To the Editor of the New Zealander.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 325, 30 November 1860, Page 2

To the Editor of the New Zealander.

Sir—ln your paper of Wednesday last you state as a fact that the writs for the elections at Wellington were despatched for that place by the White Swan; and while you intimate that such a course may be highly prejudicial to tbe interests of the ' three F.'s,' you treat the subject in a spirit of levity, and as if, on the whole, it were rather a good joke. I cannot allow this occasion to pass without recording my most grave and serious protest against the course pursued by the Government in this natter. Practically, it is one of those unworthy tricks which have, on so many other occasions, | been resorted to by them. They know very well that if the elections can be hurried on at Wellington before the late representatives of the province can have an opportunity of explaining to their constituents the events of the late session, they will be placed at a great disadvantage, and run the risk of being condemned unheard. In order to ensure this, I have been told that not only have the Writs been sent down in the manner described by you, but that they were accompanied by instructions to the Returning Officer to get the Elections over as soon as possible. I do not however complain so much of this piece of transparent jockeyship as of what may be well characterised as a deliberate breach of faith on the part of Ministers in the matter. They were repeatedly asked during the discussions on the New Representation Bill, as well as when the question of the next session was before the house—' When the elections would take place ?' and they stated, without any limitation or qualification, without distinguishing between old rolls and hew,* that they could not, or would riot, takeplace 'till January' —for 'two months at the,least after the end of the session,' and so forth;1 Yet it appears that at the very time these answers were being given, they were having the; Wellington rolls prepared in Auckland, iv order that the writs might go down by the same vessel as took the Wellington members home, unknown and unsuspected by them. There are many ex-members in Auckland now who will bear me out in my recollection of what passed in the house on this subject, and that the general understanding was, that * the elections' would not take place till at least two months from the dissolution.

It is very questionable now whether the Ministry has not outwitted itself, and whether, under the operation of the ninth section of the new Representation Act, any writs can be issued till all the rolls are made up. That they would not be issued till that event was certainly the understanding in the house; and I believe it is the interpretation which one of the fathers of the Bill, Mr. F. D. Bell, puts upon it. ; The blunders of the Government, or the ambiguities of their legislation, I have however no intention of discussing. There can, I think, be no ambiguity as to the character of the transaction under notice; and it is an undoubted blunder if they think ultimately to gain anything by a departure from a straight and honest course. Yours, &c, ~'.■.... William Fox. Auckland, November 15.

1 •'• In a gieat business*'* said an old political oracb, "there is nothing so fatal as cunning management;" and when a "party" is driven to such shifts to maintain itself in power, all men can see the beginning of the end/