MAJOR ATKINSON IN REPLY TO MR BALLANCE.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 454, 30 August 1879, Page 2

MAJOR ATKINSON IN REPLY TO MR BALLANCE.

Major Atkinson writes as follows to the Wanganui Chronicle : Sm, —’A few weeks ago some of your contemporaries published, at the request of Mr Ballauce, letters explanatory of his having left my party and joined that of Sir George Grey. My letter to Mr Ballanee, published as above, would never have boon written had I been aware of certain proceedings of Mr Ballanee, which have since come to my knowledge, and which I now propose to relate. Shortly before the vote of no confidence upon the, Waka Maori was taken I was unwell, and Mr Ballanee came to visit me at my private residence, to talk over the political situation. Mr Bowen was with me at the lime, and after a short talk as to the probable result of the pending vote, in which Mr Bowen expressed the opinion that the Government majo'ity would be much larger than Mr Ballanee thought likely, Mr Bowen left us together. Mr Ballanee and I then had (wo hour’s conversation upon the political situation. Ho urged upon me the adoption of a certain line i f action which I thought unwise and impracticable. He cxprossedhimself as a thorough supporter of mine in or out of oflicc, and I spoke to him as freely and fully upon all subjects discussed as it was possible for one mao to speak to another. When ho left mo I was fully under the impression that my arguments had convinced him as to the impracticability of his proposals, and that in him I had a staunch support-')-. Some of my friends had doubted his sincerity all along, and had warned me against trusting him, but I had steadily refused to doubt Ids sincerity even after I had received his letter withdrawing from my party.Mr Wooleock, flic member for the Grey Valley, hail lion a close companion of Mr Ballanee during two or three sessions, and there is no doubt that Mr Ballanee expected to take Mr Wooleock over with turn whi-u he left me. Tn this, however, he failed, for notwithstanding many and repeated efforts on Mr Ballanco’s part, Mr Wooleock remained faithful to his party. Some short time after I left office, in talking over the position taken up by Mr Ballance, and the likelihood of Ids accepting office under Sir George Grey, Mi Wooleock informed me that not only was Mr Ballanee and other new found friends of Sir George Grey making every effort tn induce him to join their side, but that Mr Ballanee had, at least a week before the vote on the Waka Maori was taken, offered to go over and vote against me upon that question if Mr Wooleock would come with him. This offer to vote against me was made some days before the private interview with mo above related.

After Mr Ballanco had joined the Government, Mr Wakefield had charged him in the House with treachery to me. Mr Ballanco faintly denied it, hut when I rose and said that all that Mr Wakefield stated was true, Mr Ballance sat still, apparently afraid to face the statement of facts which Mr Woolcock and I were prepared to make in the House in our places. I may add, as a recent evidence of Mr Ballance’s political insincerity, the fact of his supporting Mr Sherwood in his candidature for figment, as “ being the best man for the district,” when Mr Ballance’s opinion of Mr Sherwood's trustworthiness as agent for the Wanganui Herald , is so well known, —I am, &c. IT. A. Atkinson. Hurwarth, August 23.