PUBLIC MEETING.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 422, 6 August 1880, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

~. me.eting. was held in the Town Hall oft Tuesday evening last, for the pur-' pose of considering the Btep intended to be taken by ;the' Government with regard to discontinuing tbe subsidy for the Pigeon Bay mail. . , , The meeting was, well attended. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair.and in owning the; proceedings stated that he had been; requested to convene a pnblic meeting jby Garwood,; Esq:,\ and several others. He briefly explained the object in view, and .celled upon some of those gentlemen who had signed the petition for a public meeeting to express their opinions on the subject. ' : ■ Mr H. H. Fenton said there, was not at present much definite information to be; gireh on the subject. He believed Mr Menziea had been told by Mr Dick that the subsidy for the, Pigeon Bay mail would be withdraw,n, and that he had repeated the same information to Mr Hay, of Pigeon Bay. That gentleman had immediately takon steps to call a .meeting, And the Pigeon Bay people had formed a deputation to wait upon the. Postmaster. He (Mr Fenton) thought if one of the subsidies was to be withdrawn, it wonld be better for it to be from the long route service, as he considered with very little extra expense the Pigeon Bay service might be made a daily one, .../.'. Mr Tosswill, before moving a resolution, would,like to know whether they were not going rather too far in accepting the fact that one of the mibaidiea.. was te be withdrawn. He thought that if such were really the caws, their member (W. Montgomery, Esq.) would have known something of the matter,, whereas he had not,in any way referred to such a step. He thought that, cut off from all communication as the Peninsula is, it would be unfair to withdraw either of the subsidies. He

, .considered some one ought to. telegraph to their member, and ask him what waa being done in the matter, and at the same time Government should, be written to, ashing them to continue both .subsidies. He would move " That Messrs Garwood, Fenton,.and the mover be requested to communicate with the Postmaster-General re tbe keeping on both services." Mr Fenton seconded the motion. Mr J. D. Garwood asked whother would not be advisable that the steps to be taken should be done through their representative? . . . i . ■ .' . ■ Mr Fenton thought not. He bad a great dislike to making a delegate of their member. It was putting him in too delicate a position. Mr Tosswill said he was of the same opinion.; ' . Mr A.;I. McGregor said he would like to know what sums had been put down on the estimates for the postal service between Christchurch and Akaroa. He thought the Hall Government did many curious actions. They first of all* passed large votes, and then made reductions. He would like to know the exact reduction proposed to be madeJ: He thought the meeting waß going too far ; they had no definite information that Government intended to cut off one of the subsidies ; the only thing was that' Mr Dick had intimated the fact to Mr Menzies, who had retailed it to Mr Hay ; but that could not be called evidence.. He thought that Mr Fenton, J.P. as he was, # would admit that; he would move as an amendment, "That in the. absence of any definite information re the postal service between Christchurch and Akaroa, this meeting; wait the information as to what sums are put down in the postal estimates for'the purpose." Mr F. B. Maning the amendment, which was however withdrawn by consent. Mr J. D. Garwood congratulated the meeting upon such a large attendance. He considered it would go far to remove the stigma Akaroa had earned for itself as " Sleepy Hollow," and the characters of its citizens aB indolent. He did not agree with the amendment; he agreed with Mr Toss will's resolution, and considered that the action of their Pigeon Bay friends should bo supported. The only thing he would have liked would have been that the stops should have been taken through their member. He would like a letter to be written to Mr Montgomery, telling him ' what steps were being taken ; it would be I <

courteous to do so, and he always liked to treat everyone as courteously as possible. (Hear, hear.) Messrs Henning and Noonan expressed their views on the subject, which were to the effect that if either of the subsidies were to be withdrawn it ought not to bo the Pigron Bay one, as thrt might be made a daily service. MrTosswill's motion was then put and carried unanimously. Mr Garwood next proposed that the gen* tlemen named to put themselves in communication with tbe Government inform their member of the steps they are taking. \ Mr Tosswill seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Mr Hepning proposed, '" That in the event of the Government determining to withdraw the subsidy from one of the two postal services at present existing between Christchurch and Akaroa, this meeting is of Opinion that the Pigeon Bay service is best calculated to serve the interests of the Peninsula, and might by a little extra cost be made a daily one." Dr Guthrie seconded the motion. Mr G. Black thought such a resolution premature,,, as it. was, calculated to give 'Government the impression {that tbe people on the Peninsula were prepared to lose one of the services. Ho thought it would be very hard lines to lose either of them. Mr A. I. McGregor said he thought those present at the meeting hardly understood what it was all about. He referred to the notice convening the, meeting, and showed that it had only been convened for the'purpose of taking steps to retain the Pigeon Bay service, and now by some side-wind all this talk as to which of the two. services be retained had cropped up. :They had first passed a resolution desiring that both services be retained, and now they wanted to pass one that the Pigeon Bay service should be the one to be retained ; the thing was absurd. He said tbe resolutions proposed by Messrs Garwood and Tosswiil were quite sufficient. He would, however, second Mr Hennings' motion pro forma. Mr Garwood asked that some one else might second the motion, or at any rate that Mr McGregor might without the words il pro forma." Mr McGregor did so, and the motion waa put nnd carried. Mr Daly proposed, "That in view of the foregoing resolution, ilia Worship the Mayor be requested to proceed to Christehttrchwith the of the Pigeon Bay deputation to support the views of tbe meeting." Mr Fenton seconded the resolution, which was carried. , ,Mr Maniiig asked in what. way Hie Worship was to-be. paid. He remtrked that if it was to como out of the Borough Cpuncil,funds, it was rather a poor look our, as the only thing that body -was igreat at was stating the amount of their overdraft. • Mr Daly; proposed, and Mr Fenton seconded; •' That, a subscription be made for the purpose.'.' His Worship said he. thought that matter had better stand over until his return. Mr M'Gregor proponed a vote of thanke to the Chairman, and the meeting then terminated. .