COLONEL MACDONNELL'S CLAIM.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2764, 2 December 1887, Page 2

COLONEL MACDONNELL'S CLAIM.

[From the Napier Telegraph,] | Our readers will not have forgotten the circumstance of Colonel Macdounell j receiving the. long-deferred, but well merited, distinction of the New Zealand Cross, It was seventeen years after he had earned it that his claim was recognised, and it was presented to him with every mark of honor that could possibly be desired, One thing,. however, has been omitted, and that is the pension attached to it, and the arrears of pay due to him from the time he earned the Cress to the date of receiving it. We do not know why any exception should be made in his caso, but the Parliamentary Committee by whom bis petition on the subject was that they could not recognise his claim, As that is the case, it appears to us that those other officer.? who received the arrears of pension when decorated with the Cross were peculiarly favored, The, New Zealand Cross statute authorised a block of land to be set apart for the recipients of the Cross. By an Order-in-Council this block of land was resumed by the Crown, and a pension of £lO per annum given instead. And again, a sum of money was placed on the estimates for payment of arrears of pension, when Sir George Whitinore was Colonial Secretary. This, money was paid from the date of the act for which the Cross was given when the act was subsequent to the Cross statute, aud from the .date of the latter when the the act of valor was of older date. The acts for which Colonel Macdonnell was recommended took place years before the institution of the Cross, but the. investiture was delayed on one pretence or another till 1886, and even then he was refused the arrears of pension, It is worthy of note that all the recipients of the Cross have received what Colonel McDonnell claims, and which was done at the instance of Major Atkinson, who asked the question in the House, and was thanked for so doing by Sir George Grey, who was at that time Premier. A snm of money was at once placed on the estimates to pay those arrears, As showing that the Colonel is making no bogus claim, we publish the following letters he received on tho subject : New Plymouth, January 25,1887. Extract from Dr J. Murray Gibbs to Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonnell :

Dear Colonel,—l saw that they had refused you the back pay, Jttodriquey received about £7O back pay, but he had to fight for it for a long time, and only received it through influence. I will- ask Malt- when I see him next,— Yours sincerely, J. Murray Gibbs.

Oatham, July 1887. Dear Sir.—My apologies for not answering your letter before is being away from home. With regard to the Mew Zealand Cross, I cannot give yon dates, nor can I find any records of dates in the office. I think the N. Z. Cross was presented to me in the year 1878 with £lO. Some time afterwards, Antonio, who also received the N. Z. Cross at the same time that I did, saw Major Atkinson, and afterwards writing to Government about his back pension, we got about 1601 think back pension.—l -'remain, Yours sincerely,

P.'Maib. Napier, September 2,1887. To Colonel Macdonnell; My dear Colonel,—l am in receipt of your letter in reference to the N. Z. Cross pension. I was awarded the Cross in 1870, and was not awaro of any pension being attached thereto, In the following year I got a voucher for £lO, and was informed that I was entitled to that sum yearly. = Subsequently—l think about May, 1878— I received a cheque from the Treasury for back pension to 1869, amounting, as fur as I can remember, to £B2 or £B7. I forget the exact amount, but it was back to the date of the Order-in-Coitncil instituting the Order of the N. Z. Cross, or to the action for which I was awarded tho Cross—l am not sure which. lam aware that all the other people who received the Cross were paid the back ,pensiou.—Believe me to remain Yours truly George A, Preece. Napier, September 2,1887. Colonel Macdonnell. » Dear Sir,—Eeferring to your question about the payment of a pension for the JR. Z, Cross to the late Dr Walker, I distinctly remember sending a voucher from the Treasury, and countersigning a cheque in his favor for £BO odd, being the back pay for the Cross up to that time, which was in the year 1880,-1 am dear Sir, very truly yours, F. SCANNELL,

Wanganui, September 5, 1887. Lieutenant-Colonel Macclonnell, Sir.—l am in receipt of yours of the 2nd instant, and in reply to your question—first the date of the official letter received by me informing me that I was awarded the N. Z. Cross, was dated 22nd December, 1877, and in December of that year I received a cheque for £BO. I remain Sir, Yours respectfully

Samuel Austin. * The above letters show the justuess of Colonel Macdonnell's claim, and no one remembering his brilliant services in the field when the Colony was fightin? for its life, would withhold from him the small emolument attaching, as we think, by law to the. Cross he has so nobly won. Although tbo Colony may not be able to be generous, it car. afford to be just; and at all event 3it ought never to forget those who, in years now happily- gone by, risked their lives to preserve its existence,

10 THE EDIIOK, Sir, —Will you kindly allow me through your columns to acquaint the people of the Wairarapa of the fact that I am giving up the clothing portion of my business entirely, and consequently am now selling mens', youth's and boy's clothing at whatever it will fetch; as 1 am determined to realise on it at all hazards. Youra Truly, . J.'IHORBURtr, Clothier and Outfitter, corner of Cuba • and Mannew St., Wellington, '•'■