ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 805, 9 November 1878, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

AN ELECTOR IN REPLY TO THE LATE ACTING - CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING MAIL

Sir, —You will think me a long time in replying to Mr. D. Sutherland's letter. The fact is I have had so little time at command that I have been unable to devote the necessary time to it. Then again, lam generally 'inclined to §thc opinion that impertinence deserves to treated with silent '• contempt": the probability that the arrangement is due to Mr. Campbell's influence I will, with your jiermission, reserve for a future letter. Mr. Sutherland is glad to have given the minors at Livingstone such a glorious opportunity. He inay'always be Ensured. that they (the miners) arc ever on the watch ; :md why ? Because the instances are so numerous h. which their utmost exertions have to be put forth to save themselves and their property from the greed or injustice of those by whom they are surrounded, that every member of the Mining Association Committee is a sentine 1 . My next reply is, we have no faith in the County Council as at present constituted, and we have no faith in our representative. Possibly the Councillor for the Hiding and the Returning Officer will see justice done to all—now, but how if the design had not been seen'? If they deem it proper to have a polling place at Livingtsone, why change the polling place at all ? Ignorance cannot be pleaded that it had always been the polling place as long as any elections have taken place in the neighborhood. If so, what more simple than to minute the '• usual polling place." My error as to boundaries of the Hiding is of no moment, and does not affect the question at issue—that only two or three electors reside west of the Otekaike, whilst several have their places of abode at the opposite extreme of the Riding, and Livingstone is the only jjlace in the Riding where accommoda-tion-can be obtained by those electors who have to attend from a distance. The charge of selfishness is quite gratuitous, and should decidedly be on the other side when the convenience of from thirty to fifty is ignored to accommodate three. It sounds quite refreshing to talk of the selfishness of the fifty for objecting to such an arrangement. Again, Mr. Sutherland's sarcastic witticism about the Tooley-strect miners of Livingstone is from him quite out of place, for is he not himself one of the two who comprise the electors of the Otematata Riding ? And did he not second his own nomination as Councillor at the late election ? I very much doubt even if he has a right to vote, and quite believe that he obtained his seat by a fluke. Vrho, sir, is the proper person to be placed on the ratepayers' roll—the person out of whose purse the rate is paid, or he who acts as an agent only in the payment? If I am rightly advised, Mr. S. is only a servant, lint, then, he is an " honorable man." Again., I say it was design and not accident which led to thfl polling place being changed ; or why did the Council deal with the matter at all ? They exceeded their authority by doing so. What a pity they have not either bush-lawyer or intelligent digger amongst them to have prevented such a display of the Council's ignorance of the regulations of tlze Local Elections Act. I questiqn, if the elections will not be invalidated thereby; Possibly the late advertisements by the various Returning Officers may condone the error ; if not, another election will be necessary. I disagree with Mr. S., and say the miners of Livingstone have a grievance,' and, further, that they- mean to see it removed.—l am, Sir,

An Elector unconnected with the Woolly Aristocracy.