The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1882.

Temuka Leader, Issue 942, 25 April 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1882.

It will be remembered that on the occasion of the opening of the International -Exhibition in Christchurch, we apologised to our readers on account of being unable to furnish them with a report of the ceremony. We then stated that we had employed one of the best Pressmen in the colony to furnish us with a report, and to show that our statement was true, we hereby publish his explanation. On the 15th of April we received the following telegram “ Letter just received; cannot understand ; telegram duly lodged ; will institute strict inquiry.— S. CroumbieBrown.”

This telegram was sent in reply to a letter asking for an. explanation,, and the following is the letter Mr Brown has sent, telling us the result of bis inquiries as to the cause of the message not reaching us : : — “ Christchurch, April 23, 1882.

“ Dear Sin, —I replied by wire to your letter covering: extract from your paper, complaining of not having received Exhibition report—a complaint which was quite reasonable seeing that a special contract was entered into. The enquiry has led to no satisfactory result. The case on my side is that I placed the name of the Temuka Leader on the enclosed printed list of newspapers represented by me ; that you received the preliminary copy by mail ; and that upon the record kept by my assistant (Mr Williams) of the telegrams sent out on the day in question the Tkmuka Leader is duly entered. Moreover, both Mr Williams and I have a distinct recollection of filling in the LvV/o.’ On the other hand the Telegraph Department, through Mr Mason, says it was not received. In the absence, of receipts given for telegrams lodged, what can you say. On the day in question one telegram was lodged, together with numerous 1 vales'. The message to the Leader would read, after the usual address, ‘ Vide telegram No—l am convinced —hut cannot prove —that this particular ‘vide’ was lodged. In my office, after they wore all pinned together they were checked ; I took them to the Telegraph office, and I cannot conceive how it was lost between my

office and the Telegraph office. Yet they say they did not receive it. Durthe past three year’s experience as one of the largest senders of Press messages in the colony, several similar instances have come under my notice, and I am convinced the only remedy is a system of giving receipts by the Telegraph Department in a similar way to that in which they demand them from those to whom telegrams are delivered. Without imparting any improper motive in this particular instance, I would (jite it as one in question—one in which you must accept the simple denial of the Department. Make whatever use you like of this letter.-—I am, yours obediently, “ S. Croumbie-Brownl

“J. M. Twomey, Esq.” i Enclosed in this letter was a printed list of the names of the papers which Mr Brown represented at the Exhibition. This includes English, Scotch, Canadian, American, and New Zealand papers, and amongst them is the name of the Tehuka Leader . So far it appears that Mr Brown intended sending ‘the telegram, and whether through an oversight he did not send it, or the telegraph department let it slip through their fingers, is a question that we cannot decide on the .information of which we are at present possessed. Ac any rate we think this will be sufficient to show our readers that we did our best to furnish them with a first-class report. We regret that we were so unfortunate as not to receive it, but there is no held for it now. We must also exonerate Mr Brown from blame, as he certainly appears to have intended sending it, whatever way it was mislaid.