THE WALLACE ELECTION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 110, 17 March 1870, Page 5

THE WALLACE ELECTION.

(To the Editor of the Tiiapeha Times.) Sic, — Mr. C. R. Marten, Returning Officer for the Waßace district, having honoured you- with his statement as to how he was induced through courtesy to allow a sight of the poll book, I think it is but fair tihsat the other side of the story shou Jd? also' be- told. Mr. Marten for months persistently refused; to grant any positive information with regard to the election. He afterwards supplied me with four- different statements as to the result of the poll. I then communicated with the Chief Returning Officer of this province^ who informed me that it was usual to grant an inspection of the poll book, and, on application, to supply a list of all persons who voted. Mr. Gillies, was- kind enough to write Mr. Marten to that effect ; but that gentleman was still obstinatft. I then wrote to the Colonial Secretary, and shortly afterwards the Returning Officer complied with- my request, at the same time requiring- me to mate some charge against his deputies ; to which I objected, unless uspon enquiry I found that such a charge could be sustained. I consider the course. I adopted a very fair one.. I had heard from a friend, in whom I had""the utmost confidence, that there wer&some votes recorded at Douglas and Biyth's' station, Mataura, in favour of Mr-. Webster, while the parties werenot at the polling-booth on that day. I •then aaked an acquaintance in Invercargjftl

to oblige me by inspecting the poll book, which he did, after the amount of humbugging above stated. Being in doubt with regard to the signatures of several on the poll book, my friend wrote to one of those, viz., D. Sinclair; and I may state there is one rather singular discovery made in Mr, Sinclair's reply. While he refuses to state whether he recorded his vote in the usual manner, he very unwittingly signs his name " Daniel" in full, instead of "D." as recorded in the poll book. Now, on referring to the roll, I find there is no such name as Daniel upon it, the only Sinclair being one whose Christian name is David. I think, Sir, that this very suspicious circumstance, is sufficient to induce me to prosecute my inquiry still further. If you can spare space for the accompanying letters, they may be interesting, bearing as they do so closely on the matter. lam sure my friend, Mr. Kinross, will forgive me for making this use of them. — I am, &c, J, C. Brown, Myross Bush, 7th March, 1870. J. C. Brown.^Esq., Dear Sir, — I annex a copy of the reply received from Mr. Daniel Sinclair to my note requesting him to inform me whether he personally recorded his vote at the polling booth at Messrs. Douglas and Blyfch's. You ■will observe he declines to give any information on this point, and his reason for declining is simply ridiculous. I have no doubt he voted for Mr. Webster if he really went to the polling booth, but perhaps it was not convenient for him to do so, and his refusal to give any information favours this supposition. I have compared Mr. Sinclair's signature in his letter and that in the poll book, but his signature and the D. Sinclair written in the poll book by the Deputy-Return-ing Officer are so much alike that I cannot say positively whether the D. Sinclair written as a signature in the poll book was written by the same person who wrote " I, D. Sinclair, vote for George Webster," or by Mr. D. Sinclair himself. However, in the poll book the signature is D. Sinclair, and in the letter to me it is Daniel Sinclair in full. Trusting you may be able to obtain authentic information on this and other suspicious circumstances, I remain, dear Sir, Yours truly, Andw. Kinbous. [copy.] tnvercargill, March 1, 1870. Sir, —Yours of 14th inst. to hand. I beg to decline giving you any information whatever as to whether I recorded my vote in the usual manner on the 17th September last. My reason for doing so is that I consider that the Returning Officer is the proper person to be ap. plied to on this subject. — I am, &c, Daniel Sinclair.