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New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 767, 20 August 1853, Page 3

To the Editor of the New-Ze a lander. Sir, —I beg leave to enclose to you a copy of a letter, which I have this day addressed to the Editor of the /Southern Cross, and which letter

■ you are at liberty to publish in the New-Zea-LANDER. j I remain, Sir, Your humble obedient servant, Joun Morgan. Otawhao, August 1, 1853. P.S.—Having written to Mr. Whitaker on the subject—l have enclosed the letter to him requesting him to read it, and then forward it on to you.—J. M, . To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Otawhao, August 1, 1853. Sir, —I was much surprised at your remarks in | the Southern Cross, of July 8 th, in reference to the i voting at Rangiawhia. You there state, “At Rangiawhia too, a small settlement of intelligent and industrious colonists, not one man could be found to record his vote for the military intruder, whilst the seven who did poll, were all in favour of Mr. Brown, and more would have polled, had not the Rev. Mr. Morgan over-persuaded them that their votes would not be held good in Auckland.” I beg leave directly to contradict the above statement. I did not take any part in the election, either directly or indirectly. You state that “ more would have polled, had not the Rev. Mr. Morgan over-persuaded them that their votes would not be held good in Auckland.” You are of course prepared to give me the names of tie persons who were “ over-persuaded” by me not to vote, and I shall feel obliged by your doing so. I did not use any influence or persuasion with any person not to vole at the late election at Rangiawbia. All persons whose votes would “be held good in Auckland” had a legal right to vote, and it was their duty in so doing to vote for the candidate who. in their opinion, was most likely to render cificient services to the Colony. On reading your remarks it occurred to me that a private conversation I had had with one of the voters, had been noted down and reported to you, and on this you grounded your statement of July Bth. I will therefore give you the particulars of that conversation, and the reasons on which I grounded my private opinion as expressed to the person in question, On the morning of the Election, about 10 o’clock, as 1 was standing by the Church now being erected at this station, looking at the work then being performed by the carpenters, Charles Smith (a squatter living about five miles from Otawhao) came up to me, and said, in the presence of the carpenters, “ Mr. Morgan, what Is your opinion; arc we Europeans in the country entitled to vote?” My reply was, “Charley, in. my opinion none of the votes of the Europeans would be considered legal, if a scrutiny should take place ; for as all the land in this district, except the Mission Stations, is the property of the Aborigines, and the Europeans are squatting upon that land contrary to the letter of the law, they cannot, by a breach of the law become entitled to any privileges conferred by the law.” Smith replied, “ that is my opinion ; I do not think that any of us have a right to vote.” The two carpenters, Messrs. Chitham and Wheeler, then ex pressed their opinions that none of the European squatters had a legal right to vote. These are tlie particulars of the conversation which passed on the subject as near as I can now reco’lect them. I have requested the carpenters who were present to state the substance of fie conversation, and they affirm that the above is correct as far as they can now remember. Wheeler informs me that on his receiving a voting paper for Mr. Brown, prior to my conversation with Smith, he had some conversation with Chitham, and they were both of opinion that the Europeans in the country had no legal right to vote. It appears therefore that some who had been pressed to vote for Mr. Brown did not vote, not because they had been “ over-persuaded by the Rev. Mr. Morgan,” but because they were themselves of opii.ion that their votes would not be legal, and they were therefore unwilling to give votes which, in their own consciences, they considered would be illegal. I am informed that about 17 persons in this district were registered in Auckland as voters. I believe, generally speaking, these parties did not know that they had been registered as voters until they received letters and voting papers requesting them to vote for Mr, Brown. I am informed that no voting papers were sent up to solicit votes for Lieutenant-Col-onel Wynyard. The settlors, therefore, had not, if this is correct, a fair oppoi tuuily of expressing their opinions in reference to the merits of the two candidates, lb was, therefore, a bold and, unwarrantable assertion on your part, that “not one man could be found in the district of Rangiawhia to record his vote for the military intruder, but that more would have polled for Mr. Brown, had not the Rev, Mr. Morgan over-persuaded them that their votes would not be held good in Auckland.” Had both candidates been represented by t!ie : r supporters at the poll, perhaps some who did not vote would have recorded their votes for Lieutenant.-Colonel Wynyaid. Having rend so much in the Southern Cross during the last few weeks on the subject of legality of votes, I cannot for a moment suppose that Mr. Brown would wish any person to vote for him, who was not legally entitled to vote, and whose “ vote would not be held good in Auckland,” in the event of a scrutiny being made by the supporters of Lieutenant-Colonel Wynyard. I will therefore give you the grounds on which I formed the opinion expressed to Smith, that the squatters in this neighbourhood had not a legal right to vote. 1 am not here discussing the justice or the injustice of the law in reference to squatting. I only take the letter of the law as I find it, and as it bears upon the subject of voting. The question proposed by Smith was, “Are the Europeans in the country entitled to vote!” or, in other words, what constitutes a legal vote] The Constitution Act, sec. 7- Qualification of voters, requires, Ist, “That every voter shall have a freehold estate in possession, situate within the district, Ac.,” or 2nd, “ that her' shall have a leasehold estate in possession,” Ac., or 3rd, “ that he shall be a householder within the limits of a town,” Ac., or 4th, “ that he shall be a householder without the limits of a town, of the clear annual value of five pounds” Ac. Of the persons I'egistered as voters in this district, I am of opinion, Ist, that none of thorn legally hold either freehold or leasehold estates in the district. By legally holding an estate, I mean the occupying of an*estate for which a Crown grant has been issued ; such occupation only, being legal in the eye of the law. 2nd. It is certain, as they are living in the country, that they are not householders within the limits of a town. 4th Are they then legally householders without the limits of a town to the clear annual value of five pounds. In my opinion they are not. None of the residents registered as voters, live on land granted by the Crown; and the houses in which some of them reside, are not only not worth tlie dear annual value of five pounds rental, hut if ] urchased, would not bring five pounds, and in some cases not the half of that sum. You can come and inspect them if you think it necessary. As then, the above are facts which cannot be denied, and are well known to all in the district, when a neighbour requested my private opinion as to their qualification as voters, 1 had no hesitation in giving him my private opinion that none of the persons in this district registered as voters, had a legal right to vote, as they did not possess the necessary qualifications required by the law, claim any privileges given by the law to certain persons recognized as justly entitled to them. When I replied to Smith’s question, I considered cur conversation as private , and never expected that it would form the basis of an attack in your paper. I should not have troubled you with these remarks, had my attention not been called to the subject by the remarks in your paper of July Bth. I have forwarded a copy of the above to the New-Zealandeh. I remain, Sir, Ac,, John Morgan.