DR. BULLER IN EXPLANATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5734, 15 August 1879, Page 5

DR. BULLER IN EXPLANATION.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —My attention ha 3 been called to a statement in your paper, made during my absence at Napier, to the effect ttftit I am precluded from offering myself for a seat in Parliament at the forthcoming elections owing to my arrangement with the Government for the continued occupation of the Supreme Court House.

I wish to state at once that this is an entire misconception, I have not, so far as I. am aware, brought myself within the Disqualification Act, nor is there anything to preclude my coming forward just now except a paramount sense of professional duty. It has long been my ambition to obtain a seat in the House of ■ Representatives, and from the numerous assurances of support made to me on all hands, I venture to believe that I might now have reasonably aspired to represent either the city of Wellington or the district of Manawatu on the Liberal .platform. But the dissolution, which has come upon us so unexpectedly, finds me altogether unprepared, inasmuch as I have entered into professional engagements which will tax my beat energies for some time to come. On the one hand, I have accepted a retainer to act as counsel for the Crown in the Native Lands Court, and to conduct claims comprising over two millions of acres in the Wellington and Wanganui districts for which the Government is in treaty. On the other hand, I have undertaken the responsibility of defending upwards of a hundred political Maori prisoners, and of initiating legal proceedings for testing the validity of our title to the 'confiscated lands. With these large matters in hand it would (be manifestly wrong for me, in order merely to gratify my personal ambition, to seek a seat in Parliament, especially at so important a crisis in the affairs of this colony. I have no desire to become an “ inactive M.H.8.,” and I feel that if elected now it would be impossible to devote myself fully to the duties of a representative without injury to the interests of my clients. My personal friends are aware that I have come to this decision reluctantly, and solely from a sense of professional duty. I look forward, however, to seeking the suffrages of the people on some future occasion, and in the meantime I beg very heartily to thank all those who have tendered me their support.

Trusting you will allow me this opportunity of correcting what was obviously an unintentional misstatement, —I am, &0.,

Walter L. Buller. Lower Terrace, Ang. 14, 1879.