJ?»r. n ?? n 011 23r d my reply was' delivered at Me. HUT- • UMJibGN S OFFICE, and in that reply I asked-him to hand over the > Correspondence to the public Press. •V , "Evening. Post'' of the 23rd the first two letters wore pub•«nL" ■ • , Hutcheson did not publish-the third. The whole correspondence is as follows— 22nd February, 1918. . lo John Hutcheson, Esq.,' . Wellington. . • Dear Mr. Hutcheson,—ln Tim Dominion this morning it is report- ,.. ed.as follows:— - . „ r '"Mr. Guthrie: But wliat meeting, had been called to bring out v - Mr. Brandon? '.. ' • ••••.. "The Chairman: The licensed' Victuallers." • ■ You, I understand, were chairman on the occasion. ; y I would be much obliged if you would kindly answer the following questions:— .. ." 1. Is.The Dominion report correct? and, if so, .• 2. What, authority had you for making the statement attributed to you? • _... 6} .view of the.repeated statements,-I- have made denying ' the tying insinuations that I have been brought forward by the liquor party, J conceive thai m the interests of, truth I am justified in asking you •to assist me m tracing the lie-to its source, and that vou, as an Honourable man, will have no hesitation in doing so. ' Yours faithfullv, " _ .(Sgd.) A. de B. BRANDON. Mr. Hutcheson's reply . ;A.de B. Brandon, Esq., Wellington, ... 10, Mount Street, 22iid February,' 1913, ' . .Dear Mr... Biandon,—Your letter of even date reached me a little arter mid-day. t * .You ask if The Dominion's report of a certain- interjection (statement, call it) mado by me afc last nights meeting at Kel- ■ burn |iiosk is correct, and' my answer is: Yes, substantially. (2) . . . xou fuither ask me to give my authority fdr the statement. •• ■A 8 1 .'® always possible to convey precise and definite meanlng by. means.of an.lnterjectipii, pefmit ine-tu elaborate, as follows:— the sense that the Licensed Victuallers' Association, . in' its official and_ representative .character, and With your full knowledge y. and.consent, was tie sole originating cause of your standing-for Wel- ■ Jington North, mv interjection did not properly convey my meanmg. That the.L.V.A. _was. ably if. unofficially represented on the -. deputation into whose hands you placed your political fortunes, I Mow"— whatever. My reasons for holding that view are as ■ ' L l ] I r h^ e r™ 5 ," 1 / P r n int ed notice.calling a special general of V.A. for. 11 a.m. of thi 12th inst., in the Masonic Hail, Bouloott Street.. Business: Parliamentary. On tho back of the notice there, is written what purports to be the replies of three pf.the candidates (Mr. Luke s name beiug omitted) to the Trade's three test questions... ... A. Are you in favour of voting for a repeal of anti-shouting ? • • ' B. Are you in favour of a repeal of 6 o'clock? -G. Are -you m favour of three-fifths majority vote? (T-cPpy, these questions verbatim.)- The printed notice form and . . the written notes all the appearance of a report to the meeting . . of a. delegate. What purports to ,be your answers to the above craes°tions must, have been eminently, satisfactory to the Trade. ; . (2) Shortly, after the announcement of your candidature a prominent member of the L.V A. asked me what I thought of the politi- . cal outlook. I replied that I thought it deplorable that Mr Brandon should be splitting up the National Government vote at the risk of having an anti-war pacifist elected. He rejoined, "Well ho is . . . our candidate, and he-is not going to stand down!" ' Having now given you reasons, for my interjection of last night . together with the Significance I wished to attach to'it, will you now , ' on your part answer me these questions? ' 1. Did any member of or anyone on behalf of the L.V.A. wait upon you or write to you to ascertain your views on the , . three questions A, B, and OP 2. If so, were your replies to all three in the affirmative? 3. As an honourable man" do .you not expect to-get the vote . .. and influence or the Trade .in this election? As your replies ,to the foregoing, questions are frank and satis- • factory so shall; my apology and amend ho. sincere and ample should I find I have erred. .*' . . , As I know no better means of "tracing a lie to its source" than the public Press, I shall "in tho interests of truth" hand this correspondence to the Press, unless you give me good reason to the contrary -before noon to-morrow. Yours faithfully, (Signed) JOHN HUTOHESON. fhe following is the letter that Mr. Hutcheson thought fit NOT to publish v Wellington, 23rd' February, 1918. To. John Hutcheson, Esq., " '• Wellington. , '■ • Dear Mr.Hutoh'eson,—l have to thank you for your letter of yesterday's date, which came through the post and was received by me together with my other private and business correspondence at ten minutes past nine this morning. You aB a.business man must know that your demand for a reply by 12 noori carries with it a hope that my reply may not arrive in time, arid that, you will be üble to publish your—may I say disin- ' . 'genjio.us?—letter without contradiction. _ Ido not 'appreciate the intolerant suggestion that the gentlemen asked me to become a caudidate—gentlemen who form opinio'is . based upon their own personal knowledge and cxperience-unoffici-' •, aUy ropres«nka tho L. V.A.1,- -X®? drag in a ..notice .calling a spccial meeting of' r flie L.V.A. for the 12th mst. nu J2c iTl U T CE 1 MENT O . F MY CANDII,A I URE WAS MADE 0N T HE .Bth : INST. T A comparison of dates will' show that at the ■ t«jw of the. meeting I had certainly not been'put forward by the - , L.v.A. :: i _ If -the members of the L.V .A. subsequently decided to support .me that is no justification for saying. I was"brought out by them. I must confess that Ido not understand a gentleman of your • . known, ability, while guarding yourself against pronouncing on the ■ authenticity of the document in your hands, permitting yourself to make what looks very much like an attempt to stab in the back, for you make this comment: "What purports to be your answers to the above questions -must have been eminentiv satisfactory to the . Trade." . Fortunately,.l am proof against such an attempt, if attempt there Were, because my endeavour is, and I hope always will be. to do justice to every man, and, if I have the supoort- of the L.V.A., it is -' because of their .knowlodge of my leading principle, and I thank them'for their recognition. '. .... Your seoond Teason, like your interiection at the meeting, is not based on authority, and you, knowing that, should not have relied oil it without having first ascertained the facts. Letline point out that "our. candidate" properly applies to "the ! candidate wo aro supporting." I It is not a wise thing to bo misled by ambiguities in language , ' ! „ Y°?".««k me certain questions, but I am sn'rrv that vou feel impelled to use,inverted commas when you call upon mo as an honourable man. However,.l pass over the. insinuation. L Four gentlemen waited upon ,mo after my candidature to as- 1 certain my views, and this was after my candidature had i . been announced. . 2: My views wore given to the gentlemen-present, before the questions named by you were mentioned, and those views t liavo been given by me.to the electors in my addresses. In those circumstances specified answers to the questions were f ■ not called for J .3. Ihopeto get the vote of every man, whether prohibitionist t or pubTica'n, who places the winning of irie""war abovo all t . ; questions of domestic policy. j I will be pleased if you will hand over the correspondence to the r public Press. ■ Yours faithfullv, ( A. de B. c 1 1 NOTEIS Mr. Hulcltcsosa's JimpHcafiions were ' , corFecl Bftaß flic licensed VieSuaMers' " v. Association wa§.responsll)ie for Mngisag ? me oral, then im the laame of coiebisboes sense f what need was SSiere fior ISiem So ask me I filie quesSions upon whtcSi Mr. Mii!c!iesosi : j bases Ms whole case? \ LADIES'AND GENTLEMEN:-! trust that you 1 will appreciate the tactics which are t being adopted by Mr. John Hutcheson ' and his friends. » i I: I ani, etc., c A. de R BU.MDOI '