AN EXPLANATION.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1050, 7 December 1871, Page 2

AN EXPLANATION.

[to the editor.]

Sir—l cannot allow the statements made by Mr Lahman at the meeting of the Waste Lands Board on Monday to go to the public without contradiction. I need not enter into the merits of my right to the. land in. question. I simply desire to refresh the very defective memory of Mr Lahman with regard to the part he has: taken in the matter. Some months ago when- 1 applied for an, agri- ! cultural lease fcr the land in questions I received a letter from Mr Lahman stating that the Board had decided not to grant any further leases of that character, and advising me to apply for it as suburban land. Mr Lahman further, in a friendly manner, offered to act as my agent and pay the purchase- money on my account, I accepted his offer and gave him the necessary written authority to appear on my behalf before the Waste Lands Board. Some weeks afterwards while I was in Wellington 1 received a letter from Mr Lahman stating his regret that in consequence of some technical difficulty, my application to purchase the block of land as suburban land could not be entertained. On my return I placed myself in communication with the members of the Waste Lands Board, and, furnished as 1 was with positive evidence as to the rights of my casts, every member of the Board that I saw, including the Chief Commissioner, and the Chief Surveyor, agreed that I had an undoubted equitable right. . Mr Lahman rendered me every assistance in the matter, and from, .first to last led me to believe that he' would support my claim— -not as a matter of favor, but as agnatter of right. He went with me to the Survey Office, and used his influence with the Chief Surveyor on my behalf, and he did the same with the Chief : Commissioner. These are facts, and if Mr Lahmauhasthe temerity to deny them, I will publish the correspondence between "us. As' to my ; individual risfhts in the matter, I shall certainly &ot allow them to be sacrificed. The explam<tion of Mr Lahman's astouishing coudnciis easy. Had the meeting of the Waste Lands Board occurred before my public meeting instead of after, the affair would have assumed a different phase. I am, &c., W. H. Harrison. Greymouth, Nov. 6, 1871.