The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1879. COLLINGWOOD ELECTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 208, 13 September 1879, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1879. COLLINGWOOD ELECTION.

I As any information in connection with this election at the present time o£ suspense and doubt as to the course likely to be pursued by that most eccentric of Returning Officers, i Alexander L'e Grand Campbell, Esq , will, we feel sure, possess an interest for our readers, to whom the very idea of an outsider, possessing no interest whatever in the place, representing a Nelsou {constituency must of necessity be most repugnant, we publish to-day certain telegrams bearing on the subject. First of all it may be necessary to say that on Mr Gibbs arriving here by the Lady Barkly yesterday he at once went to Mr Actou Adams and laid before him a statement of the grounds on which Mr Campbell bai based his determination to declare Mr Huddleston duly elected. Mr Adams' opinion was clearly against the legality of such a proceeding, but at Mr Gibbs' request he held a consultation with Mr Pitt and Mr Atkinson, who fully concurred with him, and the opinion, which will be found below, was wired off to Motueka, where Mr Gibbs' son was in waiting to take auy messages to Mr Campbell. In the meantime Mr Adams telegraphed to Mr Cooper, the Clerk of the Writs, as follows : — To Clerk of Writs. Wellington. Collingwood election— Campbell stupidly talks rejecting ballot papers sealed up by his deputy on hearing some report of their informality. We advise Gibbs that Campbell cannot go behind lists, and must declare poll from these pursuant to Section 59. (Signed) Adams and Kingdon. I To this was sent the following reply .- — Messrs. Adams and Kingdon. Nelson. Government have informed Mr Campbell ! that they cannot advise, pending elections, as to duties for which Returning Officers are legally responsible. If he makes a wrong return I presume the redress will be by petition. (Signed). G. S. Cooper. The following is the legal opinion which was forwarded to Mr Campbell :— To Alexander L. G. Campbell, Esq., j Returning Officer, Collingwood. We advise Mr Gibbs that you have no right to open Fletcher's sealed packet of ballot papers or inspect ballot papers sealed | up by Fletcher, except to disallow votes given twice, which has not happened. You are bound to ignore any information from Fletcher or anybody else re contents of packet ballot papers. Fletcher's action in receiving ballot papers final and his list binding on you. Therefore you are bound to abstain from opening Fletcher's packet, and bound by Section 59 to make up from the list, and from no other source, the general state of the poll, and to declare poll from compilation of the list without reference to the state of the ballot papers. As lists show majority in favor of Gibbs you must declare him elected. (Signed) Adams & Kingdon, Pitt & Moore, Fell & Atkinson. If, in the face of this, Mr Campbell should adhere to his previously expressed determination, he will probably hear something to bis disadvantage in the course of a few days, but we can hardly think that he will do anything so foolish. The result will be known on Monday morning, as Mr Gibbs, jun., has instructions to return to Motueka after the declaration of the poll, which is to take place at Collingwood this afternoon at five o'clock. There is another little matter in connection with this election which is not without interest. In addressing the electors, Mr Armstrong was reported to have said that he made his appearance on the scene at the suggestion of the Wellington Liberal Association and of Mr De Lautour, the member for Mount Ida. Of course it was very good and kind of the members of the Association and of the M.H.R. to take so deep an interest in a Nelson constituency, but their conduct was also capable of another construction, namely, that it was offering a deliberate insult to the electors of Collingwood tosuppose that they would accept the nominee of persons in no way connected with the place. From some such point of view it appears to have been regarded by all those who voted except twelve. But there have been other, and still more potent, influences at work. The Premier of the colony has not thought it beneath him to take a part in this election, and telegrams signed " G. Grey " are to be found in the hands of many of the Coliingwood electors recommending Mr Armstrong to their favorable consideration on the ground that he was a well-known man and one who was likely to make them an excellent representative. These missives caused quite a little flutter in the community, those to whom they were addressed feeling themselves not a little flattered by Buch a mark of attention from so great a man. Sir George Grey, however, would not himself be quite so pleased when the telegram was last night put into his hands, informing him that the result of his endeavors to obtain another vote for Otago, and another supporter of himself and Mr Macandrew, waa that to the gentleman from Dunedin were accorded but 12 votes out the 283 polled.